'On me': Giddey takes blame as Bulls’ losses mount

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Australian All-Star calibre point guard Josh Giddey admitted the rest of the NBA now knew how to beat the Bulls as he took responsibility for Chicago's in ability to win close games down the stretch.

The Bulls, after starting the season 6-1 have crashed to 9-14, have the lightest load over the next 10 days outside of the All-Star Break. They play Saturday, December 13 (AEDT) against Charlotte, still without Australian Boomers teammate Josh Green, and New Orleans on Monday, December 15 (AEDT).

“It is much needed, Giddey said.

“It will be good to have the break to get back to what we are good at. The memo on us is out: crash the boards, get back in transition; that’s how you stop the Bulls.

"So we have to figure out ways to counteract that and be effective. We’ve shown we can do it and we’re capable.

"So it’s a matter of doing it night in and night out whether guys are injured or not. We’ve just got to find ways to put stops and possessions together like we did early.

“I’m all for optimism and positivity, but at some point we have to look in the mirror and say how can we be better as a team and what do we need to do to impact winning,” Giddey added.

“These four days, I think one win will put us in the right direction. Attack it, have good practices and get ready for Charlotte.”

The 23-year-old Bulls leader said poor execution down the stretch, not crashing the boards and sticking to their own scout had contributed to multiple losses. Added to that starter Isaac Okoro, and rotation players Kevin Huerter, Jalen Smith, Tre Jones, and Ayo Dosunmu (day-to-day) are all out or limited.

"It all comes down to fourth-quarter execution," Giddey said.

"Rebounding has killed us down the stretch. In the last couple of minutes, teams get desperate, they start sending five guys, and we just haven’t boxed out the way we needed to — myself included.

"We’ve given up too many O-boards, and it leads to dagger threes, putbacks — it kills your momentum.

"So defensively we’ve got to do a lot better job rebounding.

"Offensively, we’ve got to start getting into sets and getting into things. I think we change the way we play when the game gets close down the stretch.

"A lot of that’s probably on me — I’ve got to get us better organised in those last two, three minutes so we can get good looks.

"We can live or die by good shots. Whether you make or miss them is going to vary on different nights.

"But we’ve lost a lot of games where we just haven’t executed on both sides of the ball — and that’s a sour feeling because it’s in your control.

"Once we flip that, we’ll be a lot better down the stretch."

Chicago Bulls 2025–26 Season Summary (Through Dec 8)

Record: 9–14
Start: 6–1
Since then: 3–13
Current streak: Lost 3 straight
Offense: High volume at rim but poor finishing; declining assist-to-turnover ratio
Defense: Has conceded 140+ three times in the last two weeks

The Bulls have shifted from a top-of-the-East storyline to a team searching for defensive identity, frontcourt stability, and late-game execution.

Start: A dream 6–1 opening behind Giddey and Vucevic

Chicago opened the season 6–1, playing some of the best basketball in the East.

Key features of the hot start:

• Josh Giddey set the tone as the primary playmaker, posting double-digit assists in four of the first five games.
• Nikola Vucevic was dominant, with multiple 14+ rebound nights and big scoring bursts.
• Rookie Matas Buzelis broke out early, including a 27-point game vs Sacramento.
• Chicago posted five straight wins, scoring 115+ in all of them.

This stretch featured:

• Signature wins: vs Detroit, @ Orlando, vs Atlanta, vs Sacramento, vs New York
• Giddey’s early season statement game: 32–10–9 vs New York (Nov 1)

At 5–0 and then 6–1, the Bulls looked like a top-four Eastern Conference team.

Middle Phase: The slide begins (6–1 to 6–5 to 6–6)

Starting Nov 3, Chicago’s issues began to appear:

• Lost at MSG
• Narrow home win vs Philadelphia (113–111)
• Back-to-back road losses @ Milwaukee and @ Cleveland
• A home loss to San Antonio

The Bulls went from 6–1 to 6–5, then suffered a 2OT heartbreaker @ Utah, falling to 6–6.

This period highlighted:

• Defensive slippage, especially at the rim
• Heavy usage on Giddey, who kept producing but couldn’t carry closing stretches
• Inconsistent bench scoring

Still, flashes remained — including big performances by Buzelis and strong rebounding stretches from Vucevic.

Bounce-back moment (Nov 18–20)

The Bulls briefly stabilised with two strong road wins:

• @ Denver: W 130–127
  • Giddey: 21 pts, 14 reb, 6 ast
• @ Portland: W 122–121
  • Vucevic: 27 pts, 8 reb
  • Giddey: 13 ast

This pushed Chicago to 8–6, reopening hope that the early-season form might return.

The Collapse: 1–8 stretch (from 8–6 to 9–14)

The season’s defining downturn came over the final two weeks:

• ‍Record during the slump: 1–8‍
• Average margin in the losses: –13.7 points

Common themes:

• Late-game execution failures
• Defensive rebounding breakdowns
• Poor finishing in the restricted area
• Opponents scoring 120+ routinely

Key losses included:

• vs Miami (143–107) — defensive low point
• @ New Orleans (143–130)
• @ Charlotte, @ Indiana, @ Orlando
• vs Brooklyn (113–103)
• vs Indiana (120–105)
• vs Golden State (123–91) — worst offensive showing of the season

Chicago’s lone win in this period was a 121–120 nail-biter vs Washington.

Individually, Giddey is compiling a career year and has put himself in the frame for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game on February 16, 2026 (AEDT), the 75th edition at the Inuit Dome in Los Angeles.

Giddey is averaging a near triple double 21 games into the 2025-26 season: 20.3 points on 47.8 from the field; 9.5 rebounds; and 8.9 assists.

"I feel good. I mean, my body feels good, I feel healthy," Giddey said.

"You obviously… you know, you never want to have guys out and injured. Obviously we’re playing very undermanned, but it’s not an excuse.

"I believe we’ve got enough in this locker room — when we’re fully healthy, when we’ve got guys out — to win games.

"So, you know… obviously the last probably two weeks hasn’t been the two weeks we’ve wanted. And obviously we’d love to have a healthy team, but we’ve got to deal with it — those are the cards we’re dealt.

"As I said, I’m fully confident, and we’re confident in the guys that we have. And I love taking on that responsibility.

"Obviously I would have loved for it to translate to more wins in the last six or seven games, but that’s probably the next step for me: how I can, you know, when we’ve got guys out, will our team to wins.

"I think we’re right there — it’s not like we’re getting blown out. I think, bar maybe one or two games, we’re right there.

"Every game is coming up to crunch time. So we’ve got to figure out ways to be better down the stretch and, you know, obviously a lot of that falls on me handling the ball.

"So I’ll continue to get better on that, watch film, and learn how I can improve that area."

Giddey said the Bulls remained focused and connected, probably more so during the losing streak than their hot start.

I feel like it’s more so than ever," he said.

"I feel like it’s more so than when we were winning.

"This is the part where — it’s easy, you start losing some, and it’s easy for guys to splinter and go their own way. But credit to the group; coaches have kept us together, we’ve kept ourselves together.

"So no — I feel really confident about this team.

"Obviously we started hot; we’ve kind of slowed down a little bit. I feel like one win is all we need just to get back on the right track.

"And as I said, obviously having bodies and guys healthy would be a big bonus, but it’s the NBA — everyone deals with injuries. We’ve got to find ways to win games.

"It’s not like we’ve been getting blown out. Miami — we got blown out. The Brooklyn game was kind of over early. But these other games have all come down to the last two or three minutes.

"So we’ve got to find ways to execute down the stretch.

"If we clean up a few small things, we give ourselves a chance to win those games and be in a much better position. So I’m confident where we’re at."