When the first two teams met in Arizona, the Bulls started off hot early as they scored 31 points in the first quarter while stopping the Suns from reaching 20. “We have to be really demanding of ourselves and look ourselves in the mirror and know that we have room for improvement”. Then, we come out and be down 16 on the last game of six games in nine nights.
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While the Bulls have posted home wins against teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs, they have not found a way to consistently play with the killer instinct needed to put away their opponents in crunch time.
Chicago led most of the way, and its advantage grew to 77-61 entering the fourth quarter as Phoenix was held to 10 points on 4-for-20 shooting in the third. “It’s wide open but you got to go for it. If we want to be up fighting for something, we got to change things up a little bit”.
In the match, Jimmy Butler was phenomenal for the Bulls as he finished with 32 points and six rebounds while playing nearly 43 minutes.
“We got a 16-point lead, play our best defensive quarter of the year, outscore them 26-10 in the third and follow that up with our worst defensive quarter of the year”, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said.
Greg Monroe’s go-ahead lay-up with just over five seconds left was enough for the Milwaukee Bucks to get their ninth win of the season, as they withstood the upstart Portland Trail Blazers. After three quarters of deciding to not play basketball, Brandon Knight woke up in the fourth quarter and took over the game for Phoenix.
Booker last shot, a catch and shoot three out of a timeout, brought the Suns back to within a bucket to allow Eric Bledsoe and then Teletovic to close out the game. Trailing 101-96 after a 3-pointer by Butler with 1:51 left in the fourth, the Suns scored the next five points. Rose had a chance to give the Bulls the lead with 28 seconds to play, but he missed a jumper, setting up the final possession for Phoenix.
Watch the unbelievable game victor in the video player above.
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On the season, the Chicago Bulls average 98.7 points, 48.4 rebounds and 22.5 assists per game.
