Warriors lose to Bulls, suffer second straight loss
CHICAGO -- Jimmy Butler scored 22 points, Bobby Portis scored 17 points and had 13 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls recorded a 94-87 victory on Thursday over the Golden State Warriors, who suffered back-to-back, regular-season losses for the first time in nearly two years.
The Bulls (31-30) had four scorers reach double figures as Chicago won for the fifth time in six games.
The Warriors (50-11) dropped their second straight game since losing Kevin Durant to a knee injury on Tuesday night. Golden State, which was led by Steph Curry's 23 points, struggled to hit shots, especially from 3-point range, where the Warriors were 6 for 30 in the loss.
Klay Thompson scored 13 points to help pace a balanced scoring attack.
The loss marked the first time the Warriors have dropped consecutive games in the regular season since April, 2015.
Dwyane Wade, who scored 12 points, gave the Bulls an 88-85 lead with 2:16 remaining before Paul Zipser closed out a 7-0 run with a 3-point field goal as the shot clock expired that extended the lead to six points with just 1:41 to play.
The Bulls closed out the game from the free-throw line while the Warriors continued to misfire from outside.
The Bulls built an 82-77 lead almost three minutes into the fourth quarter on a Nikola Mirotic 3-pointer after the Bulls and Warriors combined to miss the previous seven shots before Mirotic hit from the corner.
But with the Warriors trailing by five, Curry scored four straight points and hit a jump shot after Mirotic blocked his initial shot. David West then put the Warriors up 85-84 with just under six minutes to play.
The Warriors led 51-47 at halftime. Despite struggling from the perimeter, including hitting on just 4 of 14 3-point attempts, Golden State led by as many as 10. Curry led the Warriors with 12 points while Thompson, who was 4 for 12 from the field, had nine.
NOTES: Warriors F Matt Barnes made his debut Thursday after signing with Golden State earlier in the day. The 36-year-old was signed after F Kevin Durant was lost for 4-6 weeks with a sprained left MCL and bone bruise. Barnes, who played for the Warriors from 2006-08, appeared in 54 games with Sacramento before being released. "I love his competitive desire," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "He's crazy in a good way." ...Kerr said Durant is in better spirits since receiving a second diagnosis after the original one when it was feared Durant could miss the remainder of the season. ...Bulls F Paul Zipser returned after missing seven games with ankle tendinitis. ...G Michael Carter-Williams (patellar tendinitis) did not play despite going through morning shootaround and practicing Wednesday. Carter-Williams has missed two straight games. "We just want to get him another day of practice," coach Fred Hoiberg said.