Recap: Short-handed Blazers Easily Beat More-Short-Handed Bulls, 118-98

With Chicago Bulls, outside of Robin Lopez, looking every bit like the anti-Cheers team (where nobody knows your name), the Portland Trail Blazers got through their post-Nurkic hangover for a very easy 118-98 victory (Box score). There are no throwaway games in March, but this was as close as it gets. Nonetheless, here are a few initial thoughts.

• We learned little tonight. With these Bulls being utterly awful, we learned nothing. Kanter started in place of Nurkic, but there is no telling if that is a successful move against a team that looked like a D-League squad plus Lopez. All our questions are unanswered.
• All wins are valuable. Even if Portland struggles down the stretch (which is not a guarantee), every win makes it easier to avoid a worst-case-scenario plummet to face the Warriors in the first round.
• Let’s move on. There’s nothing else to do. Nurkic isn’t coming back this season, the Bulls are awful, and Portland got a chance to have basically an extended scrimmage to work out their new roles in the rotation. On to Atlanta.

What’s Next

As noted above, Blazers are at Atlanta, early evening (PDT) Friday.