Kobe Bryant had his worst game against Bulls in 19 years

Follow @dancahill_cst

Granted, in a career of 33,000-plus points, there are very few stinkers.

Kobe Bryant had one of his more pedestrian performances on Thursday against the Bulls. The retiring superstar scored just 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting in the 114-91 loss to the Bulls.

It was his lowest scoring output against the Bulls since his rookie season.

The 18-year-old Bryant played against the Michael Jordan-led Bulls twice in the 1996-97 season, scoring five points each time off the bench.

In fact, Bryant has never enjoyed huge scoring performances against the Bulls. In his 30 games (26 starts) against Chicago, Bryant has averaged 23.4 points, 1.7 below his career average, and has his worst three-point (.269) and free-throw (.724) percentages versus any opponent.

[nicelink url=http://chicago.suntimes.com/basketball/7/71/1288102/pau-gasol-wanted-play-kobe-forever]

On the flip side, the Bulls bring out the best defensively in Bryant, who allows just 99 points per 100 possessions. Bryant’s defensive rating is 102 (Detroit) or above with every other team in the league.

Stats via Basketball-Reference