Different night, same story for the Memphis Grizzlies.

The shorthanded Grizzlies battled throughout the first half, but the Chicago Bulls used a dominant third quarter to pull away and cruise to a 125-96 win at United Center on Saturday. DeMar DeRozan paced the Bulls with 18 points and eight assists.

The Grizzlies — playing without eight injured players, including Ja Morant, Marcus Smart and Desmond Bane — took a lead early in the third quarter and seemed to have some momentum even as they played with makeshift lineups and players filling unfamiliar roles. But just like in Thursday's loss to the Timberwolves, the Grizzlies eventually ran out of gas.

It was close throughout the first half while offense was hard to come by for both teams. The Grizzlies came out firing to start the second and and used a 15-3 run to briefly take the lead, but that was the extent of their success. The Bulls finally got it going offensively and pulled away to take a 17-point lead heading into the final frame.

Chicago extended the lead and made it ugly down the stretch to earn the blowout win.

Jaren Jackson Jr. continued to score

Jaren Jackson Jr. is the Grizzlies' clear top option with all the injuries, and he's been stuffing the stat sheet with that responsibility. He scored 26 points and was 9-of-9 from the free throw line.

He entered the game averaging 21.6 points per game this season, but that number goes up or down based on the availability of other players. Jackson, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, obviously plays a major role on the other end of the court as well. But he's shown consistently this season that he can be a dependable scoring option, which will give the Grizzlies a dearth of scoring options when the team is back at full strength next season.

Luke Kennard stepped up as a playmaker

When everyone is healthy, Kennard's role for the Grizzlies is mostly as a spot-up shooter. But with so many players out, the Grizzlies needed someone to initiate the offense and score with consistency. That was Kennard on Saturday, who sometimes played a de facto point guard while also shooting 4-of-7 on 3-pointers and tallying 14 points and six assists. Kennard is another player who has seen his role change with the new makeup of the team, and fans have seen a different side to his game in the past few games.

The Grizzlies shot three pointers early and often

Memphis made no secret of its game plan when it started the game with nine straight 3-point attempts (three made) and did not attempt a two-pointer until more than five minutes into the game. With so many players out and very few isolation scorers available, Memphis attacked offensively by swinging the ball around the perimeter and trying to generate shots from long range.

The Grizzlies shot 13-of-42 from 3-point range for the game.

With Tillman out, Memphis struggled on the interior

Xavier Tillman Sr. missed the game with left knee soreness, which meant Jackson started at center and there was really no legitimate backup. David Roddy and Santi Aldama guarded the center when Jackson went out, but the Grizzlies had issues throughout the game defending against Nikola Vučević and Andre Drummond. The Grizzlies' injury crisis has obviously affected depth throughout the whole team, but the lack of frontcourt depth was especially exposed against a big team like the Bulls.

Both Vučević and Drummond had double-doubles for the Bulls.

Next up

The Grizzlies continue their four-game road trip in Toronto on Monday (6:30 p.m., Bally Sports Southeast).

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Undermanned Grizzlies suffer blowout loss to Bulls in Chicago