Messed With the Second Best in the West

The common thought this NBA season is that only the San Antonio Spurs could potentially eliminate the Golden State Warriors in this year's playoffs.  They had also won 39 straight home games entering Thursday, so the Bulls were underdogs already based on that.  While Dr. James Andrews confirmed Jimmy Butler had no new issues with his knee, the All-Star still missed the game.  That made the 109-101 loss more predictable, but still not any easier to take.

The Bulls played about as evenly as they could for most of this game.  It was nationally televised and they tend to show up to play in the spotlight.  But the 21 turnovers to go with an inability to finish on offense were too much to overcome.  On the other hand, the Spurs simply don't lose at AT&T Center, so if the aforementioned issues didn't kill them, something else surely would have.

Demonstrating how well the Spurs are at sharing the wealth with each other, Kawhi Leonard (29 points), LaMarcus Aldridge (26) and Tony Parker (20) all made 10 field goals apiece.  Parker achieved a double-double with 12 assists, as did Aldridge with 11 rebounds.  Leonard and Aldridge made all 11 free throws attempted between them.  Tim Duncan became the sixth player in league history to grab 15,000 career rebounds.

Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol tied for the Bulls lead in scoring with 21 each and Gasol also had 12 boards.  E'Twaun Moore scored 20, including four 3-pointers.  Justin Holiday, who has jumped Tony Snell in the rotation, added 12.  Nikola Mirotic pulled down 10 rebounds.

There's not much to say about this game other than the Bulls were simply outmatched and probably would have been even if Butler had played.  You can't argue with the effort against the NBA's second best team.  Were they playing a weaker opponent, they might have had a better shot.  Instead, the Spurs made them pay for their mistakes, as all elite teams typically do, and we have ourselves a measuring stick on how poorly the Bulls would do in the playoffs, and probably the regular season, if they had to face the best of the West so frequently.

With the loss, the Bulls drop to 32-31 and half a game behind Detroit for the final playoff spot in the East.  They'll have to forget this quickly as they go right back at it Friday at home against the Miami Heat.  Last time these teams met, Miami greatly humbled their hosts in South Beach.  Here's hoping this game will at least be as close as Thursday's was.