Every now and then, your team gets burned by a player you never would have thought twice about going in. During Sunday's nationally televised tilt with the Miami Heat, center Hasaan Whiteside, who hadn't sniffed the NBA since the 2011-12 season, let the Bulls and everyone else know who he was. It came during a 96-84 Bulls loss which looked rather lethargic.
The Bulls barely held a lead all afternoon thanks to bad shooting and a poor defensive game plan. It was the latest in what has been an average home season (13-11) and a poor one against teams below .500. Not exactly what you want to build on what had been two great victories against San Antonio and Dallas. And with the Disney on Ice trip starting this week, that's even more deflating despite a nice road season to this point (16-6).
Whiteside, in just his 37th NBA game, came off the bench to achieve his first career triple-double of 14 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocks. The number of shots he sent back are a Miami franchise record and a high for the NBA this season. That meant limited second chances for the Bulls, although the rest of Miami's defense certainly did its part. Collectively, it was a nice effort on their part, but it served to show what could be another Miami asset in the making.
Additionally, four Heat starters scored in double figures. Leading the charge was Dwyane Wade, who characteristically scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter. Chris Bosh wasn't far behind with 20, illustrating how even without LeBron James, that's still an explosive duo. Luol Deng, in his Chicago homecoming, shared a 15-point total with Mario Chalmers and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 19 on 7-of-17 shooting, but missed all six of his three-point attempts. Aaron Brooks had 17 off the bench and went four-of-five from beyond the arc. For the second straight home game, he completed a four-point play. Pau Gasol had yet another double-double (13 and 17) and Taj Gibson came close (11 and eight).
Although analysts continue to insist the Bulls have enough talent to make a deep playoff run, they continue to frustrate their fans and themselves. How many more of these types of losses must we take? Every time they show signs of breaking out of this bad stretch, they revert right back to their disinterested ways and playing down to the competition. If they do this in the playoffs, they'll get blown out of the first round.
It won't get any easier as the long road trip starts Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors. If the Bulls can somehow play with a sense of urgency again, all will be forgiven for the time being. But if they follow up such a performance with a putrid showing against the Lakers Thursday, we'll be talking about this all over again. Win or lose, we just want some consistency.
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