Bulls at Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers had a five-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday but still look like a lock to earn one of the top eight spots in the Western Conference. The Clippers will try to strengthen their position when they host the already-eliminated Chicago Bulls on Friday in the continuation of a six-game homestand.
Los Angeles was playing the second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday after putting together one of their most complete performances of the season in a 140-115 thrashing of the Boston Celtics the previous night and could not keep up with the Portland Trail Blazers in a 125-104 setback. "It was a tough back-to back, for sure," Clippers coach Doc Rivers told reporters. "But we saw it coming. You looked at the schedule and you saw Oklahoma (City), Boston, Portland, three in (five) days. Before it, I would've taken two of the three. After it, I wanted all three." The Bulls were officially eliminated from postseason contention with a 123-107 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday - their fifth loss in the last six games. "I don't think their heart is bad, I don't think their effort is bad," Chicago coach Jim Boylen told reporters of his players. "There's times when we make mistakes defensively, game plan mistakes. But we're trying, guys are trying. They're communicating; we're practicing it and we have to get better."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, WGN (Chicago), FS Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE BULLS (19-50): Chicago forward Lauri Markkanen struggled to 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting in Tuesday's loss and is shooting 34.4 percent from the floor over the last six games. That follows an 11-game stretch in which Markkanen averaged 26.5 points on 48.7 percent shooting and helped lead the team to six wins. "I know it will turn around," Markkanen told reporters. "I acknowledge that I'm not playing like I was in February (26 points and 12.2 rebounds in 10 games). But I'm going to keep working the way I do every day because everything feels the same. It's just not going in right now."
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (39-30): Sixth man Lou Williams was the star of the wins over the Thunder and Celtics while totaling 74 points on 27-of-44 shooting but slumped to 18 points on 5-of-16 from the floor in Tuesday's setback. "We ran out of gas in the fourth quarter," Williams told reporters. “Missing (small forward Danilo Gallinari) hurts, and we've had a pretty emotional week with some big wins, used a lot of energy on those games, so I think we just ran out of gas." Gallinari, who scored 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting in Monday's win, sat out Tuesday to rest a sore ankle and is not expected to miss any more time.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Clippers PG Landry Shamet is 23-of-44 from 3-point range over the last six games.
2. Bulls SG Zach LaVine (knee) and SF Otto Porter Jr. (knee) are both questionable for Friday.
3. Los Angeles earned a 106-101 win at Chicago on Jan. 25 - its sixth consecutive victory in the series.