Josh Giddey made his return to OKC on Monday night as the Chicago Bulls took on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Giddey spent the first three seasons of his career with the Thunder before being traded to the Bulls during this past offseason. Giddey has been one of the best players in the NBA during the last month, but that didn’t show on Monday night as he finished with just 15 points in a 145-117 loss.
The Thunder were simply too much for the Bulls to handle on Monday night. Things quickly got out of hand in the game as Oklahoma City ended up leading by over 40 points, and Chicago emptied the bench.
“We couldn’t make a shot (3-of-19 threes at half); they are the best defensive team in the league,” Giddey said after the game, according to an article from NBA.com. “They make it tough on you. We turned the ball over too much, myself included. We dug ourselves a hole and couldn’t find a way out of it; that is the best team in the league for a reason. If we want to get up to par with teams like this, we’ve got to be way better. And if we want to be serious about the team we want to be or where we want to get to, tonight was not good enough from myself or a lot of guys.”
Giddey wasn’t the only player who struggled for the Bulls. Coby White has also been red-hot lately, and he was held to just seven points. The Bulls have been winning a lot of games recently because of the way that White and Giddey have taken over contests. If they combine for 22 points, Chicago isn’t going to win a lot of games.
The Thunder are one of the best teams in the NBA this season, and there is no shame in losing to that squad. However, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan wasn’t happy with how his team looked on Monday.
“I was really disappointed, quite honestly,” Billy Donovan said. “We could have played our very best game and still not won, but I was disappointed. They are a very good team and have been the most consistent team in the league. The things we talked about coming into the game were taking care of the basketball, especially coming off the last game against Dallas where we gave up turnovers. We talked about their slapping and reaching and grabbing and being active with their hands, and when the ball does get to the paint they are going to collapse. But I don’t think we gave ourselves enough of a chance.”
Losing is one thing, but not showing any competitiveness is another. The Bulls were dominated from the very start of the game, and that was very discouraging to see based on the way that the team has looked this past month.
The Bulls had won nine of their last 11 games before their home contest against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. The team now has a couple of disappointing losses in a row, and Chicago needs to end the skid on Tuesday night at home against the Toronto Raptors.
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