The Chicago Bulls have been riding high so far early in this season. But they got a sobering dose of reality after they were walloped at the hands of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
It was a battle of the top seeds in both conferences that certainly didn't live up to the billing as the Warriors ran away with the 119-93 victory. Bulls star DeMar DeRozan was vocal after the game on why the loss was a vital one for his team to face.
Via Cody Westerlund:
Article Continues Below“It's really our first adversity,” said the Bulls star. “And that's where adversity builds a lot of character, so I'm pretty sure we're going to look at a lot of film tomorrow and figure out what we can do and be better at next game.”
DeRozan finished the game with 18 points on a brutal 4-for-13 shooting clip. The Warriors made sure to key in on the Bulls' two main scorers with Nikola Vucevic out, employing a box-and-1 strategy against headliner Zach LaVine. While LaVine managed to score 23 points on an efficient 10-for-17 shooting from the field, he did so with a game-high seven turnovers and a -19 plus/minus, tied for worst on his team.
“It’s a great learning experience for us,” continued DeRozan. “We got our butts whooped. Now, how do we respond?”
The Bulls trailed by six at halftime, but the Warriors turned things up in the third quarter, a longtime signature for Curry and Co., to take the frame 35-17 and put the game virtually out of reach. If Chicago wants to earn its place as an upper-echelon team, it has to be able to withstand losses like these, and eventually win them.