No Bottom in Sight: Bulls Drop Tenth Straight in 131-99 Blowout to Hornets

Brandon Miller scored 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, Kon Knueppel added 21 off the bench, and LaMelo Ball distributed seven assists as the Charlotte Hornets dismantled the Chicago Bulls 131-99 on Tuesday night at the United Center, claiming their team-record eighth consecutive road win. Miles Bridges contributed 16 points and seven rebounds in his return from a four-game suspension stemming from a Feb. 9 altercation against Detroit, Ball chipped in 16 points of his own, and Moussa Diabate — also returning from that same suspension — started alongside Bridges and finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Charlotte shot 51.6% from the field and sank 25 of 57 three-point attempts — one shy of the franchise record — en route to improving to 28-31. The Hornets outrebounded Chicago 46-33 and outscored the Bulls 31-18 in assists, building a largest lead of 38 points.

Chicago fell to 24-35 with its 10th consecutive loss — matching the franchise's worst losing streak since January 2019. Matas Buzelis led the Bulls with a career-high 32 points on 13-of-19 shooting and six three-pointers in 33 minutes, but it was a performance that existed in a vacuum, completely disconnected from the collapse happening around him. Jalen Smith did not play due to a strained right calf, thinning Chicago's frontcourt options further. Josh Giddey finished with eight points and five assists but also committed five turnovers and posted a -22. Isaac Okoro was a staggering -33 in 27 minutes. The Bulls committed 21 turnovers that Charlotte converted into 29 points, and their inability to protect the ball in the second half helped turn a one-point halftime deficit into a rout.

The Third Quarter Said Everything

The first half gave at least the illusion of competition — and for a stretch in the second quarter, more than that. Chicago actually led by nine at one point in the second period before Charlotte closed the half on a run, taking a 56-55 lead into the locker room. A one-point halftime deficit. Perhaps, the thinking went, this was the night the streak ended against a Charlotte team that has had its own share of struggles this season. Then the third quarter began.

Charlotte outscored Chicago 42-16 in those 12 minutes, including a decisive 22-2 run that turned a close game into a coronation. Knueppel was at the center of it — he hit back-to-back threes midway through the quarter, scored 10 straight points by himself, and in doing so reached 201 career three-pointers in just his 58th NBA game, becoming the fastest player in league history to that mark. Miller then hit three straight shots including one of his five threes to cap the run and push the Hornets ahead 88-65. Not a run that did it — a surgical dismantling. By the time the fourth quarter tipped off, Charlotte led 97-63, and the Bulls were playing for pride that had long since left the building. Okoro was a -22 in the third quarter alone, Giddey -18, Jones -19. Chicago scored just 28 in the fourth, and the final margin of 32 points tells the story accurately.

Buzelis Carries Himself, But Can't Carry Everyone

There's only so much a 21-year-old can do. Buzelis was the one Bull who showed up the way this team needed — 32 points on 13-of-19 from the field, six three-pointers made on 11 attempts, seven rebounds, and genuine aggression in his shot-making through all four quarters. His 13 points in the fourth quarter came in a game that had already been decided; he kept competing anyway. He finished -7 for the night, which given the scope of the collapse, reflects just how isolated his individual effort was from what was happening around him. Buzelis has now been the most consistent offensive option on this roster in the post-deadline stretch, and on a night when absolutely nothing else worked, that held true again.

The rest of the scoresheet was a quiet indictment of this roster's current state. Patrick Williams had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and shot 3-of-5 from three, which looks fine on paper — but he was a -4 in 26 minutes, and his four turnovers undermined the efficiency. Guerschon Yabusele finished with 11 points but shot 3-of-8 and was a -9. Collin Sexton came off the bench for 10 points in 28 minutes. Rob Dillingham had a tough night shooting, going 2-of-9 for six points, but he put together a useful line — five rebounds, five assists, and a handful of plays that showed his instincts as a distributor. He was -21, a number that says less about Dillingham individually than it does about the rotation's inability to hold anything together in the second half. The turnover problem that has followed this team all month surfaced again: 21 as a team, including five from Giddey and four from Williams, leading to 29 Hornets points off turnovers. Chicago managed just 13 off Charlotte's 16 — a 16-point swing that came on top of a 13-rebound deficit and a 12-point fast break disadvantage.

Then there was the other side of Tuesday's box score — Coby White, the guard Chicago traded to Charlotte at the deadline earlier this month, came off the bench and scored 10 points in 15:33 against his former team. The United Center gave him a short video tribute as he entered midway through the first quarter, a warm send-off from a city where he played six and a half seasons. He accepted it graciously — and then helped beat his old team by 32. Knueppel, meanwhile, finished as the most efficient offensive player in the building: 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting with three threes and a +24 in 23 minutes — and, in the process, became the fastest player in NBA history to reach 200 career three-pointers, getting there in just 58 games. White's 10 points combined with Knueppel's 21 gave Charlotte 31 bench points — while Chicago's bench combined for 30, with Sexton's 10 leading the way and Dillingham providing the most connective tissue of anyone coming off the pine.

Looking Ahead

The Bulls return to the floor Thursday night to host the Portland Trail Blazers at the United Center at 7:00 p.m. CT. Portland, sitting near the bottom of the Western Conference, represents the kind of opponent Chicago has to beat if this team is going to end the streak before it becomes something more historically significant. The status of Jalen Smith — held out Tuesday with a strained right calf — will bear watching before tip-off. The Bulls also continue to await word on the timelines for Jaden Ivey and Anfernee Simons, neither of whom has been available since joining the team at the deadline. Getting either of them into the rotation would provide a much-needed injection of guard depth, though Tuesday's loss made clear that the issues run deeper than any single player can solve.

Ten games. That's where this team is now. This losing streak matches the franchise's worst in seven years, and it has come at the worst possible time — the post-deadline period that was supposed to give the front office a meaningful look at what the new roster could become. What they've seen instead is a team that can compete for a half but cannot sustain it, that is drowning in turnovers, and that has no answer when opposing offenses come at them in the third quarter. Buzelis will be fine. The questions about everything else — the center-less rotation without Smith, the backcourt's lack of reliable creation, the inability to hold leads — those aren't going away by Thursday. They'll still be there when the Blazers tip off, and they'll be there for whatever comes after that. The only way out of a losing streak is through it, and Thursday night is the next chance.