The Chicago Bulls dropped there second game in a row this time a close contest at home to the Portland Trail Blazers 112-110. The Bulls where closing late, but ran out of time. With the loss the Bulls fall to 11-9 on the season. Portland improves there record to 12-10 with the win.
The 1st quarter was tied at five different times and the biggest lead either team had was when the Trail Blazers where ahead 23-16. The Bulls came back to tie the game at 25 and then again at 29 all. Chicago scored the last 3 points of the quarter and took a 32-29 lead at the end of the quarter.
The 2nd quarter was close for a while and the teams found themselves tied on five different occasions. The last tie was 49 all and then the Trail Blazers went on a 12-2 run to take a 61-51 lead. The Bulls managed to knock off a couple of points from the lead and went into halftime trailing 65-57.
The Bulls went on a 10-1 to start the 3rd quarter and after Robin Lopez tip in the Bulls had the lead at 67-66. Chicago was able to get the lead to 5 points a couple of times, but for the most part the lead stayed right around 3 points. After Lopez hit 2 free throws C.J. McCollum hit a 3-pointer to close the quarter and cut the Bulls lead to 1 point at 87-86.
The teams traded baskets and after Dwayne Wade hit a couple of free throws the Bulls had a 93-92 lead with 8:33 left to play. Portland then went on a 11-0 run to take a 103-93 lead and the Trail Blazers never trailed again. The Bulls where able to cut into the lead and with 5 seconds to play they where down 3 points. Damian Lillard was fouled and hit both free throws and even though Jimmy Butler hit his last second shot the Bulls still dropped a 112-110 contest.
Damien Lillard was the Trail Blazers leading scorer with 30 points and handed out a game high 7 assists. C.J. McCollum scored 24 points, Maurice Harkless had 11 points and a team high 8 rebounds while Mason Plumlee added 10 points. Allen Crabbe came off the Portland bench to score 17 points and Evan Turner added 10 points off the bench as well for the Trail Blazers.
Dwayne Wade led the Bulls and was the games high scorer with 34 points. Jimmy Butler had 26 points and a team high 5 assists. Nikola Mirotic (18 points) and Isaiah Cannan (10 points) came off the Bulls bench to score double figures. Robin Lopez scored 7 points and grabbed a game high 14 rebounds.
This was game one of a 5 game road trip for the Trail Blazers. Portland gets a day off before they face the 10-9 Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. The Bulls on the other hand don’t get any time off as they have to turn right around and play the 11-11 Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills tonight.
The Bulls faced the Trail Blazers without starting point guard Rajon Rondo. Rondo was suspended for the game for “Conduct detrimental to the team”. It was reported that Rondo was yelling at the Bulls coaching staff specifically assistant coach Jim Boylin. The report also said that Rondo has apologized to the coaching staff and the team and will play tonight against the Pistons.
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