Chicago Bulls stumble to a 114-95 defeat to the Orlando Magic — their 7th loss in their last 9 games — despite DeMar DeRozan’s 41 points

The beleaguered Chicago Bulls were in need of a morale boost, but the Orlando Magic refused to provide any confidence in a 114-95 loss Sunday night.

Only one thing kept the Bulls competitive against the worst team in the Eastern Conference — DeMar DeRozan, who dropped 41 points to score nearly half of the Bulls’ points in the blowout loss at the Amway Center.

It was DeRozan’s first 40-point performance as a Bulls player, and he reached the season-high scoring tally in trademark style without taking a single 3-pointer. But no level of herculean effort from DeRozan was enough to sop up the mess of a sloppy Bulls performance.

The Bulls turned the ball over 21 times while tallying only 10 total assists. The bench offered only 10 points to assist the starting lineup, which was already thinned by injury. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu failed to record a single assist, comprising a young backcourt with Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine both out injured.

“I can sit there and talk about who’s not playing, but for the guys that are playing, how well can we manage and handle things that we can take care of? I did not think that we did a good enough job on either end of the floor,” coach Billy Donovan said. “A lot of that had to do with the fact that (the Magic) were just physically the aggressor from start to finish.”

The Bulls were especially flummoxed by Franz and Moe Wagner, the Magic’s brother duo who have consistently grown into their two-man game in the second half of the season. The Wagners combined for 17 points in the first quarter, finishing with 41 points.

Wendell Carter Jr. has made his feelings on his former team clear — he loves to beat the Bulls, who drafted him in 2018. The forward hammered that message home throughout the game, scoring 19 points to bully the Bulls throughout the paint.

Size continued to hamper the Bulls as Nikola Vučević stood alone in the paint for most of the game. Between Mo Bamba, Carter and Moe Wagner, the Magic are well-equipped to tower over opponents. Bamba picked up three fouls in the opening nine minutes, eliminating one big-man from the equation, but Carter and Wagner were effective in shutting down Vučević throughout the night.

Despite taking more shots (19) than any player except DeRozan, Vučević managed only 13 points while turning over the ball five times. Vučević picked up back-to-back offensive fouls in the fourth quarter, then nearly exited the game after tripping over Carter and landing solidly on his left knee. The center convinced Donovan to allow him back into the game only to foul out on the ensuing play.

“Shooting is part of the game. I was more disappointed in my focus defensively,” Vučević said. “It’s (about) the things that I can control whether I shoot 100% or if I miss everything. There’s so many ways for me to impact the game and I just didn’t bring the energy and focus needed to help us win the game. I think that also affected my shooting in a way, but (it’s) more disappointing because I didn’t do the things that I know I can control regardless of what’s going on offensively.”

Vučević's 4-for-19 performance highlighted haphazard shooting across the Bulls roster. The team improved only slightly from their loss in Milwaukee. Without DeRozan, the Bulls shot only 32% from the field and made only five 3-pointers.

Subpar shooting stagnated the team’s energy across both ends of the court. The only real spark of the night came in a third quarter scuffle after Moe Wagner wrapped up DeRozan to prevent a transition layup.

DeRozan placed his hand on Wagner’s chest to chew him out, Wagner swatted the veteran’s arm away and the pair devolved momentarily into a shouting match as their teammates pulled them toward respective benches.

For a handful of minutes, the fracas fueled the Bulls into a brief run to cut the Magic’s lead to single digits, but that energy quickly petered out. Jalen Suggs split two defenders and hammered a dunk over DeRozan with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to solidify the win, clinching the ninth win of the Magic season.

Although the skid dragged the Bulls from first to third in the Eastern Conference, help is on the way. Donovan said both LaVine and Javonte Green could return one game early on Monday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The sight of Green and LaVine on the court will come as a relief to their teammates. DeRozan described LaVine as the Bulls’ “main player.” Although DeRozan leads the team in scoring, the Bulls’ tempo and style of offense runs through LaVine in the backcourt.

The combination of LaVine’s offensive playmaking and Green’s defensive energy could help begin a momentum swing as the team looks to snap out of a recent skid of seven losses in nine games.

“It’s been rough but nobody’s going to feel sorry for us,” DeRozan said. “We’ve got to still go out there and compete. Getting some of the cavalry back tomorrow is definitely helpful, so we’ll try to continue to build off that and catch our rhythm. ... It sucks, it’s frustrating, but we’ve got to weather the storm some way.”