Bulls can't catch up with Charlotte in 113-108 loss

A team is usually asking for trouble when forced to play from behind on the road.

The Bulls made a nice comeback at Charlotte on Tuesday, but made too many mistakes and missed too many open shots down the stretch. They lost 113-108, falling to 0-7 this season in the second half of back-to-back games.

The Bulls (14-19) snapped their four-game winning streak with a home loss to Oklahoma City on Monday. They posted a season-high in points at Charlotte, but allowed the Bobcats to shoot 51 percent from the field and sent them to the foul line 33 times.

"It's the NBA. Nothing's going to come easy," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Our guys fought. We've just got to make shots down the stretch, it's as easy as that. We got some stops when we need to, but we couldn't make any open looks and that's how it goes sometimes."

The Bulls trailed almost the entire game and were down 80-69 with 2:57 left in the third quarter. Derrick Rose entered the game with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter and immediately went to work, scoring 6 straight points on drives to the basket and bringing the visitors within 97-95.

Rose appeared to tie the score with 5:51 remaining, but his driving lay in was waved off by a controversial charging call.

The Bulls finally tied the score at 105 with 2:08 left in a driving lay up. On the other end, though, Taj Gibson was called for his fifth foul and Flip Murray knocked down 2 free throws that gave Charlotte (15-18) the lead for good.

With the deficit at 2 points, the Bulls failed to score on three straight possessions. On the first two, the Bobcats trapped Rose and forced him to give up the ball.

First, Kirk Hinrich missed a 3-pointer, then John Salmons (19 points) had the ball slapped off his knee and out of bounds.

On the third trip, Rose had a shot blocked out of bounds. On the ensuing inbounds play, Rose passed to Hinrich, who got an open look from 15 feet, but missed with about 23 seconds remaining.

The Bulls had to foul and Charlotte's Raymond Felton boosted the lead to 4. Salmons came back with a driving lay in and 3-point play to make it 109-108 with 18.1 seconds left.

After Stephen Jackson (25 points) knocked down a pair of free throws, Rose missed a contested 3-pointer.

Hinrich tipped the rebound out to Salmons, who had a wide-open look at a potential tying 3, but it bounced off the rim with a second remaining.

"At least we fought back," Rose said. "Two or three weeks ago we would have let that game slip."

Rose scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and added 9 assists, but finished with 7 turnovers. Luol Deng had 18 points and 9 rebounds. Gerald Wallace led Charlotte with 32 points.

Some unlucky plays hurt the Bulls' cause. In the second quarter, Tyrus Thomas jumped to block a shot and got his free hand caught up in the net. Referees called goaltending and a technical foul.

Since Hinrich was trying to wrap up Murray with an intentional foul, the Bobcats got a 4-point play out of the miscue.

At the end of the third quarter, Felton banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer, putting the Bulls behind 87-80 heading into the fourth. Del Negro also was called for a technical foul.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Mike McGraw's game tracker</p>

<p class="News">Bobcats 113, Bulls 108</p>

<p class="News"><b>Rose leads rally:</b> The Bulls trailed by 11 late in the third quarter before Derrick Rose brought them back by scoring 10 of his 24 points in the fourth. Rose also had 7 turnovers, though, and the Bulls made just enough mistakes to lose the game.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Open looks wasted:</b> After Charlotte's Flip Murray hit 2 free throws with 1:43 left to beak a 105-105 tie, the Bulls failed to score on their next three possessions while trailing by 2. Kirk Hinrich missed an open 15-footer with 22 seconds left, then John Salmons couldn't connect on an unguarded 3-pointer that could have tied the score with a second on the clock.</p>

<p class="News"><b>No rest for weary:</b> The Bulls fell to 0-7 in the second leg of back-to-back games this season and have now lost two in a row following their feel-good, four-game winning streak.</p>