13 HRS AGO - Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images Jimmy Butler returns back to the United Center After two bad losses to begin the week, the Chicago Bulls rebounded with a 123-88 blowout win against the Orlando Magic last night. It was nice to see them take care of business against a team they are expected to beat. The game was tied after the first quarter but then Chicago took control by starting the second on a 16-0 run. They kept up the double digit lead and even got it up to 30 points in the second half. The win snapped the Bulls two game losing streak and now puts them at a record of 13-7. They are 1.5 games behind the Brooklyn Nets for first in the East. However, on the second game of a back to back, they face a tough challenger at the United Center. A team which is right behind Chicago in the standings and one, which like the Knicks, will make the Bulls grind out a victory. This is sure setting up to be a fun Saturday night matchup. The Miami Heat have enjoyed a solid start Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports wait wut I guess...well...hmm...it’s the NBA, after all. And weird losses can happen? The Bulls aren’t actually some juggernaut, and a road date against an NBA team isn’t a gimme. Even when that NBA team is the worst in the league, with one win all season, and not really trying to win when their veterans are getting limited minutes or DNPs. Alas, the Bulls really did it tonight, they were the ones to snap the Rockets 15 game losing streak in a befuddling 118-113 final score. The Bulls had won the 4th quarter and managed to get within 3 at points late in this game, but never re-took the lead after Houston had a 35-18 third period and a double-digit margin. Worth repeating: The Houston Rockets, who came into this game as the league’s worst offense (97.8 ORTG), put up 118 points (112.1 ORTG) on 50% shooting from the field. Yes, Houston was a bit lucky from three in hitting 17-36 (47.2%) from distance, but as an overall defensive performance the Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images hey, it’s blogging! Some random Bulls thoughts that are not fully baked enough for their own post but certainly too good to waste on ‘Bulls Twitter’: Alex Caruso’s on/off ratings will certainly get a bump after his one-game absence resulted in a huge margin of defeat against the Pacers. Zero fast break points, zero steals in that first quarter. Bulls look tired. They are no. 1 in points added in transition and it's not happening tonight. Get well soon, Caruso.— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) November 23, 2021 But, man, imagine how more valuable Caruso would be if he could hit an open three-pointer? For his last six games, Caruso is 3-22 from distance, tanking his season percentage to a career-worst 28.6% We don’t know yet if Caruso or Vucevic (or both) will be available tonight. They did both travel to Houston. Vuc has a logical spot back in the starting lineup with Tony Bradley retreating to backup duty. But will Caruso stay in with this Collapse

6 DAYS AGO - Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images After giving up the lead in third, Chicago responded huge It’s been a tough stretch of games for the Chicago Bulls but they keep finding ways to win. Against another opponent better than .500 in the New York Knicks, Chicago got a gritty and grueling 109-103 win at the United Center. It was also some sweet revenge after losing to the Knicks at home last month. The Bulls now have their 12th win of the year, putting them back into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls closed this out with a 37 point fourth quarter, which was needed after they squandered the lead in the third. The performance in the final 12 minutes was much in thanks to the duo of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. In terms of the offense overall, the Bulls had a pretty balanced attack with four guys in double digits. They shot 42 percent from the field but didn’t push the ball much in fast break, scoring just four transition points. Chicago continued Collapse

11/19/2021 - Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images Shake it off Congratulations to Steve Nash for completely jinxing the Bulls before their game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. Awww shucks pic.twitter.com/oTlyaP2kIM— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) November 17, 2021 This out-of-nowhere compliment came just about 24 hours before an epic Chicago Bulls collapse against the Portland Trail Blazers team. A loss reminiscent of previous iterations of Chicago Bulls squads that we’re all trying to remove from our collective memory. I was unable to catch that game, but did see the halftime score. I was on a long drive and was fully preparing to write a tweet about how I couldn’t remember even those Derrick Rose-led teams at the peak of his powers playing as good on the always brutal West Coast road trips as the 2021-2022 have so far. Suffice it to say, I was shocked when I got home and saw the final score. So, I can’t imagine the experience of actually watching it Collapse

11/17/2021 - Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images hey, the Bulls are good enough to encounter a ‘trap game’! After impressively sweeping the L.A. series in a back-to-back, the Bulls got one measly day off before encountering their next Western Conference foe in Portland. The Trail Blazers are having a season that seems worse than it is. That feeling is probably due to the internal pressure on that team to make a deep playoff run with their core after so many early-round exits. The Bulls meanwhile get to ride the good vibes of low expectations, nice! But objectively it is still a disappointment for the Blazers to see themselves at one game under .500 with a 7-8 record. They ARE 6-1 at home, though, where their ORTG goes from 104.7 away to 115.6 at home, and defensively that rating goes up from 116.2 on the road to 103.3 at home. That’s pretty weird! Probably not that significant, at least not as significant as those drastic statistical disparities would suggest. Even when things have Collapse

11/16/2021 - Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images happy homecomings! After a big win over the Clippers on Sunday night, the Bulls returned to Staples Center on Monday night and kicked the Lakers’ ass. Yes, it was without LeBron James, but the Bulls once again showed that they’re for real with a total beatdown. The Bulls dominated this game from the opening tip, with just a few sloppy stretches littered throughout that kept things interesting at times. They didn’t trail for a single second after a Lonzo Ball 3-pointer with 8:26 remaining in the first quarter, answering every Lakers surge with a run of their own. It was Ball who put the finishing touches on the game after one last Lakers push made it a 15-point game with just under 10 minutes to play after the Bulls had gone up 25 late in the third quarter. Ball hit a ridiculous 3-pointer in the corner, actually drove and made layup and then hit another triple as part of a big stretch to put the game away. He later made his seventh Collapse

11/15/2021 - Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images big games from DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and the defense The Bulls put forth their first dud of the season on Friday night against the Warriors, and Sunday night they faced a Clippers team that entered on a seven-game winning streak. While the visiting Bulls blew an early 17-point lead and looked to be on the ropes in the second half, they buckled down on the defensive end and got big scoring games from DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine to earn a huge 100-90 victory. DeRozan was truly outstanding in a homecoming game, going for 35 points on 12-of-16 shooting and 10-of-11 from the foul line after a couple of rough shooting nights. He said afterward it was his first game in Los Angeles since his father died: DeMar DeRozan dropped 35 points tonight and said this was his first time playing in LA since his father died. “He was at every game… tonight was one of those games that, I wish he was here”— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) November Collapse

11/12/2021 - Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports NBA Finals preview? Huge matchup tonight: it’s both conference leaders going head-to-head with the 8-3 Chicago Bulls embarking on their West Coast road trip to face the 10-1 Golden State Warriors. The Bulls are riding high heading into this game, but unfortunately some of the shine will be off the matchup due to absences. News broke on Thursday that Nikola Vucevic received a positive COVID test and is now expected to miss 10 days. Vuc certainly hasn’t played to his capabilities so far this season, but he’s an immensely important piece on both sides of the ball. With Patrick Williams also out, it is a very limited frontcourt rotation left for the Bulls. You’d expect Tony Bradley to start and some more minutes for Alize Johnson, who got in a bit versus the Mavericks after receiving DNPs the prior four games. Luckily that may be balanced out a bit in this game by a possible Draymond Green absence: he’s listed as questionable. If Green is out, the Collapse