Kyle Kuzma came through in the clutch. Once again, the Chicago Bulls did not.
Kuzma drilled a fadeaway three-pointer over a lunging Alex Caruso in the final seconds of the Washington Wizards‘ 100-97 win over the Bulls.
How did Zach LaVine respond? By dribbling in and taking a two-point jumper. Down three points.
To be fair, LaVine did appear to be fouled by Delon Wright, who pointed to the ground afterward, indicating it was a take foul, not a shooting foul – Washington had a foul to give.
It’s another close loss for the Bulls, who are 4-10 in games decided by five points or less. Overall, the Bulls are 8-15 in games with clutch situations, the fourth-worst in the NBA.
Is something wrong with the Bulls in the clutch? Their three-point shooting has been worse (25.4 percent in the clutch, 37.6 percent overall), but they’ve mostly been unlucky. They’re 1-4 in overtime games, which by definition were dead even after 48 minutes. And their point differential in the clutch is -0.1, which is 15th in the league.
The real issue Wednesday night wasn’t the final seconds, but the third quarter, when the Bulls gave up 41 points to a sub-.500 team playing without three of its starters. Struggles in the clutch are making the Bulls look worse than they really are, but what they really are still isn’t very good.
