PSA: Newly appointed Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen will not hesitate to take his players out of the game if they aren’t ready to perform. Boylen went with the old hockey substitution, subbing out his entire starting five early on in the first quarter and again at the 9:02 mark in the 3rd quarter.
The starters never took the court again and watched the rest of the final 21 minutes on the bench. The starters combined for a total of 27 points. Boylen’s reasoning behind benching the starting five? He believed that the practice today would benefit them more than in a game that was already lost.