Bulls score at will
MILWAUKEE -- Bulls general manager John Paxson attended Monday night's game in Milwaukee, but he shouldn't base any of his off-season personnel decisions on the defenseless 151-135 victory at the Bradley Center.
The Bulls came within 4 points of matching their franchise record for points in a regulation game, a 155-127 home win over Phoenix on Dec. 4, 1990.
"We didn't quite get there. But 151, I thought that was a run," coach Jim Boylan said. "It's been a tough year for us, so to kind of air it out here and for us to play 48 minutes like that, there's nothing wrong with that."
The Bulls nearly recorded the best field-goal percentage in team history, which was .705 at Golden State on Dec. 2, 1981.
When Ben Gordon canned back-to-back 3-point baskets with 8:38 remaining, the Bulls were shooting 71.3 percent for the game and led 134-108. The visitors missed their next 3 shots, however, and finished at an even 67 percent, still the best showing ever by a Bucks opponent.
Luol Deng led the Bulls with 32 points and hit 15 of 20 shots. Gordon added 29, while Chris Duhon put on a rare shooting display. Not known for his scoring, Duhon hit 8 of 9 shots overall, drilled all 4 of his 3-point attempts and scored 22 points.
On the other side, rookie guard Ramon Sessions set a Bucks record with 24 assists. That's the highest total in the league this season and 6 short of Scott Skiles' all-time NBA record.
"I joked inside that Scott Skiles would have been really upset if Ramon Sessions broke his single-game assist record against the Chicago Bulls," quipped Boylan, who replaced Skiles as coach on Dec. 27.
Paxson addressed some season-ending topics during halftime of Monday's contest. He will speak to the team as a whole following Wednesday's season-ending game against Toronto, then meet with Boylan on Thursday and hold individual meetings with the players Friday. Most observers do not expect Boylan to return.
"I'm really looking forward to sitting down with each individual player and talking to them about this year and about what I expect going forward," Paxson said. "I do expect this off-season to be more team-oriented as opposed to individual-oriented. That, to me, is going to dictate this organization's future.
"You certainly can't take your whole roster and revamp it. There's no question we have some talent on this team. The question is, what happened to the willingness to play as a team that we exhibited the last couple of years as opposed to what happened this year? That is the question."
Paxson left no doubt that he expects the Bulls to make a quick return to the playoffs after missing the postseason for the first time in four years. Right now the Bulls are the youngest team in the league, but that distinction might not last.
"I want to be back in the playoffs, but there are going to be other teams getting better," he said. "I think our being the youngest team in the league is not a thing I want to hang my hat on here. In terms of the guys that play a lot for us, they've got enough experience. So I don't view us necessarily as a young team."
The Bulls (31-49) could avoid hitting 50 losses with a win over Toronto, but so much more was expected from a team that reached the second round of the playoffs a year ago.
"We put this team together and had great confidence that they would respond to whatever the expectations were, and it turned out to be something totally different," Paxson said. "There are a lot of reasons for it.
"From me on down, anyone who doesn't look in the mirror and question how they went about their business this year … I certainly am and I think (the players) better, too."