The struggling Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers share mutual feelings entering a matchup Wednesday in Chicago: Neither team is proud of its performance over the past nine games.
Cleveland is 3-6 during that span after climbing to a season-best six games above .500 with a 12-6 record just before Thanksgiving.
Slumping Chicago has lost eight of its past nine games as struggles from the floor and on the defensive end continue to mount.
Wednesday marks a brief pause in a string of home games for the Cavaliers, who are in a run of seven of nine in their own building. The stretch includes a home rematch with Central Division rival Chicago on Friday.
Cleveland’s typically friendly home atmosphere has been hostile of late, with the crowd booing the Cavaliers in three of the past four games.
That included Sunday’s 119-111 overtime loss to Charlotte, which saw Cleveland shoot just 40.0% from the floor, including 31.6% from 3-point range. While Darius Garland led the way with 26 points, star Donovan Mitchell scored 17, more than 13 shy of his season average, on 6-of-24 shooting.
“No one is feeling sorry for us. I wouldn’t feel sorry for us,” Mitchell said. “The only way we get out of this is us doing it as a group together. I know it’s cloudy, it’s dark and we’re getting booed. We deserve it. Our play hasn’t been stellar.
“I was a fan once. I would boo us too. We’re not playing well. The city deserves better than what we have been giving. As long as we continue to stay together in this locker room, we will be all right.”
Bulls opponents have averaged 121.1 points a game on 49.4% shooting over the past nine games while Chicago has averaged 111.0 points, under their season mark of 117.2 per game.
The Bulls were tied with the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 81-81 early in the fourth quarter Sunday but made seven turnovers down the stretch en route to a 114-104 loss.
Coby White scored 20 points and Kevin Huerter had 16 to lead the Bulls, who were 13 of 49 (26.5%) from 3-point range. It was their third worst shooting game from long range this season.
While Huerter went 4 of 8 from deep, White was just 1 of 10. White is a mere 3 of 23 (13.0%) from distance in four December games but has given himself grace as he continues to get reacclimated from injuries that sidelined him for much of the early season.
“We’ve got a lot of games left; I’m not putting too much into it,” White said. “I know who I am as a player and know what I’ve done in the league, 37%, 38% ranges (on 3-pointers), so it will even out. It’s going to take time, but we don’t have a lot of time on our side. Everything was short or long, so I tried to adjust.”
As with Cleveland, Chicago has navigated multiple injuries in recent weeks.
“We’re starting to get guys back,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said, “but we haven’t played whole.”
Cleveland has dominated the recent series with Chicago, winning five straight and 12 of the past 13.
The Cavaliers netted a 128-122 home victory against the Bulls on Nov. 8 behind 29 points apiece from both De’Andre Hunter and Mitchell.
The Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic has averaged 19.5 points in his past four games against the Cavaliers but had just nine on 4-of-11 shooting in the Nov. 8 matchup.
