FINAL: LAC 112 Bulls 106 ( Bulls: 23-44, 15-19 at home)
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: Portis: 19. LAC: Jordan: 29 LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Portis: 9 LAC: Jordan: 18 LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Dunn: 6 LAC: Rivers: 6
CCI 24 SECONDS COMMENTARY: A terrific first half flow for both teams as the Bulls and Clippers exchanged inside play with Robin Lopez and DeAndre Jordan scoring at will. Lopez played the entire opening period and poured in 12. Meantime, Jordan was the recipient of soft lobs near the rim and manufactured dunk after dunk after dunk. The Bulls hit the wall in the third quarter being out scored 28-18 and their attempt to play catch up in the fourth quarter came up short.
Bobby Portis with another strong game of 19-9 and played hard no matter the score. Cam Payne with a 10 point 5 assists performance off the bench. Kris Dunn was rock solid with 18 points and 6 assists and David Nwaba was, well, David Nwaba with 15 points using his strength on post ups.
CCI STAT OF THE NIGHT: 41. The Clippers attempted a whopping 41 free throws. The Bulls 15.
UP NEXT: At Memphis Thursday.
NBA NEWS AND NOTES
Toronto 116 Brooklyn 102. The Raps have won nine straight and 16 of 17. D’Angelo Russell scored 24 first quarter points for the Nets.
Cavaliers 129 Phoenix 107. LeBron James is averaging a triple-double over his last 15 games. He notched his 69th last night of 28-13-11 as he handed the Suns their 50th loss of the season.
Minnesota 116 Wizards 111. KAT scored 37.
Indiana 101 Philadelphia 98. In what could be a preview of an opening round playoff series, Myles Turner scored 25 for the Pacers. Indiana with a season - high 12 games over.500. Big win for Indiana on the road ending the 76ers 13 game home win streak.
Lakers 112 Denver 103. Isaiah Thomas scored 12 of his 23 points in the 4th quarter. The Lakers have won 3 out of 4.
Dallas 110 NY 97. The Knicks have lost 8 straight, 16 of 17. The Mavs have won three of four.
OKC 119 Atlanta 107. Russell Westbrook recorded his 100th career triple- double.
NOLA 119 Charlotte 115. Anthony Davis putting up some crazy numbers: 31 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks.
Utah 110 Detroit 79. The Jazz have won seven straight and 19 of their last 21. Utah made 17 of 21 field goals in the first quarter and led 42-21 at the end of the period.
San Antonio 108 Orlando 72. Kawhi Leonard missed his 59th game of the season with a quad injury.
Golden State’s Stephen Curry will miss four more games due to a right ankle injury.
Thanks for reading CCI. E mail me at cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter: @ctsbulls
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