By Richard Kagan

The NBA’s big boys came to town and although the Chicago Bulls were pumped, The defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors had too much offense and won, 119-112 at the United Center.

Klay Thompson scored 38 points for the Warriors. Stephen Curry went for 30 points. Kevin Durant added 19 in a win, that saw Golden State (37-9) go on a 19-0 run in the third period to break open the game. The Bulls rallied back and came within five points when Kris Dunn scored on a fast-break play to make it 112-107. Dunn fell to the court hard and went to the locker room with under three minutes to play.

Chicago played the Warriors tough in the first quarter and scored 40 points to take a 40-38 lead buy Golden State asserted itself and took a half-time lead and saw it balloon in the third quarter as the Warriors outscored Chicago by 20 points.  Curry and Thompson put on a three-point clinic. Draymond Green sat out this game. Andre Iguodala also did not play.

Chicago (17-28) was led by Nikola Mirotic with 24 points. Dunn and Robin Lopez scored 16 points each. Forward Lauri Markkanen had 11 in the game. Guard Zach LaVine, in his third outing since returning to the lineup, only had five points on 2 for 12 shooting.  Justin Holiday was equally cold, going 2 for 12 also. When two of your starters have such cold shooting nights, it usually spells defeat. But the Bulls battled back in the fourth quarter to make it a fairly close game. Golden State made the plays to win its 14th straight road win, an impressive feat.

The Warrior were relentless. They shot three-pointers as if it were an exhibition game.

The Bulls now go on a three game road trip. Mirotic is currently the subject of trade rumors. The NBA trade deadline is in the first week of February. His stock has certainly risen. The question is what can the Bulls obtain for him?