The Chicago Bulls, a team that seems to be improving as midseason approaches, hosted the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. The Bulls, despite facing a team that had won twelve straight, won the game in a contest that was somewhat close as time expired.
They, the Bulls, put up a single-digit margin of victory in the game, winning by 9 points. The final score was Brooklyn 112, and Chicago 121 as the Bulls ended the Nets' 12-game winning streak.
Nets @ Bulls Wednesday: Kevin Durant scores 44
With the loss, the Nets are now 25-13 overall on the season. The top scorer in the game was Kevin Durant. He had a very impressive 44 points in the contest and Kyrie Irving had 25 points. The Nets suffered the setback as they bumped into a Chicago team that seems to be coming into decent form.
Brooklyn Nets: #1 Ranked Team at a Glance
- Overall record: 25-13
- Home record: 14-5
- Away record: 12-7
- Winning/losing streak: L1
- Last ten games: 9-1
The Bulls improved to 17-21 with the 9-point victory, a record that still sees them sitting four games below the .500 mark. Chicago has won six of their last nine games and the only really bad game that they played during that stretch was a double-digit loss to the Houston Rockets. Otherwise, Chicago has been a really tough team lately. Heading into December 20th, they were 11-18. Now, they are 17-21 and they are clearly heading in the right direction.
In defeating the Nets, the Bulls achieved a really impressive result when it comes to NBA power rankings. They beat the top-ranked team in our own power rankings at a time when Brooklyn was in great form.
It will be interesting to see if Chicago can keep their level of play up week after week for the remainder of the season. If they can, then they would easily project to a playoff team despite looking like a write-off in the early weeks of the season.
Further reading: NBA Power Rankings
