Matas Buzelis scored 29 points, Josh Giddey recorded his fourth triple-double in five games with 16 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists, and the Chicago Bulls opened their four-game homestand with a dominant 132-107 blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night at the United Center. Chicago outscored Memphis 71-50 in the second half and led for 80 percent of the game. The Bulls improve to 28-40. The Grizzlies drop to 23-44 and have now lost eight consecutive games.
Tre Jones added 17 points and Rob Dillingham contributed 15 off the bench for Chicago, which shot 52 percent from the field and put up 58 points in the paint to Memphis's 42. Cedric Coward led the Grizzlies with 17 points, while Jaylen Wells and Taylor Hendricks each added 16. Memphis was severely shorthanded: Ja Morant has not played in nearly two months, Zach Edey has been shut down for the remainder of the season, and Monday's game came without starters Ty Jerome (bruised shoulder) and G.G. Jackson (sore foot). Isaac Okoro remained out for the Bulls with a right knee injury.
Buzelis Broke It Open in the Third
The first half was closer than the final margin suggests. Memphis arrived in Chicago on an eight-game losing streak against a backdrop of mounting absences, but their available pieces played with enough competitiveness to stay within striking distance through two quarters. Jaylen Wells opened the scoring for the Grizzlies with a 10-foot floater and finished the first period with 7 points. Walter Clayton Jr. connected on a three off a Cedric Coward assist to trim what had been a modest Chicago lead to 8-9 at one point in the first quarter, and Memphis trailed by just two after twelve minutes, 29-27.
In the second quarter, it was Coward who kept the Grizzlies in it. He scored 12 of his 17 points in the period — going 5-for-7 from the field — and Memphis matched Chicago bucket for bucket long enough to trail by only four at halftime, 61-57. Giddey was doing his customary work in the playmaking column, racking up assists and rebounds in both directions, and Guerschon Yabusele hit a pair of threes off the bench to keep the Bulls' advantage stable. But heading into the break, the game was not decided.
The third quarter decided it. Buzelis, who had been quiet in the first half with 7 combined points on 3-of-6 shooting, turned the game into something else entirely. He scored 18 points in the third period alone on 7-of-13 from the field and 4-of-9 from three — step-back jumpers, pull-up threes, a dunk off a Giddey assist — while Chicago methodically dismantled a Memphis starting unit that had nothing left to offer. Every Memphis starter finished the third quarter at -16. The Grizzlies' bench — Cam Spencer (10 points), Taylor Hendricks (5), and DeJon Jarreau (2) — actually played well enough in garbage minutes to outscore their starting unit in the period, but the damage was done. Chicago took a commanding 97-86 lead into the fourth.
The fourth quarter had a shape to it even if the outcome was never in doubt. Giddey immediately extended Chicago's control, finding Buzelis for two quick dunks to push the lead to 103-91. Memphis briefly stirred: Taylor Hendricks threw down a dunk off a Cam Spencer assist, then Jaylen Wells hit a three to trim it to 99-91. But Kawamura answered with a two-pointer, and Giddey himself connected on a 26-footer off a Dillingham assist at the 9:43 mark to put Chicago up 106-91. That was effectively the last meaningful exchange of the game.
Dillingham was the standout down the stretch. His 10 points in 12 minutes came in two waves: first a 16-foot step-back off a Giddey assist while the starters were still on the floor, then — after Chicago's starters returned at the 6:56 mark — two threes set up by Patrick Williams and a two-pointer in between, as the Dillingham-Williams two-man game produced four quick buckets to push the lead past 20. Nick Richards converted a putback dunk after cleaning up a Giddey miss. Jalen Smith added a driving layup. Williams himself finished with 6 points on two threes — the first set up by Dillingham, the last a 26-footer off a Kawamura dish with 1:11 left that put the final score on the board: Bulls 132, Grizzlies 107.
Team Statistics
| Category | Grizzlies | Bulls |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | 39-86 (45%) | 48-93 (52%) |
| Three Pointers | 14-39 (36%) | 18-48 (38%) |
| Free Throws | 15-19 (79%) | 18-21 (86%) |
| Rebounds | 37 | 47 |
| Offensive Rebounds | 10 | 13 |
| Assists | 30 | 30 |
| Turnovers | 18 | 17 |
| Points off Turnovers | 25 | 22 |
| Steals | 10 | 9 |
| Blocks | 5 | 6 |
| Points in Paint | 42 | 58 |
| Fast Break Points | 18 | 12 |
| Largest Lead | 4 | 26 |
Giddey's Triple-Double Pace Is Becoming Remarkable
Giddey finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists — his 12th triple-double of the season and 30th of his career. Only Nikola Jokic (27) and Jalen Johnson (13) have more triple-doubles in the NBA this season. He is currently averaging career highs of 17.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 8.8 assists, and he has done it in just 46 games after missing significant time due to hamstring and ankle injuries. Four triple-doubles in five games is not a hot streak — it is a sustained pattern of playmaking dominance that very few players in the league can claim at any point in their careers.
His Monday performance was typical of what he does at his best. He spent the game finding teammates in space, protecting the ball (2 turnovers in 34 minutes), and pulling down defensive rebounds that cut off Memphis's second-chance opportunities. His 13 assists included multiple kick-outs to Buzelis, a lob to Nick Richards, and a string of finds for Tre Jones in the first quarter. Jalen Smith, who finished with a team-best +30 in 27 minutes, benefited directly from Giddey's ability to collapse the defense and create easy looks at the rim.
Buzelis, meanwhile, is in the middle of a run that is worth paying attention to. The second-year forward — the 11th pick in the 2024 draft — has now logged three of the four highest-scoring games of his career in the last three weeks. His 29-point night was the best of the bunch that didn't include his 41-point career-high against Golden State, and his third-quarter explosion was the defining sequence of Monday's game. He shot 7-of-13 in that period alone and finished 12-of-22 from the field overall, including 5-of-13 from three. On a night when the opponent handed Chicago a favorable matchup, Buzelis made the most of it.
Off the bench, Dillingham's fourth quarter is worth noting. He scored 10 points in 12 minutes, going 4-of-6 from the field with a pair of threes, and finished +14 in those minutes as Chicago put the game away. Patrick Williams was quiet through the first three quarters but contributed 6 points in the fourth on two threes in seven minutes. The depth of this roster, built through the trade deadline, was on full display Monday in a way it hasn't always been. Everyone contributed, no one forced anything, and the result was Chicago's most complete performance in several weeks.
Looking Ahead
The Bulls are now 28-40 and sit 12th in the Eastern Conference, six games out of the last play-in spot. The math on the postseason is unfavorable, but the four-game homestand that opens Monday provides an opportunity to string some wins together on familiar ground. Chicago is 17-18 at the United Center this season. The next game is Wednesday against Toronto at 7:00 p.m. CT.
For Memphis, Monday extended a miserable stretch that shows no sign of reversing. The Grizzlies have now lost eight in a row and gone 3-15 in their last 18 games. With Morant sidelined, Edey done for the year, and Jerome and Jackson both unavailable, the roster Memphis is putting on the floor bears little resemblance to the team that entered the season with playoff expectations. They host Denver on Wednesday. The Grizzlies are 23-44.