Bulls 138, Clippers 110: Bulls catch fire from three, as Giddey nears return

There haven’t been many easy ones for the Chicago Bulls this season.

Their 138-110 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, however, was one of them.

The Clippers looked like an old team on the second night of a back-to-back without their best player, Kawhi Leonard. The Bulls, on the other hand, looked like they had been shot out of a cannon, making 14-of-27 threes in the first half, while the Clippers went just 3-of-13.

The Clippers put together a run at the start of the third quarter, cutting a 21-point halftime deficit back down to six, but the Bulls quickly ballooned the lead back up to 21 before Clippers’ coach Tyronn Lue emptied his bench to start the fourth quarter.

Back to their typical formula of bench production, team assists and pace, the Bulls dominated in key categories. Namely, they outscored the Clippers by 36 from deep, tying their franchise record with 25 made threes.

Now 21-22, the Bulls move back to within one game of .500, and could be getting some reinforcements back as soon as Thursday. More on that below.

Tune into the CHGO Bulls postgame live: 

Up next: The Bulls will head to Minnesota for a matchup with the Timberwolves on Thursday night. In their previous matchup, on December 29, both Josh Giddey and Coby White left with soft tissue injuries, costing them extended time. The Bulls were competitive before the backcourt exits, but fell apart shortly thereafter. 

Heading into their own Tuesday night game, the 4th seed Wolves (27-16) have lost two straight and three of five. On the season, they own a +6.1 point differential (5th) and are top-seven in the NBA in both offense and defense.

After dealing with a toe infection that cost him two games, Anthony Edwards erupted for 55 points against the Spurs on Saturday night. Expect more explosive games from him after he was snubbed as an All-Star starter.

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Sounds like Giddey is nearing his return.

He responded really, really well,” Billy Donovan said of Giddey’s ramp-up. “I think he feels very good. Today was kind of a lighter day for him. Today, tomorrow will be a little bit more intensity and stuff, but certainly trending in the right direction. There is a possibility he could be available the Minnesota game. I think a lot will depend on how everything comes out today and possibly tomorrow.”

After leaving in the third quarter on December 29, the Bulls have been without their highest-paid player for the last 11 games. It was tough timing for Giddey, losing a chunk of the season during the heart of All-Star fan voting. Coming in at 14 in the initial fan voting, Giddey fell outside the top-20 in the East during the final fan voting returns.

Giddey is having an incredibly strong statistical season, averaging 19.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 9.0 assists on 46.6 percent shooting. Only Oscar Robertson (5x), Nikola Jokic (4x), LeBron James (1x) and Luka Doncic (1x) have had seasons with those numbers, and all of them, including Jokic this season, were named All-Stars, according to Basketball-Reference.

Still, his 11-game absence alone may be insurmountable, especially when the team is 15-15 when he’s in the lineup, and now 6-5 without him during this stretch.

“I think you could certainly make the argument he was playing at that level for strong consideration,” Donovan said. “I think with the way he’s played, yeah, certainly he would deserve strong consideration. Now, I think, (he has been) out of sight, out of mind — it’s been, whatever it is, ten or 11 games that he’s missed. That may be something that contributes to it, but if I think if you look at his body of work up to that point in time, he certainly played at a really, really high level.”

— Will Gottlieb

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Bear Down. Caleb Williams sat courtside. You love to see it. Hey, look, a franchise player from one of our city’s other teams that’s actually TRYING to be GOOD. Crazy idea, I know … sigh.

Ayo Dosunmu is shooting the freaking lights out this season, and especially this month. And it’s awesome. The Bulls had Dosunmu, Matas Buzelis and Kevin Huerter drilling a zillion threes tonight. That was necessary early, as the team struggled to do any scoring inside.

Respect to the still-old-without-Kawhi-and-Beal-and-CP3 Clippers, who put up a fight in the third quarter on the second night of a back-to-back. But the Bulls kept running and running. That, with the hot outside shooting, was enough to get the W tonight.

Really disappointed in Kris Dunn, who only committed one foul in 26 minutes. What happened to the Kris Dunn we knew and loved?

White, Nikola Vucevic, Tre Jones, Dosunmu and Isaac Okoro were all still in the game with a 30-point lead under seven minutes to go…Necessary?

— Matt Peck

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Caleb Williams at the Bulls game. Figured I’d start with that. 

When the Bulls score in the 120’s, they win. That’s it.

Bulls were scalding hot from the three-point line, once again shooting over 50% for the first half. Don’t know how long this kind of shooting from the arc will continue, but it’s real nice to see. 

The Bulls did a good job of answering the Clippers when they cut the lead to single digits. You saw Buzelis take over a little bit, which is all I want to see.

Bulls have definitely found a rhythm with the crew that’s out there. They are playing even more unselfish (if that is even possible) and everyone is getting a shot at being the guy. 

Matas. Buzelis. YES. He played very well. More of this. All the time. 

I liked what I saw from Dalen Terry. Transition Terry is the best version of him and when his defense is going along with that, watch out. 

I am simply out of words for how well Ayo Dosunmu has been playing. He’s been great.

— Big Dave