CHICAGO _ Life without forward Lauri Markkanen began for the Bulls on Friday night, just hours after the team announced that Markkanen, one of their most important players, would be out for at least a month.
The Bulls have struggled to score consistently even with Markkanen on the floor, but in their first game without him, their offense labored through a 98-81 loss to the Kings. The Bulls shot just 39% from the field and 21.6% on 3-pointers.
A frustrating night for the Bulls spilled over to the court in the fourth quarter when they were hit with a pair of technical fouls _ first when guard Zach LaVine argued with an official on a non-call and then when coach Jim Boylen continued yelling from the sideline on the next possession.
LaVine attempted to pull the Bulls into the game with 10 straight points to start the second half, but they could not overcome an off shooting night from LaVine, who went 8 for 21 from the floor and finished with a team-high 21 points. But with about two minutes remaining in the game and the Bulls preparing for a back-to-back Saturday night in Cleveland, Boylen pulled his starters to concede the loss.
The absence of Markkanen, who has a stress reaction in his right pelvis, will make life difficult for the Bulls whose frontcourt has been decimated by injuries this season. The Kings took advantage by making their first nine field goals in the paint and scoring 30 of their 54 first-half points in the paint.
That might be the game plan for teams to attack a Bulls team missing four key frontcourt players _ Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., Daniel Gafford and Otto Porter Jr. And without Markkaken the Bulls will have trouble scoring consistently enough to keep up.
Buddy Hield paced the Kings with 21 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
