Bulls fall short vs. Atlanta
So many things went right in the Chicago Bulls' quest to begin a final playoff push Monday.
They got off to a great start and were reasonably sharp at the finish, but a disastrous second quarter was too much to overcome. The playoff hopes grew dimmer and the losing streak hit four in a row with a 102-100 loss to Atlanta at the United Center.
“I'm proud of how they went down swinging,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.“We just had too big a lull there in the second quarter.”
The Bulls led 31-22 after the first quarter but trailed by 13 early in the fourth. They rallied to tie the score at 93-93 with 1:40 left on Aaron Brooks' crazy driving bank shot over Al Horford.
But the Bulls failed to convert two chances to take the lead and watched Atlanta put the game away at the foul line.
“Mentally, we've got to stay strong,” Derrick Rose said. “We know we're going though a tough time. The reality is we're fighting for a playoff spot and we're tying to figure things out along the way.”
The Bulls' playoff chances don't look good at all with nine games left. Now tied for ninth place with Washington, they trail seventh-place Indiana by 3 games and eighth-place Detroit by 2½. The Bulls (36-37) face a virtual must-win situation Tuesday when they face the Pacers on the road.
How many players will be healthy enough to match Monday's effort remains to be seen. Taj Gibson was struggling at his locker with sore ribs. Butler didn't participate in the morning shootaround to give his sore back and left knee a rest. He finished with 15 points.
Asked how he was feeling after the game, Butler offered a quick, “I'm all right.”
Hoiberg gave a longer answer: “Jimmy, he's probably not telling you everything, but he is sore. There's no doubt about it. He's out there battling through pain.”
Pau Gasol seemed to be feeling better than he was in the past few days. Gasol finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds. During the previous three games, he sat out once and scored a combined 11 points in the other two.
The Bulls led 39-26 with 9:45 left in the second quarter, then went on an epic dry spell. They hit just 1 of 22 shots during the rest of the first half and trailed 52-45 by halftime. Rose, Butler and Gasol combined to go 0-for-14 from the field in the second quarter.
There was a reversal of fortune when the Bulls erased a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but they missed two chances to take the lead.
With the score tied, Gibson missed a corner jumper. After Atlanta's Kent Bazemore hit 1 of 2 free throws, Rose (20 points) tried a baseline drive and reverse but had his shot blocked by Horford.
Butler's 4-point play with 19.6 seconds left brought the Bulls within 98-97. After Kyle Korver buried a pair of free throws, the Bulls tried to go for the quick 2-point basket, but Mike Dunleavy missed a driving layup. Rose hit a 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
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