On March 25, Beijing time, the Bulls played away against the Pelicans, and DeRozan missed the game due to a left adductor strain. Bulls boss Donovan said: "DeRozan has been plagued by a groin injury for a long time and he was aggravated by an injury in the last game, so it was wise to give him a break. The Pelicans are currently 10th in the West and will rise to 9th if they win.
The Pelicans are on the rise, and the Bulls are on the downside. The Bulls have won 3 and lost 9 of their last 12 games, falling from first in the East to fifth. The Bulls are currently three wins behind fourth-place Greens and one win ahead of sixth-place Cavaliers. According to the current ranking, the Bulls played the Green Army in the first round of the playoffs, and if they fell to sixth, they had to play the third Place Bucks.
Two days ago, the Bulls lost 98-126 to the Bucks by 28 points! It is worth mentioning that this season, the Bulls have reached 0-16 when playing against the top three teams in the East and West, which is too humiliating. The Bulls, who have been in the top three in the East for a long time, are still reasonable to win about 8 of these 16 games, but now they are 0 wins and 16 losses...
On March 19, the Bulls lost miserably to the Suns without Paul by 27 points. The Bulls have indeed been affected by injuries, with both Brother Ball and Caruso missing many games, but other strong teams are also absent. In the eyes of many fans, this bull just can't fight a hard battle. Even the Rockets, who are at the bottom of the West, have a 1-16 loss against the top three teams.
The Magic, who are the bottom of the East, have won 1-15 against the top three teams this season. The Second-to-Last Pistons in the East, with 2 wins and 13 losses against the top three teams. Rockets, Magic and Pistons, the bottom three teams in the league, have a better record than the Bulls when facing the third place in the division, you say the Bulls how to play the strong team in the playoffs?
So the question is, facing the top three of the division, who is the team with the best record? The answer is the Raptors, 10-5. The Celtics are second with 9 wins and 5 losses, the Timberwolves are third with 9 wins and 7 losses, and the Nuggets are 8 wins and 7 losses. Last offseason, the Bulls management set the goal for the team to enter the playoffs, which is no problem.
Speaking of today's Game between the Bulls and pelicans, DeRozan did not play, and Ingram on the other side was also absent due to injury (hamstring injury). LaVine scored 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the first half, but the Bulls still trailed by one point at 62-63. Graham, who became the Pelicans' thigh today, played 14 minutes at halftime and scored 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
In the third quarter, the two teams drew 23-23, and I thought that the suspense of this game would be saved until the end. Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the last quarter, the Pelicans played a wave of 13-5, and the Bulls could not resist. The game was over and the Pelicans beat the Bulls 126-109 at home! After this battle, the Pelicans surpassed the Lakers and rose to ninth in the West.
LaVine shot 12-of-23, 4-of-11 from three-point range, 11-of-13 from the free throw line, and scored 39 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. McCollum made 10-of-20, 1-of-6 from three-point range and 4-of-5 from the free throw line for 25 points, three rebounds, six assists and one steal. Graham shot 8-of-12, 5-of-7 from three-point range and 9-of-9 from the free throw line for 30 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal!
At 7:00 a.m. Beijing time on March 28, the Pelicans home vs Lakers, the ninth battle in the West entered a white-hot! Who are you bullish on?