Bulls at Knicks
The Chicago Bulls ended an otherwise solid homestand with a complete clunker against the New York Knicks. At the very least, the Bulls do not have to wait long to set things straight, as they visit the Knicks on Thursday in the second half of a home-and-home set.
Chicago was 3-0 on its homestand and had won nine in a row at the United Center against New York but it had no answer for the normally punchless Knicks, who went 14-of-25 from long range en route to a 115-107 win on Wednesday. Rookie Kristaps Porzingis broke out of a funk with 29 points and 10 rebounds for New York, which had averaged just 84.7 points during a three-game losing streak leading up to Wednesday's encounter. The Bulls saw leading scorer Jimmy Butler limited to seven points on 3-of-11 shooting in falling a game behind Indiana and Detroit for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. They now begin a closing stretch in which they play eight of their final 12 games on the road.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSN Chicago, MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE BULLS (36-34): The lone bright spot Wednesday night was the sharp shooting of Nikola Mirotic, who tied the franchise record with nine 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 35 points. That was just a footnote to a one-sided affair that saw the Knicks gain a 53-34 rebounding advantage and limit Chicago's starters to 49 points. "They just out-horsed us, out-toughed us all night long," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (29-43): Coach Kurt Rambis' recent decision to move Arron Afflalo to the bench and start Sasha Vujacic seemed to pay dividends Wednesday, as the former stuffed the stat sheet in a reserve role while the latter had a small hand in limiting Butler and also made his only two shots - both 3-pointers. Afflalo finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and a season-high seven assists with just one turnover in 35 minutes. All-Star Carmelo Anthony returned from a one-game layoff due to a migraine to score 24 points and he is averaging 23.7 on 50 percent shooting in three games versus the Bulls.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Bulls had zero turnovers in the first half Wednesday and finished with a season low-tying six.
2. Anthony has hit 15-of-27 3-pointers in his last six contests.
3. Chicago PG Derrick Rose is averaging 20.3 points on 59.6 percent shooting in a three-game hot stretch.