The Golden State Warriors were not at their best Thursday night. While they were gritty, a late injury to Stephen Curry, and masterful offense from the Bulls closed them out.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors' 125-122 loss.
A 4-point play, and DeRozan's first half changed it
The Warriors were in control of the game early. Then, DeMar DeRozan ended the first quarter with a four-point play, courtesy of a foul from Jonathan Kuminga.
Those were DeRozan's first four points of the game, and they turned a 10-point Bulls deficit into a 6-point deficit. From there, DeRozan kept chipping into the Warriors.
The local broadcast's interview with Hunter Pence took some of the air out of the game, especially in the first half. But while that was happening, DeRozan put up 14 points in the second quarter, finishing with 18 in the half, and giving the Bulls a 63-59 halftime lead.
Golden State had few answers for DeRozan, especially early, and late. The same was true for Nikola Vucevic, who finished with 33 points (14-of-23, 3-of-6 from 3-pt), 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 turnovers. Those two combined for 65 points, with DeRozan, especially, closing the Warriors out.
Just a step off everywhere
All of the juice that was present Wednesday night seemed to evaporate in the first half. It wasn't just the energy, though. Golden State seemed scattered, and at times, especially in the third quarter, desperate.
Instead of playing their game, running the floor and creating space for shooters, it became Chicago's style of game. The tempo slowed. Play was disjointed, and that half-court style of game slowly drained Golden State.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Warriors were shooting just 42.9 percent from the floor (30-of-70) and 27.3 percent from deep (9-of-33). The Bulls, meanwhile, were not missing. They were 14-of-31 (52.7 percent) from deep going into the fourth.
The only saving grace for Golden State was that they saved possessions by fouling Andre Drummond, who missed his first five free throws of the game.
The Warriors entered the fourth down 11 points, but nearly clawed their way back. The fight was there, but the Bulls executed late.
A chaotic fourth, as Curry leaves with an ankle injury
When you're not playing all that well, you've got to get crafty. At the end of the third, Chris Paul drew a smart foul off an inbounds play with the Warriors in the bonus.
At the start of the fourth, the Warriors fought aggressively against Drummond, knowing that he was unlikely to make his free throws. Draymond Green took a smart charge against Drummond, leading to him moving to the bench.
Chris Paul started taking free mid-range jumpers, and Jonathan Kuminga got back to driving. He took 10 free throws (and made nine), his fourth-most on the year.
There was also the effort. While they weren't close to clinical, they fought. Moses Moody, as usual, exemplified that.
Inside of 8 minutes in the fourth, Moody, with the Warriors down seven points, jolted Chase Center to life. He stole an outrageous offensive rebound against multiple Bulls players, got rejected, then went up again and got fouled by a crowd and sank his free throws.
The next possession, he fought for a steal, then went down for a two-handed dunk on the other end.
Chicago turned it over again on their next time down the floor, this time courtesy of Kuminga. Moody came up with the ball and moved it to Klay Thompson, who found himself wide open just inside the arc, for a deep two. The Bulls' lead, as much as 12 in the third, was down to a point with six minutes to go.
After a timeout, the Warriors reclaimed the lead with a Klay Thompson steal and outlet to Trayce Jackson-Davis, who ran the floor and threw a genuinely inch-perfect dime to Moody. Moody finished excellently at the rim.
Jackson-Davis came up lame on the other end, though, leaving Green to check back in.
Everything was contested at that point. Every shot, every rebound opportunity. It was chaos. On one possession, Curry missed back-to-back contested attempts, but both were rebounded by Kuminga.
Out of a timeout, Curry fed Kuminga for a wide-open dunk. On the other end, Curry took a charge from DeRozan. This was not the Warriors at their best, but it was them at arguably their grittiest.
But right as it seemed like the Warriors might pull it out, disaster struck.
On a drive inside, with less than four minutes to go, Curry rolled his right ankle, and limped into the locker room. So how would the Warriors respond? Well, but not well enough.
After picking up his fifth foul, Green drove down the other end to secure his 11th point, securing a triple-double. Despite some great rebounding effort from Moody, Vucevic tied the game at 114 all with an open 3.
Klay Thompson responded with a mid-range jumper to reclaim a 2-point lead, and the Warriors forced a stop. The Warriors set up a wide-open 3 for Green, but he missed it. On the other end, Coby White tied the game.
Then, Green fouled out of the game with a moving screen. Jackson-Davis, who hobbled off earlier, replaced him. Then DeRozan drove, spin, and finished a mid-range jumped to put the Bulls up by a couple with 42.6 left.
If this reads as chaotic, that's because it was. This was a game with 13 ties and 24 lead changes.
With no Curry or Green, the Warriors tapped Thompson, who hit a monster 3-pointer to briefly retake the lead. It was brief because DeRozan, of course, responded with a 3-point play.
It should have been tied up. But Brandin Podziemski just could not finish at the rim to tie it. He cut through the lane, got to the right side of the rim, but couldn't quite put enough spin on it to finish. Vucevic hit both free throws to ice the game.
Golden State was not at all at its best Thursday night, but a loss, with injuries to Curry and possibly Jackson-Davis, was a harsh result.
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