Raptors rampage by Bulls
Before Saturday's game against Toronto, Bulls coach Scott Skiles happened to mention that he's a lifelong Notre Dame football fan.
As fate would have it, he's now in a tight race with Irish coach Charlie Weiss to see who's team will be the first to collect victory No. 2.
The Bulls (1-5) continued their team-wide shooting slump and were embarrassed by the Raptors 101-71 before an increasingly grumpy crowd at the United Center.
Next up for the Bulls -- a six-game road trip which starts in Phoenix and ends in Toronto. If they don't pick up the pace soon, a 1-11 start could be a realistic possibility.
"I can't remember it being that bad, even since I've been here," said Kirk Hinrich, who endured a 23-win season as a rookie in 2003-04. "I'm sure frustration is at an all-time high here right now."
"It's disappointing," added Luol Deng. "I think since I've been in the NBA, this is the lowest I've felt. We've got to rebound from it."
A single lowlight is difficult to identify, but it may have come when Raptors' rookie Jamario Moon finished an uncontested fastbreak dunk and spread his legs Michael Jordan-style.
Bulls coach Scott Skiles called time out and resorted to Charles Oakley's favorite coaching maneuver, the five-man substitution. This, too, was a failure as the Raptors (4-3) kept rolling to a 77-43 lead at the end of three.
None of the Bulls starters returned after leaving the floor together with 9:35 remaining in the third quarter.
"I never want to do that," Skiles said. "On a night when the boo-birds are already out, I don't like to embarrass the group like that.
"Often times what happens in that moment when the group that's out there falls so far behind, is if you take two guys out, the other three think it wasn't their fault. I just felt like in unison, that group wasn't performing very well."
In the first quarter, Hinrich alone took an early seat, replaced by Chris Duhon at the 6:44 mark. Hinrich went 0-for-6 from the field and is shooting .318 this season.
"Our point guard play has not been good enough," Skiles said. "There's no question about that. We had a couple of early turnovers and I wanted to go in a different direction."
In the locker room, Hinrich wore a brace on his left (non-shooting) hand and said he sprained a ligament between his index and middle fingers.
"Offensively, we weren't very sharp," Hinrich said. "Ultimately, that's my responsibility. I haven't been playing very well. It just seems like we're completely out of synch, like there's no rhyme or reason out there."
The only Bulls player who seemed to have a clue on offense was Andres Nocioni, who scored 20 points. Ben Gordon had 11 points and Deng 5.
Fans that began chanting for Kobe Bryant in the third quarter need to face the facts -- Bryant and his veto power aren't about to accept a trade from the 3-2 Lakers to the 1-5 Bulls.
"That definitely hurts," Deng said. "As hard as we work, as hard as we work as a team, to hear the boos and the Kobes and the waves going on while we're losing by that much, it definitely hurts."