CHICAGO _ Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen has been playing with a sore oblique muscle for two weeks, coach Jim Boylen said Tuesday.
"If you've ever had one of those, it's just a weird injury," Boylen told reporters at the Advocate Center hours before the Bulls played host to the Knicks. "It's not enough to keep you out; it's not enough to stop your momentum. But it's enough to maybe influence how you do things and how you play, and he's fought through it and I'm really proud of him."
Markkanen has been shooting below his typical averages, particularly from behind the 3-point arc. His 3-point (27.9%), field-goal (38.5%) and free-throw (80.9%) percentages are all down from last season, when he shot 36.1% from long distance, 43% from the field and 87.2% at the line.
Boylen said he didn't know how much the injury was to blame for Markkanen's shooting woes.
"He's a good shooter. He's always been a good shooter," Boylen said. "Shooters go through slumps. Hitters go through slumps. It happens."
Markkanen spoke to reporters before Boylen did, and he didn't mention being hurt. He did acknowledge he needs to shoulder more of the offensive load.
"I can play a lot better than I've been playing," said Markkanen, who's averaging 14.9 points, almost four fewer than last season's 18.7 average. "First of all, I've got to look at myself in the mirror: What can I do better? We've got a lot of guys this year that can score the ball, so it might be a different guy every night."
As one of the Bulls' top three scorers last season with Zach LaVine and Otto Porter Jr., Markkanen is essential to the Bulls offense. He has had several wayward shooting nights in the first 10 games, particularly from long range.
His 35-point outburst against the Hornets in the season opener masked a 1-for-7 performance from behind the arc. There was no disguising his 1-for-10 night from 3-point range against the Grizzlies in the next game.
In Saturday's loss to the Rockets, he shot 3 for 10 for 13 points, missing all five 3-point attempts.
Scrutiny about Markkanen's shooting is what first prompted Boylen to lay some of the blame on Markkanen playing hurt.
"I'll stick up for him a little bit. He's fighting through an injury," Boylen said. "He hasn't stopped practicing, he hasn't stopped working out. He's fought through, which is growth for him to fight through some of that. He's never complained, he's never whined, he's never (said), 'I don't know if I can do this.'
"It's, 'Coach, I'm going to do the best I can, I'm going to give you everything I have.' When you have a mentality like that, good things happen for you. When? I don't have a crystal ball."
Markkanen said he has to make better decisions between taking 3s and driving to the basket.
"Just got to read the defense better, what they're giving (me)," he said. "Sometimes it might be a shot fake and drive instead of a shot. Just got to read the closeouts better."
