Another bad finish for Chicago Bulls

MILWAUKEE - The Chicago Bulls seemed to solve most of their recent problems during the first half of Tuesday night's game at against the Bucks.

But when the Bulls got comfortable, they reverted to bad habits. Throw in another Derrick Rose injury and the result was the Bulls' third loss in a row. They fell apart late and lost to the Bucks 106-101 at the Bradley Center.

Rose left the game about 2:30 into the third quarter. He rode a nearby stationary bike during the rest of the quarter and the Bulls called his injury left patellar tendinitis.

Rose returned to the court with 5:48 left in the fourth but lasted just more than two minutes before leaving again. Inside the locker room, Rose had trouble pinpointing what happened.

"Just felt something in my left knee, jumper's knee or something like that," he said. "It just didn't feel right while I was out there. Just got to be cautious with my body.

"It just felt weird when I was out there, didn't loosen up. I tried to get back out there for the second time, still didn't do anything. There wasn't any need for me to be in a game like that when it's that close when I wasn't able to move the way I wanted to."

The Bulls rode the bus back to Chicago after Tuesday's game, but they're only halfway through a stretch of four games in five nights. They'll play in Philadelphia on Thursday.

The Bulls (22-15) seemed to be in pretty good shape when Jimmy Butler (30 points) knocked down 2 free throws with 3:19 left to give the visitors a 95-93 lead. But then Bucks center Greg Monroe finished a 3-point play, Taj Gibson was blocked on the other end, and Khris Middleton buried a corner 3-pointer to put Milwaukee up 99-95.

The Bulls missed a couple of free throws that would have helped their cause but still had a chance, needing a defensive stop while trailing 100-98. They didn't get it, Middleton hit a tough 18-foot turnaround against Butler to make it a 4-point game with 16.7 seconds left.

Thanks to Pau Gasol's 3-pointer at the buzzer, the Bulls' 100-point streak reached 11 straight. But Butler's streak of 44 consecutive games with a steal, second longest in franchise history, came to an end.

"Even though we're going through a rough patch, we've got each other," Rose said. "We're the only ones that are going to get us out of it. I think everyone on this team knows that."

The Bulls led by 11 points in the first half, but Milwaukee took command with a 17-3 run early in the third quarter. One of the Bulls' 3 points came on a technical free throw after Michael Carter-Williams celebrated a dunk by hanging on the rim and slapping the backboard.

After that play, the Bulls coughed up 2 turnovers, leading to a couple fastbreak baskets and Hoiberg called a timeout with the Bucks ahead 67-59. The Bulls finished with 17 turnovers, compared to just 5 for the Bucks.

"The big thing is taking care of the ball," Hoiberg said. "You've got to value the possession. You can't give the opposing team run-out baskets. It's too big of a confidence builder, especially on the road. You can't do it, it gets the building going. Again, you have to value it.

The first play after the timeout was another Bulls turnover, but Jabari Parker missed 2 free throws and the Bulls finally seemed to get angry and got rolling. They hit 6 of their next 7 shots, including 3 more 3-pointers, to move into a 74-70 lead.

But it didn't last. The Bulls dominated the rebounds 57-40 and 3-point shooting, hitting 12 of 29 attempts. They were outscored in the paint, though, 62-32, thanks in large part to the Bulls' turnovers leading to 30 points for Milwaukee.

• Follow Mike's Bulls reports on Twitter @McGrawDHBulls.