FINAL FROM CHARLOTTE: Hornets 126, Bulls 125.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: Markkanen, 35. Hornets: Washington, 27.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Markkanen, 17. Hornets: Zeller, 12.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: LaVine and White, 7. Hornets: Graham, 8.
CCI RECAP: The Bulls couldn't hold a ten point fourth quarter lead, going over six minutes without scoring a field goal at crunch time. The loss spoiled a tremendous game by Lauri Markkanen who tied his career high with 35 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. The Bulls managed to pound the ball inside, scoring 78 points in the paint but the Hornets drilled a franchise record 23 made three point field goals- seven by rookie P.J. Washington, most ever by a player making his NBA debut. Washington, who finished with 27 points, hurt the Bulls along with Dwayne Bacon, Devonte Graham, Marvin Williams and Cody Zeller. Zeller registered a double-double and Graham came off the bench and tallied 23 points, six -three point field goals.
Rookie Coby White had a solid 17 points, seven assists game and newcomer Thaddeus Young poured in 17 points off the bench. The Bulls battled back from a sixteen point deficit but the Hornets prevailed in front of over 15-thousand fans.
Bulls vs Hornets Game Recap
CCI IN THE LOCKER ROOM:
"I thought we battled back. Down 16 in the second quarter. We had a good talk at halftime and got ourselves back in the game. I'm really proud of the fact we battled, but we have to do a better job of executing down the stretch." - Coach Boylen
CCI KEY STATS: Bulls: 78 points in the paint.. Hornets: 23 - three point field goals- a franchise record.
CCI GAME BALLS: Bulls: Markkanen. Hornets: Washington, Graham and Zeller.
Up NEXT: At Memphis Friday. 7PM CT on 670 The Score and NBCSC.
CCI 24 SECONDS NBA NEWS AND NOTES:
Miami 120, Memphis 101. Jimmy Butler missed the game for personal reasons. Justice Winslow scored 27 for the Heat. The Heat went on a 24-1 run to put the game away. Second overall pick Ja Morant had 14 points and four assists for Memphis.
Philadelphia 107, Boston 93. Ben Simmons with 24 points. Kemba Walker made his Celtics debut going 4-18 from the field.
Detroit 119, Indiana 110. Forget 21st century NBA hoops. Detroit's Andre Drummond played old school post up ball scoring 32 points and collected 23 rebounds. He had four blocks and went 8-10 from the line. Derrick Rose scored 18. Luke Kennard had 30 for the Pistons. Indiana's Victor Oladipo will be re-evaluated in one month (right leg rehab).
San Antonio 120, New York 111. The Spurs scored 37 points in each of the second and fourth quarters. LaMarcus Aldridge who earlier in the day had his 2020-21 contract guaranteed, scored 22 points. Marcus Morris who broke a verbal agreement with the Spurs, led the Knicks in scoring with 26. Rookie RJ Barrett scored 21 points on 9 of 13 from the floor- five rebounds and two assists.
Dallas 108, Washington 100. The Doncic-Porzingis era is officially on for the Mavs. The two combined for 57 points. Doncic added nine rebounds.
Orlando 94, Cleveland 85. Nikola Vucevic had a 21-9 game. Kevin Love with 11 points and 18 rebounds. Rookie Darius Garland finished with eight points spoiling the NBA head coaching debut of John Beilein.
Denver 108, Portland 100. The Nuggets handed the Blazers their first home opening loss since 2000.
Minnesota 127, Brooklyn 126 OT. Kyrie Irving scored 50 points in his Nets debut but missed a potential game winner. Karl Anthony Towns had a monster 36-14 game.
Phoenix 124, Sacramento 95. Ricky Rubio in his Suns debut had 11 points and 11 assists. Devin Booker had 22 points and 10 assists.
Utah 100, OKC 95. Donovan Mitchell was magnificent: 32-12-3. The Thunder backcourt of Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous Alexander combined for 48 points, 10 rebounds but only four assists.
LAC's Patrick Beverley was fined 25-thousand dollars by the NBA for throwing the game ball into the spectator stands at the conclusion of the Clippers win over the Lakers.
The Brooklyn Nets have signed former Bulls guard/forward Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot to a two-way contract.
The NBA announced Utah will host the 2023 NBA All Star Game.
Thanks for reading CCI. Reach out: cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter @ctsbulls
Always a pleasure.