It was fair to wonder if the Chicago Bulls were about to start free-falling down the standings after stringing together two of their worst performances of the season in back-to-back games during the second week of Dec. The Bulls were riding a four-game winning streak heading into Cleveland on Dec. 8 before getting smacked by the Cavs, 115-92, with four players out in health and safety protocol, headlined by the absence of DeMar DeRozan.
Three nights later, the Bulls traveled to Miami and learned they now had seven players in protocol after positive tests to Ayo Dosunmu and Stanley Johnson — who hadn’t even played a game with the team since signing a hardship exception.