Ugly

My title for this post is the only way anyone can describe the Bulls right now.  Between the porous defense, excess number injuries and mounting losses, team pride has suffered many crushing blows.  Perhaps the biggest one yet came in Tuesday's 129-111 road loss to the Miami Heat.

Although the Bulls got to within six late in the fourth quarter, Miami got on another late run in which it seemingly could not miss.  Buckets were being made all night and marks were set by both franchises on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Miami set a season high for points scored and a franchise high for field-goal percentage at 67.5 percent.  By contract, it's a new Bulls franchise record for opponent shooting, breaking a mark last set against Portland in 1984 (67.1 percent).

Hassan Whiteside led the top two categories with a career-high 26 points and 14 rebounds off the bench.  Recent Heat signing Joe Johnson scored 24 and Luol Deng had 20.  Dwyane Wade totaled 18 and Goran Dragic achieved a double-double of 17 points and 11 assists.  Much of this contributed to the Heat's 71 percent shooting in the paint for 74 points.

Seven different Bulls scored in double figures, though it would not be nearly enough.  Derrick Rose, in his first game after missing three straight and implying he would miss playoff games if he didn't feel right, led them with 17.  Aaron Brooks was their leading bench scorer thanks to 16.  Pau Gasol was one rebound shy of a double-double while scoring 15 and Taj Gibson added 13 before leaving with a hamstring injury.

The Bulls last met the Heat on Jan. 25, when they lost 89-84.  Since then, they've lost 10 of 15 and have surrendered 108.8 points per game.  Over that span, they've given up at least 100 points in every game except the first.  Whether they're unwilling or unable to slow anybody down, there's no excuse not to play like an NBA team should.

A team that had faint championship hopes at the start of the year is now 30-29 and half a game out of the last playoff spot in the East.  The players keep saying they belong in the postseason, but there's been very little walk to back up the talk.  Frankly, nobody should have to watch this bad brand of basketball during the playoffs.  The more losses pile up, the less we can see any benefit of getting there besides the extra revenue, which only management really cares about in the big picture.

Accordingly, missing the playoffs is likely the only way to ensure any possibility sweeping and necessary changes are made.  Even then, we can probably expect the organization to assure everyone it only happened because so many key players were missing for so long.  That's why it's so difficult to be confident in everybody going forward.  There's an unwillingness to change, even when it's clear to those who watch from the stands and on TV that the current product is bad.

The Bulls have to lick their wounds quickly as they play the Orlando Magic in the second of their Florida back-to-back on Wednesday.  I typically make a Disney World remark whenever the Bulls travel there, so this time, I'm hoping Tinkerbell left some sort of magic in the visitors locker room at Amway Center.  That may be the only way to salvage this sorry season.