Butler scores 20 as Bulls beat Jazz 85-77 on the road

Utah went 4-1 last week on its first extended road trip of the season. Hoiberg has confidence in his young forward. Frank Kaminsky scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the Hornets (7-3), who snapped a two-game skid. They both made baskets at critical junctures to slow Utah comeback attempts. I’m excited for the season he’s going to have.

“This team is different”, said Wade, who left the Miami Heat last summer to join the Bulls as a free agent.

As unusual as they are, the curious basketball experiment known as the 2016-17 Chicago Bulls has been an objective success thus far. Obviously, no one is.

This team also does a pretty good job of protecting the ball.

Wade continued: “He’s doing what me and (Rajon) Rondo came here for him to do”.

Lakers 125, Nets 118: D’Angelo Russell scored 32 points and Julius Randle added 17 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double in surprising Los Angeles’ victory over Brooklyn. Utah shot 38.5 percent from the field as a team and went 5-of-25 from deep.

The Bulls have attempted more free throws in nine of 11 games and have four games in which they shot better than 90 percent, a league best.

“I don’t see any reason, because we played this way tonight, that sirens are going off for our offense”.

Rudy Gobert finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Utah.

At some point during the Chicago Bulls’ upcoming six-game road trip that will span almost two weeks, a visit to the mall will be required. One is that in future years the Bulls and Blackhawks no longer have to endure two two-week road trips, and a subset of that is that those trips had resulted in a compression of our home schedules.

“One thing about this team already that I love about us (is) we already bond enough”, he said. Because sometimes, especially when you’re losing, a lot of people – you lose that eye contact.

I’m not saying that they need to get rid of Rondo – though, if you’re asking me, they should if they can get something of worth in return when he’s eligible in mid-December. With a chance to extend the lead, Hayward missed an open jumper over Lopez.

BULLS IN PORTLAND: Chicago has won two consecutive games in the Rose City for the first time since 1995-98, when it won three straight. It helped Chicago take a 34-29 lead.

Utah couldn’t really take advantage of the drought. However, over the next four and a half minutes, the Jazz countered with a 12-3 run to cut the lead to single digits.

“Yeah, if I go at the game with the same mentality, like Dwyane (Wade) told me, every time you step on the floor, you gotta have the mentality that you’re the best player out there”, Butler said. Your constants have to be defense and rebounding.

Chicago built on its advantage on both ends coming out of the locker room.

The Bulls are shooting 0.99 points per possession on putbacks, according to NBA’s public Synergy data.

Hornets 115, Timberwolves 108: Kemba Walker scored 30 points and Charlotte blitzed Minnesota in the third quarter.

The Bulls continue to pound teams on the boards like they did with Thibodeau. Even when we had that three-game stretch where we didn’t win, he kept his voice consistent. He has his BEST 3-point shooting percentage this season at 35.3 percent. He ranks in the top 10 in the National Basketball Association in assists.

This is only the second time this year the Bulls have held a team to less than 33 percent. But, just as everyone was starting to think this could work, the Bulls lost three straight to Boston, New York, and Indiana.