The shorthanded Chicago Bulls kicked off their 2018-19 campaign with a road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Here are three takeaways from their season opener.
In 2017-18, the Chicago Bulls began the season with a 17-point road loss to the Toronto Raptors. On the heels of a 27-win season, the team was hoping to kick off Year 2 of its rebuild with a win against one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately for the Bulls, they had a couple of factors working against them. First, they were playing shorthanded as Lauri Markkanen (elbow), Denzel Valentine (ankle) and Kris Dunn (personal reasons) were missing from the lineup.
Secondly, the Sixers were looking to rebound from a disappointing 105-87 loss to the Boston Celtics on opening night. Following another disappointing showing against the Cs, the Bulls were expecting a much better effort from the home team and that is exactly what they got.
Early on, the Bulls hung tough with Sixers, connecting on 60.7 percent of their shot attempts in the opening stanza, en route to a 41-38 lead after 12 minutes of action. From that point on, though, Chicago scored just 35 points over the next two quarters and trailed by 26 going into the final frame.
“I thought we came out with good pace. Second quarter we became stagnant. Third quarter was the difference, we just could not recover.” Coach Hoiberg
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 19, 2018
While the Bulls did manage to trim the deficit to under 20 points, the outcome of the game was never in doubt during the second half. When it was all said and done, the Sixers came away with a 127-108 victory.
Here’s a look at three takeaways from the Bulls’ 2018-19 season opener.