The Bulls Failed To Score Double-Digit Points In The First Quarter Against The Celtics

The Chicago Bulls had lost four games in a row coming into Sunday afternoon’s matchup with the Celtics and after the first half, a fifth-straight loss seemed imminent after one of the worst offensive performances you’ll ever see from an NBA team.

The Bulls opened the game by going 0-for-12, taking more than six minutes to score their first points of the game. The shot chart for those first six minutes is horrifying.

Things didn’t get much better in the final six minutes of the first, as Chicago finished the quarter with nine points on 3-of-26 shooting (11.5 percent), which is almost impressively bad.

Maybe the best stat (or worst, depending on your affiliation to the Bulls) of the first quarter was that Chicago had more players see the floor than points scored.

Things didn’t get much better in the second quarter as the Bulls finished the first half with 26 points. This clip is a pretty good example of how the entire first half went for Chicago, as Cam Payne got ripped before he could even get the ball across mid-court and then Avery Bradley hit a three after stealing the ball.

The first half shot chart is the kind of thing that will give you nightmares.

https://twitter.com/CBSSportsNBA/status/841023179883704320

This all came against a Boston squad that, while a very good basketball team, is a league-average 17th in defensive rating at 105.9. It is sadly not surprising to see the Bulls struggle mightily on the offensive end of the floor. Chicago is averaging 92.8 points per game during this four game losing streak (the worst in the NBA over the last four games) and are shooting a dismal 41.4 percent from the floor.

This recent stretch by Chicago is what many feared to be the worst-case scenario when the Bulls roster took form this offseason. The Bulls’ offense lacks any creativity or spacing beyond Jimmy Butler and without any other real offensive threats, Chicago’s offense can pretty easily be shut down.