A pair of teams with lengthy injury reports, and one with a long losing streak, square off Sunday night when the Chicago Bulls host the Golden State Warriors.
The Bulls have lost six in a row and were without Tre Jones (ankle), Isaac Okoro (lumbar), Ayo Dusunu (thumb) and Kevin Huerter (hamstring) in a 120-105 home loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday. Chicago committed 19 turnovers.
Chicago guard Coby White, who has played in only six games this season while also dealing with injuries, said the team needs to stick together.
“The season is always going to be filled with adversity,” White said Friday night, per 670 The Score. “We got a chance to change the narrative right now. So the most important thing for me is that we don’t let go of the rope and we do this thing together.”
Josh Giddey (20.4 points per game) and Nikola Vucevic (16.2) remain offensive threats for the Bulls, but their quality depth has been drained. Chicago ranks 26th in the NBA in points allowed at 122.5 through 22 games.
“Nothing in the league is easily fixable,” White said. “We’re playing against the best competition every night, the best players in the world. For us, we’re going to have put in the effort. We’re going to have to fight and claw our way back to where we want to get to, but I believe we can.
“We’re a close group. We got a lot of great relationships on this team. For us, we just got to continue to have the honest conversations we’re having with each other and continue to grow. It’s going to take all of us, and it’s going to take a ton of spirit, a ton of heart. But it is fixable, which is the most important thing.”
Chicago will get no sympathy from the Warriors on the injury front. Golden State played at Cleveland on Saturday night without Steph Curry (quad), Jimmy Butler III (knee), Draymond Green (foot) and Al Horford (sciatica). Curry is out until at least the end of this week.
The Warriors overcame a rough start, scoring just 12 points in the first quarter, before prevailing 99-94 as Donovan Mitchell missed a potential game-tying three with under 5 seconds left.
Pat Spencer, making his first NBA start for Golden State, had a career-high 19 points and sank two free throws to seal the victory with 4.1 seconds left. Gui Santos had 14 points off the bench.
“We just competed our butts off tonight,” Spencer told reporters after the game. “We’re trying to weather the storm until we get healthy, but yeah, we’re fired up in there.”
“It’s the pick-and-roll threat that he brings,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters postgame. “Just takes care of the ball. One turnover in 30 minutes tonight, and seven assists. He just gets us into a really good offensive rhythm and gets guys shots. Just creates really good possessions. Even when we don’t score, the possessions feel good when he’s out there.”
Jonathan Kuminga and Will Richard, two player Kerr spoke about before the game as needing to produce, finished a combined 2-for-14 from the floor with eight points.
Golden State has won 14 of the last 16 meetings against the Bulls, including a pair of blowouts last season.
