The Bulls have now lost three in a row and just like with the previous two, this one looked like they weren't ready most of the time. That forced them to play catchup, but despite their best efforts, the Nets seemed to either find another step or be on a higher wavelength. Offense and defense were lacking at the most critical moments. While it was their second close loss in their last three, they're starting to resemble the Bears in giving away games they shouldn't.
Brook Lopez, much like Andre Drummond in the game I attended, dominated in the paint with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Thaddeus Young had his own great game in the post at 16 and 13. Wayne Ellington poured in 13 in 28 minutes off the bench, Joe Johnson and Bojan Bogdanovic each had 12 and Willie Reed (no relation to Hall of Famer Willis Reed) contributed 11.
Jimmy Butler, 48 hours removed from his comments about Hoiberg not bringing out the whip, led all scorers with 24 points. Doug McDermott found 11 and Taj Gibson totaled 10. Derrick Rose failed to reach double-digits for the second straight game, giving further rise to the notion that this is now Butler's team. While that may or may not be true, it says a lot about who typically plays better when the team is struggling, although last Friday may have been an exception to this newfound rule.
The biggest impact might have come on the loss of Joakim Noah, who winced and hollered with pain in his left shoulder after making hard contact with Andrea Bargnani in the third quarter. With eight rebounds in nearly 16 minutes, Noah immediately headed to the locker room and didn't return. X-rays were negative, but an MRI exam will be held Tuesday. Losing him for any amount of time would be detrimental as he's started to look more like the player of old recently.
With the game decided in the closing seconds, Stacey King took the opportunity on the CSN broadcast to really give it to the Bulls over their general lack of effort. In summary, he said it doesn't matter which jersey the opponent is wearing: they have to show against everybody and not just the class of the league. If you don't feel like showing up to play 48 minutes regardless of opponent, you're going to sit.
The sooner the Bulls figure out they can't take anyone for granted, the better. You might have read some of this stuff from me recently, but it's because I'm running out of ways to say "these Bulls have no heart." Whether they don't enjoy playing with each other, can't adjust to Hoiberg's system or are weary of everything that's happen with this organization the last couple of years, it's coming at the expense of our enjoyment. Games might be sold out, but no one cares to watch a team that doesn't play up to its potential consistently.
This poor stretch may or may not be an indicator that we'll see a large roster turnover come next year. The Bulls are very good when they're on, but lackluster when they're off. Honestly, I would prefer blowout losses regularly to always coming up just short against the Nets, Suns and Timberwolves of the world. At least then, we'd know there's a large discrepancy between this team and the best of the league. But there isn't, so we have to see them play with no urgency against nearly every bottom feeder not based in Philadelphia.
The Bulls will be off until Christmas Day, when they play a road matinee against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They haven't won at Chesapeake Energy Arena since 2010, so their work is cut out for them. That's a team with loads of top-tier talent, meaning the Bulls should be ready to play. But can we get that kind of preparation for every game under our trees this year?
No comments:
Post a Comment