The visiting Golden State Warriors sank 22 threes — their second most of the season — and never trailed in a 123-91 slamming of the Chicago Bulls on Sunday night.
The Warriors played without Steph Curry (quad), Draymond Green (foot) and Al Horford (sciatica), but looked smooth from the start in winning their second game in as many nights.
Posting its lowest point total this season, Chicago has lost seven in a row, its longest losing streak since an eight-game slide in the 2019-2020 season.
Seven Warriors made threes as the visitors finished 22-of-47 (46.8%) from behind the arc. Brandin Podziemski came off the bench, sank five threes and finished with a game-high 21 points. Quinten Post had five threes and 19 points. Jimmy Butler had two 3-pointers and also had 19. Josh Giddey led the Bulls with 18 points.
Steve Kerr is 19-4 against the Bulls in his coaching career.
Golden State opened hot as Post had a pair of threes in the first 90 seconds. The Warriors jumped out to an 11-2 lead, forcing Bulls coach Billy Donovan to call a timeout.
The Warriors only scored 12 points in the first quarter Saturday night against Cleveland, but had 38 on Sunday in the first. They made their first four threes and led 23-10 after a steal and a dunk by Butler.
The lead grew to 49-34 in the second quarter after a layup by Gui Santos, but Chicago scored the next six points for its first sustained push. After a three by Moses Moody for Golden State and two free throws by Julian Phillips for the Bulls, Mataz Buzelis (16 points) got the home crowd buzzing with a ferocious dunk right at Post.
The Buzelis slam pulled the Bulls to 52-44, but Golden State closed the half on an 8-2 run, highlighted by a three by Podziemski falling into the Bulls bench.
In the third quarter, the Bulls got bloodied — Buzelis got clobbered while going for a rebound and sustained a bloody nose — and fell behind by 24 with 2:41 left in the third. Chicago then had its one big spurt, a 14-0 run highlighted by two threes from Giddey, and cut the lead to 11 at the end of the quarter.
However, Golden State erased any doubt, opening the fourth quarter with a 21-5 run capped by a three by Will Richard with 6:32 left to make it 108-81.
–Field Level Media
