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Bulls look bad in losing 6th seed

The Bulls had been nearly unbeatable at home and controlled their own playoff destiny. But there was no magic in how the Bulls stunk up the United Center on Wednesday night.

Winners of 14 of their previous 15 home games, the Bulls laid a dinosaur egg against the Toronto Raptors and suffered an inexplicable 109-98 loss that wasn't even very competitive.

So goodbye No. 6 seed and slumping Orlando Magic. The Bulls are No. 7 and can say hello to the defending champion Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series will be either Saturday or Sunday at TD Banknorth Garden.

"If we don't play a lot harder than we did tonight, it's going to be a rude awakening for us and it will be quick," coach Vinny Del Negro said after the game. "We're going to have to get a lot better a lot quicker."

The Bulls (41-41) still had a chance to back into the No. 6 seed, but Philadelphia finally snapped a six-game losing streak by edging the Cleveland junior varsity 111-110 in overtime.

Inside a subdued locker room, a few Bulls sat around and watched the end of the Sixers game. A few cheers for Cleveland could be heard, but for the most part, the Bulls seemed resigned to their fate and disgusted by their performance.

"They're the defending champs. There isn't much else to say," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "It's going to be a huge challenge. They're a great team. We're going to have to play near-perfect."

Who knows? If Kevin Garnett is still bothered by a knee injury that kept him out of 22 of the last 26 games, maybe the Bulls have a better chance of extending a series against Boston.

"We're confident, even though we didn't play very well tonight," Joakim Noah said. "Anything can happen in this game."

Against Toronto, the Bulls fell behind 7-0 from the opening tip and never pulled even. They trailed by 20 in the second quarter and couldn't close within single digits during the fourth quarter.

The only sign of life came in the second quarter when the Bulls knocked the 20-point deficit down to 3 in just more than five minutes. But the Raptors responded with a surge of their own and were back up 61-49 at halftime.

Trailing by 15 heading into the fourth quarter, the Bulls came out in a zone and promptly watched two-time 3-point contest champ Jason Kapono drain a long one to make it 87-69. There still was time to come back, but the Bulls never did.

"I'm not shocked; I'm disappointed," Ben Gordon said. "They beat us two out of three games (before Wednesday). They've had our number."

Hinrich went scoreless. John Salmons seemed less than 100 percent and managed just 5 points. Gordon scored 23 points, while Derrick Rose had 20 points and 11 assists. Toronto's Shawn Marion hit 15 of 18 shots for 34 points in his final game before becoming a free agent this summer.

"Disappointed in the urgency that we showed tonight," Del Negro said. "I didn't think anybody played real well. Derrick had 20 and 11, but I thought he was pounding the ball too much. I thought Ben was, I thought John was. Our defense couldn't get any stops."

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