Flu bug bites Jimmy Butler, Niko Mirotic, Bulls lose 2 straight to OKC & Wiz
Coming into Monday night’s game vs the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Bulls were riding a natural high.
Winners of 3 straight games vs Eastern Conference playoff teams and their star Jimmy Butler was fresh off a stellar performance in which he poured in 42pts in an overtime victory over the Toronto Raptors.
It was the type of streak that had the feel that this Bulls team who have been meddling in the middle all year had finally turned a corner. But just like with any team that is hovering over the .500 mark at this point of the season, something had to come up and disrupt the momentum the Bulls developed over the last 3 games.
This time, it was the flu bug.
Early Monday, news broke that Jimmy Butler was not at shootaround due to him feeling under the weather but he would attempt to lace em’ up and play vs Russell Westbrook and the Thunder. Talks of a Jimmy Butler “Flu Game” quickly spread like wild fire, but once the game tipped off, it was clear that “Buckets” was not his usual self.
Finishing with just 1pt on 0-6 shooting, Jimmy Butler didn’t have enough in the tank to wheel is Bulls to a W like he did in the 3 previous games and the Bulls fell 109-94, ending the Bulls winning streak at 3. Dwyane Wade finished with 22pts on 7-16 shooting and Michael Carter-Williams added 15pts in the lose.
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OKC 109 BULLS 94 Final Postgame with Freddy Hoi…#TheBIGS
Posted by Eugene McIntosh on Monday, January 9, 2017
The next night the Bulls were set for the 2nd night of the back to back vs the Washington Wizards without 3 of their most important players. Jimmy didn’t travel as he nursed his way back from the flu but the flu bug had claimed another victim in the process, Nikola Mirotic also missed the game due to being under the weather. And the Bulls resident OG Dwyane Wade also sat out the game to rest.
With their work cut out for them, the Bulls put up a valiant fight but the Wizards slowly but surely took control of the game in the final seconds and thanks to a shot by John Wall with 5 seconds left in the game, the Wizards were able to squeak out a win vs the shorthanded Bulls 101-99.
Rookie Denzel Valentine who received a bulk of playing time due to Butler, Wade, and Niko being out, had an impressive game pouring in 19pts. Much talked about PG Rajon Rondo also returned to the rotation for the first time in 5 games and dropped 12pts with 6 dimes in 27 minutes. Fred Hoiberg says you can expect Rondo to receive more minutes off the bench moving forward.
The L to the Wizards drops the Bulls buck under .500 to 19-20 and 9th place in the east.
Next up, Thursday night the Bulls take on the New York Knicks and a couple of familiar faces in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Tip-off is at 7pm.
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