Here's the rap: Bulls out of tune
With about two minutes to go in the third quarter, the United Center speakers crackled with loud rap music courtesy of 50 Cent. The music's role wasn't to entertain; it was to drown out the home crowd's boos. A Tim Floyd-era marketing move at its finest.
But there isn't enough rap music, dancing girls or T-shirt guns to cover up this team's glaring flaws and disappointing results.
It was the same old song for the Bulls as they suffered their second straight blowout loss, this time a 116-98 setback to the Houston Rockets on Saturday. Losing by 25 to the Boston Celtics on the road, like they did Friday night, is one thing.
Losing like they did against Houston at home is another.
"Tonight we couldn't stop them at all," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "They really took it to us in the last three quarters."
The Rockets (13-14) shot 48.4 percent and outscored the Bulls 65-46 in the second and third quarters before putting up another 30 in the fourth. Houston's 46 field goals and 95 attempts were season highs for a Bulls opponent. The Bulls (9-16), who fell to 5-7 at home, travel to San Antonio on Wednesday.
The Rockets out-rebounded the Bulls 50-34 and 37-23 through three quarters. Houston built its lead on a succession of open 3s and a parade of uncontested drives to the hoop from the likes of Shane Battier (4-for-6 on 3-pointers) and Rafer Alston (11 points on 5-of-11 shooting).
Yao Ming finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Tracy McGrady scored 20, Battier (who left the game in the first to get six stitches above his left eye) added 14, and Bonzi Wells scored 20 off the bench -- 12 coming in the final quarter.
"They made shots. They moved the ball well," Luol Deng said. "We played well; we just allowed too many points."
True, the Bulls didn't have problems scoring -- at least the starters didn't. The four Bulls starters who attempted to score each had double digits in the first half and hit 32 of 63 shots.
Kirk Hinrich had a season-high 22, Deng 21 and Ben Gordon 18. The Bulls shot 45.6 percent, above their season average of 41.1. Joe Smith scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half. Ben Wallace went 0-for-4 from the field and grabbed just 5 rebounds in 28 minutes after missing two games with bone spurs in his left foot.
The Rockets' reserves outscored the Bulls' 26-2 through the first three quarters. Andres Nocioni went 1-for-5 in that span and Aaron Gray 0-for-2.
"I don't want to be too critical of our guys off the bench, because they've bailed us out a few times this season," Skiles said. "We didn't get the productivity there, but that happens sometimes."
The Bulls actually led 26-21 after the first quarter and were ahead until Scola's layup with 9:21 left in the second gave the Rockets a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Led by Luther Head and Luis Scola, Houston had a 14-3 run to take a 10-point lead in the second. The Bulls cut into the lead, trailing by as little as a point, and were down 52-48 at the half. But the Rockets came out firing in the third, scored 5 quick points and never looked back.
"Obviously, we weren't able to maintain the same energy the entire game as we had in the first quarter," Gordon said. "That's just not going to cut it. We didn't do what we needed to do to stay in the game."