Bulls lethargic in Deng's return to United Center
Luol Deng went back Sunday afternoon to where his NBA career began and made his first United Center appearance as a visiting player.
The Bulls took a shorter journey back in time. They reverted back to last week, to their persistent problem of low-energy efforts at home against teams with a losing record.
Sluggish from start to finish, the Bulls lost 96-84 to the Miami Heat, ending their string of impressive wins at 2. Following an air-clearing team meeting last week, the Bulls beat San Antonio and Dallas on consecutive nights.
"I really don't know. If I had an answer, I swear I would tell you, but I just don't know," Derrick Rose said when trying to explain the Bulls' latest bad start. "It seemed like we didn't have that edge, right from the beginning. They came out and jumped on us and we weren't able to come back."
Deng produced 15 points and 10 rebounds in his first game in Chicago since being traded to Cleveland just more than a year ago. He signed with Miami as a free agent during the summer.
But the star of the game was Heat backup center Hassan Whiteside, who recorded a triple-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds and a franchise-record 12 blocked shots.
The 7-foot Whiteside was a second-round draft pick of Sacramento in 2010 and saw limited action in two seasons with the Kings. He then bounced from the D-League to Lebanon to China before joining the Heat in November.
In some ways, Whiteside's performance was enabled by the Bulls' failures. So many times they needed to make an extra pass and chose to force a shot instead. The Bulls shot 35.6 percent overall and a baffling 43 percent from inside the paint.
"They were flying around, helping out each other, especially as far as blocking shots," said Taj Gibson, who was Whiteside's most frequent victim. "Thibs gave us the scouting report, telling us that shot blockers were going to come, you've got to dish it off. But sometimes you've got to learn the hard way."
The Bulls (29-17) trailed 26-20 after one quarter, then found a deeper funk in the second quarter, shooting just 22.7 percent. Miami (20-24) carried a 10-point lead into halftime, and the Bulls never got closer than 7 points in the second half.
"We got behind early, played low energy and couldn't get it going," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "It was trading buckets most of the game after the first quarter."
Rose led the Bulls with 19 points, while Aaron Brooks added 17 and Gasol grabbed 17 rebounds, to go with 13 points and 4 blocks.
Joakim Noah, who came back from an ankle injury Friday, started the game but was limited to 22 minutes and didn't play in the fourth quarter. Mike Dunleavy (ankle) missed his 13th straight game.
Miami's Dwyane Wade, who used to struggle in his hometown, led the Heat with 26 points. Deng probably deserves some credit for helping limit Jimmy Butler to 5 points in 42 minutes.
Deng received nice applause during pregame introductions. Fans at the United Center gave him a standing ovation during the game's first timeout, when a tribute video was played on the scoreboard.
"I'm glad it's over. For me, it was a tough game," Deng said in the visiting locker room. "Really, (the video tribute) is an honor; I appreciate it a lot. I didn't get a chance to see it. I could hear it playing. I didn't want to look up because I knew I would get emotional."
The Bulls are 13-11 at the United Center this season but 16-6 on the road. The good news is they'll play six straight games away from home during the next two weeks as Disney on Ice takes over their arena. The bad news is the trip begins Tuesday in Golden State, which is 20-1 at home.
"We've done well on the road so far. Let's see if we can continue," Gasol said. "It's going to be a challenging road trip, but that's what this league is about, taking on challenges and see how well you do."
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