The New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls will close out their respective back-to-back sets Saturday night, but one looks drastically different than the other. The Bulls cruised past the Memphis Grizzlies 98-85 on Wednesday while the backcourt duo of Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose combined for 43 points.
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The reality for the Bulls is that they have won four of their past five games.
Porzingis scored four points in the half, but grabbed two offensive rebounds, including ripping one out of Joakim Noah’s hands that led to a 3-pointer for Jose Calderon. Afflalo, after being the team’s leading scorer the past two wins, racked up another 18 points.
Taj Gibson bemoaned Chicago Bulls’ 147-144 fourth overtime period loss to Detroit Pistons as “the worst feeling”. Jackson had 31 points and 13 assists as his pick and roll with Drummond flummoxed the Bulls all night.
For his efforts, Drummond became the first Piston to tally at least 30 points and 20 rebounds since January 2, 1991. The Knicks outscored the Bulls by 12 points in the 4:18 that reserves Kyle O’Quinn and Thomas played in the first quarter. Jackson then missed a shot for Detroit, sending it to a third OT.
Derrick Rose is still not looking like his former MVP self, but Jimmy Butler is carrying the load offensively, scoring 20.8 points per contest. Drummond, Rodman and Bill Laimbeer are the only Pistons with 30-20 games over the past 30 seasons.
The first domino following the Chicago Bulls’ marathon loss to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night fell when the team announced veteran center Pau Gasol did not make the trip to NY for Saturday night’s game against the Knicks. A big part of why the Pistons beat the Bulls earlier this year is due to their dominance of the Bulls’ bigs on the boards. NY led by as many as 30 points before using the fourth quarter to rest its starters, none of whom logged more than 28 minutes.
The mood in the locker room of a team that just lost a game in quadruple overtime is exactly what you expect it to be: Sadness, exhaustion and frustration fill the air.
Another strength that the Bulls have played upon recently is free throw shooting.
While Chicago won the second end of its only two previous back-to-backs, NY is 1-4 in the same situation. Rose played physical defense on Jackson at the first overtime buzzer. Rose countered with three straight driving scores for the Bulls.
The Bulls went to Butler, who drew three defenders. This includes a backbreaking lay-up with 54 ticks to go to give the Pistons a comfortable 145-139 lead. But the Pistons came back with a pair of threes to tie the game at 123 with 36.9 seconds left in the second overtime.
Butler then missed a 3 as time expired, bringing a wild game to a finish (see full recap).
The Pistons wouldn’t be denied in the fourth overtime.
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The Spurs were able to hold off the Clippers in the fourth quarter, which began with an 11-0 run that propelled San Antonio into a 96-88 lead that included a 3-pointer by Parker, who made several key baskets down the stretch.
