Bulls don't want to see these reruns
There is no single reason why the Bulls have failed to move into playoff position in the weak Eastern Conference.
But they do seem to have a recurring nightmare.
Losing an 18-point lead in the final 11 minutes of Friday's 110-106 loss to Philadelphia may have been their biggest fourth-quarter collapse of the season, but it's far from a new story line.
The Bulls blew an 18-point halftime lead against Washington two weeks ago. They gave up a 13-point, fourth quarter lead against the Knicks on Jan. 8, not to mention the back-to-back home games surrounding New Year's Day when they lost in overtime to Orlando, then in double overtime to Portland.
The Bulls are 15-16 at home this season, but only 3 of those wins came by fewer than 7 points. Needless to say, their performance in close games is a reason why they're still a game behind Atlanta and New Jersey for the eighth playoff spot in the East.
"We're usually good at the end of games," Ben Gordon said. "That's something we prided ourselves on here the last few years. For whatever reason this season we just haven't been able to keep teams down when we have a nice, little lead."
Some of Friday's occurrences were tough to explain. Second-year Philadelphia forward Rodney Carney had made just 15 baskets from 3-point range all season and was shooting 22.4 percent from behind the arc. But Carney knocked down 3 in a row in the final 6:02 to power the comeback.
"Our defense, I don't want to say eased up, because that's not the right word," Bulls coach Jim Boylan said. "I think they just kind of wore us down a little bit and their penetration became fairly easy in the fourth."
Carney and 6-foot-2 guard Louis Williams scored 20 of the Sixers' final 34 points. In the first three quarters, those two players combined to hit just 2 of 12 shots.
The Bulls took Saturday off. They'll practice today before departing to New Orleans for a tough bounceback game against the Hornets (44-20). The Bulls then return for an important home date against the Nets on Tuesday.
Brown, Simmons to Iowa: The Bulls decided to give newcomers Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons some playing time, so both were assigned to the D-League's Iowa Energy on Saturday.
Guard Demetris Nichols will return from Iowa, where he's averaged 19.3 points in 14 games this season.
The move also means coach Jim Boylan won't have to answer any more questions about whether guard Chris Duhon is on the active roster, since Brown, Simmons and injured guard JamesOn Curry are automatically inactive for the time being.
Duhon has not played in the last three games since missing the team's shootaround last Sunday in Detroit.
Gray does matter: Philadelphia forward Reggie Evans had an interesting take on why things went awry for the Bulls on Friday: They didn't use center Aaron Gray in the second half. Gray had 2 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in nine minutes before halftime.
"Going into the fourth quarter, the Bulls' coach tweaked his lineup a little bit from the first half," Evans said after the game. "He didn't play Gray; he played the kid from LSU (Tyrus Thomas). They went small ball, so I thought it could be a golden opportunity for us. We went small ball and ran with them."
Bull horns: With Philadelphia's backcourt loaded with tough defensive matchups, Ben Gordon played a season-low 14 minutes Friday. He finished with 12 points. … Give Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks credit for finding what worked. Three of his five starters, including veteran guard Andre Miller, did not play at all in the fourth quarter when Philadelphia outscored the Bulls 40-20.