Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine (8) drives against Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole, right, during the first half at the United Center in Chicago, Sun Jan 15, 2023 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
Sunday afternoon the Golden State Warriors (21`-22) took on the Chicago Bulls (20-24) the second game of this five-game road series. The Warriors will be challenged by the Bulls. Chicago has a couple of formidable weapons in Nikola Vucevic and Zach Lavine. After crushing the San Antonio Spurs Friday night the Warriors could have kept the momentum going into game two of this road trip?
The first quarter answered this question with a resounding No! The Warriors couldn’t overcome the Bulls in a 132-118 loss at the United Center. Golden State came out flat in the first 12 minutes trailing 35-20. They had a lot of work to do in the second quarter. The seven turnovers in the opening quarter really hurt the team that they’ve seen this far too often.
Golden State really turned this game around in the second quarter scoring 42 points to the Bulls 24. They turned this game inside out leading at the half 61-59. With only four turnovers in the second quarter the Warriors started hitting shots from downtown to take this lead after trailing at one time by 17 points.
The third quarter was a tough one with too many empty possessions for Golden State. The Bulls had scored 28 points off turnovers and the Warriors continued with these mental mistakes with seven turnovers in the third quarter. The Bulls took back the lead 92-86. The Warriors continued to foul sending the Bulls to the line which was largely responsible for the Chicago lead.
After leading at the half this game turned around again and Golden State was faced with another uphill climb. A horrible start, turnovers, and the Warriors were beating themselves in this game. Chicago continued to extend their lead in the fourth quarter leading 108-93 with 8:40 left in the game.
Inside of four minutes the Warriors put the Bulls in the bonus. It was going to take nothing short of a miracle to win their first back-to-back road game this season. Chicago’s offense was high octane in the final quarter. They had now scored 31 points off turnovers and Vucevic came unhinged and with 5:15 left in the game had scored 37 points, a season high for him.
With the clock running out the Warriors trailed 120-107. Turnovers and fouls lost this game for Golden State and until they turn this around, they will continue to suffer disappointment.
The Warriors finished the game with 23 turnovers to Chicago’s ten. They did score 20 shots from downtown which was all wasted. The start of any game is critical and Golden State had a horrible start in this game. Klay Thompson finished with 26 points and Stephen Curry had 20 points.
The absence of DeMar DeRozan did not hurt the Bulls. Nikola Vucevic finished with 43 points and coupled with Zach Lavine’s 27 points it was just too much for the Warriors.
Monday the Warriors will be in Washington to take on the Wizards in another day game. Tipoff is scheduled for 12:00 PM.
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