Chicago Bulls suffer a 'bad, bad loss'
If there wasn't a leadership void on the Chicago Bulls before Monday, there might be one now.
While suffering a brutal 105-102 loss to the lowly Brooklyn Nets at the United Center, the Bulls lost center Joakim Noah for an undetermined amount of time with a left-shoulder injury.
Noah left the locker room with his arm in a sling. He said his shoulder popped out, then popped back in again. He will have an MRI on Tuesday and doesn't know how long he will be out.
Injuries like this can bring a variety of recovery time.
With or without Noah, this was a tough way to respond from the adversity and controversy of the past few days. The Bulls dropped a four-overtime game to Detroit on Friday, then after losing in New York the next day Jimmy Butler suggested Fred Hoiberg needs to coach the team harder.
Whether Hoiberg coached hard or soft Monday, the defense went awry. The Nets shot better than 50 percent for much of the game against a Bulls team that led the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage coming in. Brooklyn (8-20) also snapped a five-game losing streak and improved to 2-12 on the road.
“It's disappointing,” Hoiberg said after the game. “This is a tough loss. You've got to win your home games. It's a bad, bad loss.”
Noah's trademark energy has given the Bulls a nice boost in recent weeks. He displayed some in-game leadership Monday when Brooklyn's Willie Reed fell on the floor after making a basket. Noah took the ball out quickly, yelling at his teammates, “Let's go.” He sprinted down the floor, demanded the ball from Aaron Brooks, then dropped a long pass to rookie Bobby Portis for a layup.
The injury occurred when Noah slapped down on a shot attempt by Brooklyn's Andrea Bargnani. Noah immediately pulled away and ran down the court with his left arm limp. He headed toward the locker room but stopped in the tunnel, doubled over in pain.
“His presence on the floor means a lot to this team,” Derrick Rose said.
The Bulls (15-11) were playing with untested lineups in this one. Hoiberg tried a new starting group, putting Nikola Mirotic at small forward and creating a tall front line of Mirotic, Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson. The true purpose of the move was subbing Portis for Tony Snell.
Snell has been ineffective offensively at small forward for most of the season, although he is a good defensive option. Portis broke out with 20 points and 10 rebounds Saturday at New York in his first extended regular-season action.
With the new lineup, Hoiberg was able to sub Noah for Gibson and Portis for Gasol.
Portis checked in at the 30-second mark of the first quarter to a loud ovation. Portis wasn't shy about putting the ball up, taking 7 shots in seven minutes during the first half. But he did score 6 points, twice getting behind the defense for fastbreaks.
The Bulls' defense was not right, though. Brooklyn, which started the night ranked 29th in the league in scoring, shot 55.3 percent in the first half.
“We didn't do our job as individuals,” Butler said. “If you don't do your job as individuals, you can't do it as a team. We took an 'L' tonight on our home floor. We were outplayed in every aspect of the game.”
The Bulls trailed by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter. Their comeback effort was stunted by a couple of bad turnovers in the final three minutes, once when Gasol tried to throw a cross-court, one-handed pass that got stolen, then when Rose dribbled carelessly into a double team.
Gasol hit 2 free throws to make it 101-99 with 20.9 seconds left, but the Bulls never gained possession with a chance to tie the score. Butler led the Bulls with 24 points, while Gasol scored 20. Rose had a quiet night, hitting 3 of 11 shots for 8 points and 5 assists.
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