The Bulls entered Dallas Friday on a three game losing streak, but it was exactly the type of losing streak you don’t mind seeing from a young, rebuilding team.
The streak started with a four point home loss to the Washington Wizards. The Bulls had a six point lead erased in the fourth quarter when Bradley Beal scored 15 consecutive points on his way to a 39 point night. Kris Dunn battled John Wall effectively all night, and blowing late leads is commonplace in the NBA when a young team like the Bulls is playing an established playoff contender like Washington.
The Bulls lost their next game to Portland in overtime after blowing another 4th quarter lead. Dunn and Markkanen had good nights but the Bulls turned the ball over too much, and Fred Hoiberg paid the price for sitting Nikoia Mirotic in the end of regulation and all of overtime, a mistake that wasn’t as big of a deal that the media made it out to be.
The Bulls then dropped their third straight home game on Wednesday night, as they entered the fourth quarter tied with the Toronto Raptors before fizzling down the stretch.
Three straight games where the young Bulls played well and looked competitive, and the end result brought them three steps closer to the top of the draft board.
That leads us to Friday’s game, where a career night from Dunn helped the Bulls snap their losing skid.
The Bulls point guard went off for a career high 32 points on 12 for 17 shooting while adding 9 assists and 4 steals.
Rather than listening to me tell you about how well he played, just take a look for yourself here:
In tonight's win, Kris Dunn matched his jersey number and posted a career high 32 points. 💯 pic.twitter.com/HA1oNlCIXV
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 6, 2018
We mentioned recently that Dunn has been consistently showing signs of being a premiere player in this league, and with performances like last night’s there isn’t much reason to doubt him.
With Zach Lavine set to return shortly, the Bulls backcourt is about to be realllllly fun to watch.
