3 takeaways from the Chicago Bulls' loss to the San Antonio Spurs

DeRozan's former team ruined his historic night, handing the Bulls their third loss of the season

© Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

DeMar DeRozan became the 50th player to reach 20,000 career points against the San Antonio Spurs. Still, his former team ruined DeRozan's historic night, handing the Bulls their third loss of the season. Here are three main takeaways from yesterday's game.

Pop is a class act

DeRozan eclipsed the 20,000-point mark by sinking a mid-range jumper with 5:43 remaining in the first quarter. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who worked with DeMar for three years in San Antonio, called a timeout right after the bucket, allowing the AT&T crowd to honor the moment.

All class @spurs

Gregg Popovich called time out to honor DeMar DeRozan hitting 20K pic.twitter.com/omznCMEtMn

— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) October 29, 2022

DeMar led the Bulls in scoring with 33 points -- he shot 11-for-20 from the floor and 11-for-12 from the free-throw line. However, the Bulls fell to the Spurs 129-124.

The second unit strikes again

Patrick Williams (10) and Ayo Dosunmu (12) were the only other starters to score in double digits for the Bulls. Playing without Zach LaVine, who was out with left knee injury management, Chicago once again got a much-needed spark from the reserves.

They set the season-high for bench scoring with 57 points and played a key in the team's 2nd quarter comeback -- the Bulls' second unit had outscored the starting five by halftime. 

Coby White led the bench scorers with 19 points. Drummond added 17 along with 14 rebounds. Dragic chipped in 9, and Jalen Green and Derrick Jones Jr. both had 6 points for Chicago.

Poor defensive night

The Bulls nabbed 13 steals, scored 30 points off San Antonio's 21 turnovers, and had 25 fastbreak points. They also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and converted 22 second-chance points.

However, that wasn't enough to overshadow the poor display on the defensive end where the Bulls allowed 129 points on 53.5/42.1/80.8 percent shooting splits. Chicago once again struggled to defend the three-point line -- the Spurs shot 16-for-38 from range -- and they now sit 29th in the league in opponent 3-point percentage allowed (42.5%).

Keldon Johnson was the one who capitalized on the Bulls' bad perimeter defense. He shot 6-for-12 from long range and led the Spurs with 33 points in 35 minutes of action.