Chicago Bulls' inability to shoot and make threes evident in loss to Brooklyn Nets

Former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy knows what he's talking about when it comes to the importance of the three-pointer. After all, he used that weapon to great success in steering the Orlando Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. And so, when the coach-turned-broadcaster mentioned late in the game between Chicago and Brooklyn that the Bulls weren't going to win many games without making a lot of threes, he wasn't wrong.

And while there were plenty of reasons why they lost to the Nets, 116-105, the most glaring one was their horrendous three-point shooting. The Chicago Bulls made just 5-of-26 shots from beyond the arc. It could have easily been 3-of-24 if not for a pair of meaningless, late-game triples from Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic.

Lack of shooting

The point is that the Bulls are not going to be a successful team this season if they cannot find a way to improve their shooting from deep. In contrast, the Nets made 17 of their 44 attempts from rainbow country, with Joe Harris making more by himself (6) than the entire Chicago squad.

Final in Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/fPYUQukhP1
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 10, 2023

Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas knows his squad is in for an uphill battle in every game when their offense sputters due to their aversion to three-pointers.

"The reason why we were in a lot of games last year, we were not shooting a lot of threes but we were making them. We're still making them. But now our defense is in the top-10 but our offense is in the 20s. Most of the times, we depend on our offense right now. The games we can't make a shot; last game, we had 14 points in the first quarter and 14 in the fourth. That's struggling on offense. In terms of rate, yes, we'd like to bring the three-point rate up more," said Karnisovas.

Tough road ahead

With the Bulls staying put at the trade deadline, they missed a solid chance to help fix the team's three-point shooting woes. Now, barring any pick-up from the buy-out market, they will have to make the most of what they got and hope that some players can get into a rhythm from beyond the arc. Otherwise, it's going to be a long season for Chicago fans.

Flight 8 in attack mode! ✈️@ZachLaVine | #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/GCGHohlkMp
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 10, 2023