On Saturday night against the visiting Charlotte Hornets, the Chicago Bulls were looking to win their third straight home game without starters Coby White or Josh Giddey, on the second night of a back-to-back. But a critical injury early in the third quarter essentially gave Charlotte a layup line to the basket — and a win.
Heading into the game, the Bulls had gone 8-2 against the Hornets in their last 10 encounters. But Charlotte’s luck turned tonight. The Hornets, like the Bulls, were heading into the bout on the second night of a back-to-back, having lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 122-121 on Friday. Chicago beat the Orlando Magic by seven thanks to a late push.
Patrick Gorski-Imagn ImagesFirst Half: A Blitzing First Quarter Puts Chicago Up Big
The Hornets got off to a brisk 5-0 start in the game’s first minute, before a nifty Matas Buzelis find to Jalen Smith cutting backdoor broke the drought.
Billy Donovan looked to feed starting center Nikola Vucevic early, which tends to keep him engaged in games. Vucevic had a big night… but Chicago lost by double digits. What… a… shock.
The Bulls leaned on an early two-man high-low game with Vucevic and Buzelis. Chicago logged lots of quick, decisive interior scoring, shying away from 3-point shooting in the first frame.
An Ayo Dosunmu halfcourt buzzer beater put the Bulls up by 12 points, 39-27, heading into the second quarter. It wound up being the highlight of the game for Chicago, which fell apart soon thereafter.
AYO FROM HALF COURT ?? pic.twitter.com/HovFnovznX
— Bulls on CHSN (@CHSN_Bulls) January 4, 2026The Bulls carved out a 15-point edge midway through the second quarter and were leading 50-37 with four minutes remaining in the half — then the Hornets went on an 8-0 run. Chicago’s offense regressed a bit, settling for triples rather than trying to drive into the paint.
In so doing, the Bulls let Charlotte back into the game. Ultimately, the Bulls held onto the lead, but it had become a fairly manageable 58-50 advantage at the break.
Bulls Player of the Half: Nikola Vucevic with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field and seven assists.
Patrick Gorski-Imagn ImagesSecond Half: Jalen Smith Goes Down, Chicago Unravels
Jalen Smith and LaMelo Ball had an ugly head-to-head collision beneath the basket early in the third frame. Ball managed to shake it off and stay on the floor; Smith had to be helped off the floor by Zach Collins and the training staff.
Smith would not return to the Bulls bench.
LaMelo Ball and Jalen Smith had a head-to-head collision. LaMelo stayed in the game while Jalen headed back to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/vNGaLpHZFm
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 4, 2026A 12-0 Hornets run early into the third put Charlotte up for the first time since the first quarter. It would be a harbinger of things to come.
Chicago’s offense ran out of steam midway through the third quarter. At one point, the Bulls missed 11 straight shots across a six-minute stretch. The Hornets went on a 25-4 tear to create a bit of separation, but Donovan looked to feature Vucevic again as time wound down, which helped Chicago pull within single digits late in the quarter.
All told, Charlotte connected on 8-of-14 field goals (5-of-8 from long range) to Chicago’s 3-of-19 shooting from the floor (2-of-9 from deep) in the period. The Hornets also outmuscled the Bulls for a 17-6 rebounding advantage, and chipped in 10 fastbreak points to Chicago’s zero.
Charlotte outscored the Bulls 32-17 in the frame. That tally was the Bulls’ worst third quarter of the year thus far, and ultimately swung the game. The Hornets led, 82-75, heading into the fourth.
While the Bulls scrapped a bit to try to keep things close early, the Hornets pulled away down the stretch, leading by as much as 18 points. The Hornets outscored Chicago 62-41 in the game’s second half. Chicago lacked the proper interior physicality necessary to box out the Hornets down low.
For the second time in the last eight days, a chippy Nikola Vucevic called out a rival team’s All-Star for putting up a dunk with time running out in an impending Bulls loss and Chicago waiting out the clock.
Vucevic nearly got into it in the postgame dap line with Giannis Antetokounmpo during last Friday’s defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks, when he broke away for a flush with the game out of hand. The exact same scene played out postgame on Saturday.
LaMelo Ball ran up Charlotte’s advantage after he swiped the ball and broke away for an undefended dunk. Vucevic, no doubt feeling that this was a sacred violation of the unofficial NBA rule that you don’t hit a team when it’s down like that, had words for the Hornets point guard in the handshake line after the buzzer, and eventually had to be separated.
If only Chicago’s aging center cared nearly as much about defense as he does about semi-meaningless late-game etiquette, then we’d really have something.
To his credit, Vooch did finish with a season-high 28 points on an efficient 11-of-15 shooting from the floor (3-of-4 from 3-point land) and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, dished out eight dimes, grabbed seven boards and blocked a shot.
But the absence of Smith exposed just how limited Vucevic is defensively — while also necessitating frontcourt minutes from Julian Phillips and Patrick Williams, who may not be NBA-caliber players.
After a few nice games, Williams came back down to earth. In 14:58 against Charlotte, the 6-foot-6 FSU product scored zero points, going 0-for-7 from the field. He notched a team-worst -14 plus-minus.
Dosunmu had another nice game in the absence of White and Giddey, scoring 16 points (14 in the first half).
Miles Bridges was the Hornets’ standout player. The 6-foot-7 power forward got pretty much whatever he wanted against Chicago, especially in the second half without Jalen Smith guarding him. Bridges scored 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and pulled down 14 rebounds, while registering a game-high +19.
The Hornets enjoyed significant edges in rebounding (52-43), 3-point efficacy (36.6 percent for the Hornets against 26.8 percent for the Bulls), and free throw takes (23-14).
The defeat drops Chicago to a 17-18 record on the year.
Bulls MVP: Matas Buzelis with 17 points and eight rebounds. I can’t give it to Vucevic, who tried harder to fight LaMelo Ball after the final horn than he did to protect the paint.
After the game, Donovan confirmed that Smith is now indeed in concussion protocols, Johnson reports.
Next up for the Bulls is a Tuesday road tilt against the Boston Celtics, who have gone a surprising 21-12 on the season despite missing Jayson Tatum.
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