Splash Bros. lay bricks vs. Butler, Grant
A victory was there for the taking all night long and in the final minutes, the Bulls took it.
Not only did a 94- 87 win hand the Golden State Warriors their second consecutive loss for the first time since April of 2015, but it moved the Bulls ( 31- 30) into the No. 6 spot of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Call it a gutsy victory. Or call it a bad night for the Warriors’ All- Star backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, as the Splash Brothers performed more like the Crash Brothers.
Either way, the Bulls weren’t going to complain about the results. Curry and Thompson combined to go 3- for- 22 from beyond the threepoint line and the usually highoctane Warriors went 6- for- 30 ( 20 percent) from long range as a team.
“We tried to find a way to make them take as difficult a shot as possible, and we did a solid job with that,’’ coach Fred Hoiberg said, when asked if it was what his team did or what Curry and Thompson didn’t do. “We started Jimmy [ Butler] on Klay, and obviously Jimmy is one of the top defensive guards in the league. Jerian Grant in the second half did a solid job on Steph when Jimmy was on Klay.
“It certainly wasn’t our 15- point explosive offensive fourth quarter. We had to find a way to try and get stops to get this win and our guys were really locked in on that end.’’
Former Bulls guard turned Warriors coach Steve Kerr expressed concern about the energy of his team coming into the game, and that became reality in the first half. So while the Bulls were slow out of the gate, the visitors ( 50- 11) did little to take advantage of the situation.
By the third quarter, the Bulls outscored the defending Western Conference champs 32- 22, and Thompson and Curry were a combined 3- for- 13 from outside the three- point line.
“Mix of both,’’ Butler said. “Yeah, they missed a lot of shots that they usually make. But we did our job for the most part, making them take tough shots. But it’s a blessing to have them miss that many shots.’’
Life without KD
The Warriors will be without MVP candidate Kevin Durant for at least the next month after he suffered a sprained MCL and a bone bruise on his left leg and Kerr said it’s about picking up the pieces.
“Given the way the whole thing unfolded, he’s doing pretty well, because at first we thought he was done for the rest of the year,’’ Kerr said. “The second prognosis was way better than the first.
“You just got to deal with it and the best way to do that is to cut your margin of error down a little bit. So the little stuff that you sometimes forget to do counts more. On a free throw for an offensive board, letting guys get into the paint, we’ve had some slippage the last few games and some things we’ve got to clean up.’’
Zipping it up
The Bulls are almost completely healthy. Rookie Paul Zipser came back from left ankle tendinitis for the game with the Warriors. Only Michael Carter- Williams was still dealing with a left knee injury, but he was also close to returning.
Zipser immediately was thrown back into the rotation mix on Thursday and scored nine points.
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