Bulls still looking for a victory
MILWAUKEE -- Before playing in Milwaukee on Saturday night, Bulls coach Scott Skiles stressed that he saw no need to panic. He felt confident that the Bulls could snap out of their early-season slump at any time.
Then the game began and things only got worse. The Bulls brought that "deer in the headlights" look back to the court and lost to the Bucks 78-72 at the Bradley Center in an ugly contest that wasn't as close as the final score indicated.
The Bulls, a popular pick to win the Eastern Conference this season, are 0-3. They are struggling on the court and stumped for a solution.
"It's a little shocking," Bulls guard Ben Gordon said. "This is the NBA. Nothing's going to be given to you. You have to show up."
How bad did it get Saturday? Milwaukee shot 32.9 percent from the field and still won. Bucks rookie Yi Jianlian scored more points (16) than anyone on the Bulls.
"It's very frustrating, very perplexing," Kirk Hinrich said. "We need to do a better job of playing together. We need to do a better job of moving the ball. It seems like we're rushing a lot on offense. It seems like the more we miss, the more we struggle from the field."
During the first half, Milwaukee went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal and the Bulls used a 20-2 run to build a 10-point lead. But the Bucks (1-2) turned the tables late in the third quarter with a 12-0 run.
The Bulls went from a 4-point lead to trailing 51-43 with 1:32 remaining in the third and never recovered.
"Strange things happen in this league," center Ben Wallace said. "That's what's so good about it. You can be up one minute, down the next. You can start out slow, finish strong. You can start out slow, finish slow. That's just the nature of the business."
This loss was different from Friday's debacle in the Bulls' home opener against Philadelphia. In that one, the Bulls refused to share the ball when things got tough, then couldn't muster the energy to stop the Sixers' fastbreak.
Against the Bucks, the Bulls played good defense and moved the ball fairly well. But a high percentage of their shots barely grazed the rim. By the end of the night, most all of the Bulls besides Gordon (15 points) and Joe Smith (14 points) seemed reluctant to shoot.
"I'm fairly sure I'm going to look at the tape and see an awful lot of good looks that we couldn't knock down," coach Scott Skiles said. "We don't look like we're real confident shooters right now, and it shouldn't be like that at this level."
None of the Bulls' primary players are doing well. Hinrich, Gordon and Luol Deng all had to leave Saturday's game in the first quarter with 2 fouls each.
Through three games, Gordon, Hinrich and Andres Nocioni all are shooting below 40 percent. Deng played well in the opener, then hit 8 of 23 shots and averaged 9.0 points in the last two. Wallace is averaging 4.3 points and 3.7 rebounds.
"The things that we do when we're not playing well, they're all happening at once," Skiles said. "That obviously doesn't make for a very good formula."