The Chicago Bulls dropped to 9-8 after a 13-point loss to the reeling New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans had lost nine consecutive games before defeating the Bulls, and to make matters worse, they did so without several key contributors, including Jordan Poole and Herbert Jones.
Chicago struggles to protect the paint
However, the loss to an injury-depleted Pelicans team wasn’t even the most alarming part of the night. Without starting center Nikola Vucevic, the Bulls surrendered a staggering 78 points in the paint. And it’s not as if Vucevic is some elite rim deterrent—opponents shoot just 2.