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Bulls show little energy in loss to Rockets

Granted, this was a tough opponent, but plenty of things didn't make sense about the Bulls' latest defeat, a 101-90 loss Wednesday night at Houston.

The Bulls were coming off a rare four-day layoff but brought little energy and seemed confused during much of this game.

After a bad shooting night at the United Center on Jan. 5, Rockets MVP candidate James Harden seemed determined to put points up against Jimmy Butler. And Harden delivered 22 points in the first half alone.

But when Houston pulled away, early in the third quarter, Harden didn't score. When the Rockets put the game away with a big fourth-quarter push, Harden wasn't even in the game. He was sitting on the bench.

The Bulls were on the wrong side of a 12-5 run to start the third quarter and a 13-0 run to open the fourth. Harden scored 5 points in the second half and one 3-pointer was a last-minute, garbage-time bucket.

The Rockets (34-15) played without former all-star center Dwight Howard, who is expected to miss a month with a knee injury, but Houston is 12-5 without Howard this season.

The Bulls, meanwhile, have lost three in a row and are 7-10 without Mike Dunleavy, who remains sidelined with a right-ankle injury.

Butler, who grew up in nearby Tomball, Texas, led the Bulls (30-20) with 27 points. Derrick Rose added 23 points, hitting 9 of 22 shots. Joakim Noah had an odd stat line, with 19 rebounds and just 1 point. Pau Gasol finished with 16 points and 12 boards, his 10th straight double-double.

The game started off well enough for the Bulls, with the first quarter ending in a 27-27 tie. Harden scored 13 straight points to help the Rockets pull out to a 57-48 advantage at halftime.

Drought No. 1 struck in the third quarter. The Bulls managed just 2 free throws in the opening 5:27 and eventually fell behind by 16.

The deficit gave the Bulls reason to play a little harder, and they finished the third quarter on a 14-4 run, closing within 75-70 heading into the fourth.

The Bulls never got any closer, though, because they opened the final quarter with 7 missed shots and 4 turnovers. A series of ill-advised passes led to Houston fastbreak baskets, and the deficit quickly swelled to 18 points.

Earlier in the day, Butler blamed himself for the Bulls' defensive woes.

"I think it starts with me, to tell you the truth," Butler told reporters at shootaround, according to espn.com. "I'm supposed to be this prime-time defender, and I don't think I've been holding up my end of the bargain lately.

"So I think whenever I start kicking it up three, four notches on defense and not worry about offense as much, I think it'll all turn around."

Butler's solution doesn't make a ton of sense. He's the Bulls' leading scorer this season and the team needs his offense. Putting more of his energy toward defense won't help much if his scoring subsides.

Another example of how much the Bulls miss Dunleavy is the rotating starters. Coach Tom Thibodeau has used Kirk Hinrich, Tony Snell and Nikola Mirotic at times in place of Dunleavy. Hinrich started at Houston, while Snell didn't play a single minute.

Mirotic has played well at times this season, but all of the Bulls' subs struggled Wednesday. Aaron Brooks scored 12 points off the bench but contributed to the slide with a couple of bad passes early in the fourth quarter.

"I'm not going to lie, I thought it was going to be easier than it is," Butler added. "But to go on one end and produce and then go on the other end and have to stop the best player on the opposing team is not always an easy task."

The bottom line is, one player can't do everything. It will take a collective effort to turn around the Bulls' defense.

They have two more days off before playing at New Orleans on Saturday. Maybe this is the time to figure things out.

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