Frustratingly Close Defeat

We don't know how many more tough losses the Bulls will have to suffer without their starting backcourt.  All we know is the Oklahoma City Thunder were not in a giving mood Sunday, especially as they were missing their own stars in Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka.  It took almost four quarters, but they won this nationally televised tilt 109-100.

The back-and-forth nature of this game was reminiscent of watching the 1998 Finals, which made me more nervous than my nine-year-old self should have been.  The difference here was the Bulls were not completely healthy and the stakes weren't nearly as high.  But at this point, the Bulls are desperate for any win.  Despite the many slim leads they held throughout, it fell apart in the final minute with turnovers and getting outhustled.

Russell Westbrook continues to turn heads as shown by his latest outing of 36 points, 11 rebounds and a heart for basketball Michael Jordan would be proud of.  Enes Kanter tallied an 18 in both the points and rebounds columns while Steven Adams had 14 and 11.  Three other Thunder players scored 11:  Dion Waiters, D.J. Augustin and Anthony Morrow (the last two each made three treys).

Nikola Mirotic came off the bench to lead the Bulls with 27 points, making all nine of his free-throw attempts.  Pau Gasol scored 20 and played at the end of the game while Joakim Noah totaled 15 and was kept on the bench due to his minutes limit.  E'Twaun Moore had 12 to continue his recent trend of playing well against Oklahoma City.  Aaron Brooks' 11 were overshadowed by an 0-for-6 showing from behind the arc and a team-high three turnovers.

The Bulls have lost five of their last six and are 4-7 since Derrick Rose went out.  Everything we worried would happen without him and especially in Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson's absences seem to be coming to pass.  A team with its resources exhausted and stretched out is going to fall short more often than not.  Granted, the Thunder are not much healthier right now, but they still had enough bodies available to seal the deal.

If the Bulls are to take anything away from this, it's improve that yearlong rebounding problem which surfaced again in this game, especially off missed free throws on both ends.  The turnovers were down, but the Bulls made them at the most critical times.  And if the long ball isn't falling, quit trying to go to it.  We don't need the whole team to turn to the habit Rose had before his injury.

As much as we might like to avoid Bulls games until everyone comes back, we can't.  They come back home Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers.  Hopefully, they can offer something as exciting as the Big Ten Tournament did this past weekend.  Otherwise, prepare for another long, tedious contest that will cause people to quickly tune out.