Bulls blasted by 9-13 Raptors
Earlier this week, Kirk Hinrich was declared by one news outlet (OK, it was this one) to be Mr. Indespensi-Bull, the player the Bulls could least afford to lose.
That crown was put to the test Saturday when Hinrich missed his first game of the season with a sore back. The result was a pitiful 99-77 loss to the Toronto Raptors (9-13) at the United Center.
The Bulls dropped to 3-9 since losing Derrick Rose to knee surgery, even though they've faced a steady stream of opponents with losing records. This week's stretch of four games in five nights against the Bucks, Knicks, Bucks again and Raptors resulted in a single victory, by 1 point at Milwaukee on Friday.
“I think we've all accepted at this point (changing lineups) is the way it's going to be,” Mike Dunleavy said. “There's going to be injuries. There's going to be stuff going on throughout the course of the season. So you've just got to roll with it. Hopefully everybody has that mindset and won't let it affect them.”
The Bulls might be in better shape at point guard soon, but with newcomer D.J. Augustin in the fold for just two days, coach Tom Thibodeau figured the best choice was to start Marquis Teague.
“I knew we would be restricted in what we could run with D.J.,” Thibodeau said. “Marquis, I thought, gave us the best chance of being able to get to everything that we could do offensively.”
On Friday in Milwaukee, when Augustin made his Bulls debut, Teague didn't play at all. Against Toronto, Teague had 7 points, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers in 28 minutes.
“This is how the NBA works. You've always got to be ready. You never know what's going to happen,” Teague said. “I'm comfortable any time I get on the floor. I know all my teammates. I know how they play, I know where they like to get the ball and I know the offense. So I feel comfortable.”
Augustin knocked down his first basket as a Bull after starting with 7 misses. He had 5 points and 6 assists in 20 minutes off the bench.
The Bulls (9-13) never led in this game. They fell behind by 10 at halftime, then started cold in the third quarter while Toronto opened up a 57-41 advantage.
One brief surge in momentum arrived late in the third quarter when Teague banked in a 3-pointer. When Augustin added his 3-pointer, the Bulls were within 73-69 with 11:23 remaining. The Bulls knocked down just 3 of their last 18 shots, though, as the Raptors blew the game open late. Luol Deng returned from four games off with a sore left Achilles and scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the first half.
The fatigue of playing the fourth game in five nights was one potential explanation. Frustration seemed to snowball as the Bulls hit 1 of 8 shots in the paint during the fourth quarter, while Toronto drained jumpers all night. The Raptors are now 3-1 since trading Rudy Gay to Sacramento and set a season high with 26 assists against the Bulls.
“The thing I didn't like, we didn't play well offensively, but defensively, we played just as poorly,” Thibodeau said. “If we could have played our defense, we still would have had a good chance at winning the game.
“I thought maybe because of some of those misses, we weren't as intense as we needed to be to get stops down the stretch. You're giving up 26 points in the fourth quarter. That's too much.”
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