Bulls take two steps backward

Needless to say, the Bulls didn't do a good job of building on their biggest win of the season at Golden State.

What followed were 2 disappointing losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns. Both games followed the same basic storyline - the Bulls fell behind early, made a furious comeback late in the fourth quarter, but ultimately made too many mistakes to secure a victory.

Late Friday night at Phoenix, the Bulls' subs gave up a 14-0 run early in the second quarter, creating the uphill battle. The Suns led by 9 with less than two minutes remaining before a Jimmy Butler layup, Aaron Brooks 3-pointer and Brooks layup closed the gap to 95-93 with 31 seconds left.

The Bulls just needed one more stop and they couldn't get it. Phoenix guard Eric Bledsoe drove into the lane, got away with a little push off against Joakim Noah and flipped in a short jumper that essentially clinched the game.

Thursday's loss to the Lakers was very similar, except the Bulls did erase a 9-point deficit in the final 1:29. They couldn't hold a 5-point lead in the first overtime and lost in two overtimes.

"We just talked about on the trip all three games were winnable games and were one or two possession games," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters after the Phoenix game. "You've got to find a way to get that done. Hopefully, we can improve to get it done."

Now the Bulls have sort of an early all-star break with four days off. They headed back to Chicago on Saturday, won't practice until Monday, then head back out on the road to resume the ice show road trip Wednesday at Houston.

There is plenty of reason to feel optimistic about the Bulls finishing strong, but their inconsistent effort has been a season-long problem.

"I think that we're still a work in progress," Noah said, according to espn.com. "We're not where we need to be defensively and offensively. We know we have a lot of work to do. The thing is we know that we're capable of beating the best ... but we need to execute better and we need to play better defense."

Derrick Rose had an interesting week. He started with the 30-point, 11-turnover curiosity against the Warriors, which came with an overtime game-winner. He shot poorly against the Lakers. Friday's game was sort of in between. Rose led the Bulls with 23 points, shot 8-for-23 from the field with 3 assists. In the last two contests, Rose went 1-for-13 from 3-point range.

"It's coming," Rose said after the Phoenix game, according to bulls.com. "It's a lot of runners, layups and shots that I normally make. But as long as I'm attacking, it's all positive. It's the second game we play, a back-to-back, and I attacked the basket. That's something at the beginning of the season I wouldn't have done.

"I'm getting there. I've just got to take my time. These three games that we played, they were tough games. I had to play a lot of minutes. It was a load. But I'm happy with how my body feels afterward. I'm happy with my performance. I'm mad that we lost, of course, but I'm trying to take something positive out of every game."

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