Reeling Bulls thumped by lowly Raptors

Following two days of practice, a negative assessment from general manager John Paxson and a public spat between player and coach, what did the Bulls bring to the table Friday against the Toronto Raptors?

How about a shockingly bad performance that ranks with their worst this season.

Facing a team that had lost seven in a row, the Bulls coughed up turnovers like the government is distributing bailout money. For good measure, they closed the game on the short end of a 23-4 run and were beaten badly by the Raptors 114-94 before an arena full of irritated fans at the United Center.

"We've just got to hold our heads up and realize we need to play better if we want to win," said guard Ben Gordon, who confronted coach Vinny Del Negro on Thursday about a team-imposed fine. "If we want things to change, we have to change the way we play."

Toronto (17-28) benefited from the return of point guard Jose Calderon, who posted 23 points and 10 assists and hit 9 of 10 shots from the field after missing 10 of the previous 11 games with a hamstring injury.

Bulls rookie Derrick Rose exploded for 25 points and 10 rebounds during a win at Toronto on Jan. 14. In Friday's rematch, he had a more ordinary 12 points, 4 assists and 4 turnovers.

"We applauded our bigs in the locker room after the game," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "(Rose) had his way with us the other night. Tonight, they were there with their bodies, and that helped shrink the floor on him."

Meanwhile, the Bulls' sloppiness on offense rose to new levels as they piled up 23 turnovers. Five different players finished with either 3 or 4 giveaways.

Turnovers were an early-season problem that seemed to clearing up. The Bulls had 13, 14 and 12 turnovers last week against the Raptors, Cleveland and San Antonio.

"The explanation is we're making bad decisions with the ball," Del Negro said. "We stress it in practice, we go over film, we talk about it. I thought our ball movement was not good enough most of the game, and that caught up to us. I was not happy with our energy or our demeanor there in the fourth quarter."

This game got away from the Bulls (18-26) at the start of the third quarter when Toronto hit 6 of its first 7 shots during a 13-1 run to snap a halftime tie.

"Miscommunication," Rose said of the defensive lapses. "Not knowing where the pick is at, yelling switch and we didn't switch, stuff like that."

The home team battled back and got as close as 91-90 on Luol Deng's jumper with 6:22 left. Another Deng jumper made it 94-92 a minute later, but the rest of the game was a Raptor rampage.

After some free throws boosted Toronto's lead to 5 points, Naperville native Anthony Parker missed a corner 3-pointer, got his own rebound, then knocked down a 3 from the same spot to send the Raptors ahead 100-92 with 3:45 left.

While Joakim Noah and Deng both missed a pair of free throws, among other Bulls mistakes, Toronto knocked down 4 more jumpers, including a pair of 3-pointers, to stretch the advantage to 18.