Hot start for Bulls, but it's not enough
The Bulls achieved an obscure, yet impressive milestone during the past three days -- four consecutive quarters shooting better than 60 percent from the field.
They did it in the third and fourth quarters of Wednesday's 30-point win at Miami, then followed up by shooting 63.2 percent in the first half against Golden State on Friday.
But the ability to shred weak defenses will only carry a team so far. When the Warriors heated up in the second half, the Bulls couldn't keep pace and suffered an exhausting 119-111 loss in a late start at the United Center.
Golden State guard Baron Davis tied his career high with 40 points, highlighted by a 19-point third quarter in which he went 5-for-5 from 3-point range.
"I did it at the United Center, so that was sweet," Davis said. "I felt like (Michael) Jordan out there."
Ben Gordon (29 points) and Andres Nocioni (28 points) turned in impressive scoring nights but couldn't do enough to save the home team.
The turmoil of their recent six-day road trip may have passed, but the Bulls (15-23) are still unable to beat good teams or finish close games. Their last five home games have all gone down to the wire and Bulls lost all but one.
"We've just got to be more sharp," guard Chris Duhon said. "When the game gets close, the ball kind of dies until one person decides he has to do it himself. That's not how our team plays."
The Bulls opened a 94-89 edge early in the fourth quarter before Golden State responded with a 9-2 run and took a 98-96 lead with 5:45 remaining. The Warriors kept the lead until Nocioni finished a spinning drive and 3-point play to tie the score at 104-104 with 2:39 left.
The Bulls lost the lead in strange fashion on the next trip. Davis came up short on a long jumper, the ball hit the floor, bounced high in the air and Nocioni was going to let it fall out of bounds. But when a Warriors player lunged for it, Nocioni tapped the ball back onto the court and ended up giving Golden State's Matt Barnes an easy layup. After a Bulls miss, Barnes made 1 of 2 free throws to make it a 3-point game.
The Bulls got a couple of tough breaks while trailing by a point in the final 1:30. First, Stephen Jackson was sent to the line and hit 2 free throws, even though it appeared Joe Smith blocked his shot cleanly.
The back-breaker came when Davis drove to the basket and knocked over Duhon with no call while throwing a pass to an open Jackson, who buried a 3-pointer to make it 112-108 with 46.8 seconds left.