Clipped again -- this time at home -- ending Bulls' winning streak at 5
After making history during the seven-game, ice-show road trip, the Bulls probably would have preferred going to Cleveland, Orlando, Dallas - anything but a home game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Clippers may be in the group picture for worst American sports franchises, but they've owned the Bulls in recent years. With Tuesday's 90-82 victory at the United Center, the Clippers improved to 8-2 in Chicago during the past decade.
In contrast, the Bulls have beaten the Lakers four times at home in the past 10 years. Two other teams, Dallas and Seattle/Oklahoma City, can match the Clippers' feat winning eight of the last 10 at the UC.
The two times the Bulls did beat the Clippers during that time span, they needed late-game miracle shots just to send it to overtime. Last season Ben Gordon converted a 4-point play late in the fourth quarter.
Of course, this year figured to be different after the Bulls became the first team in NBA history to win five straight road games against teams with winning records. But this was just more of the same, getting clipped on their home court.
"It's human nature. We got a little swagger after (the winning streak)," Bulls forward Luol Deng said. "We're all disappointed, but we've got to get up tomorrow and play. Just let it go. We wanted 6 wins in a row, but we'll start another winning streak."
The Bulls (23-23) are back in action Wednesday night at Philadelphia, a team that hasn't played since Sunday. This week brings four games in five nights, so they'll need to turn things around quickly.
"Coming back, I was definitely off my timing," said Derrick Rose, who hit 7 of 20 shots for 16 points. "The rhythm wasn't there. Hopefully when we play tomorrow, we get to redeem ourselves."
The Clippers (21-27) had lost to New Jersey and Minnesota, the league's two worst teams, on the current road trip. But they're a different team with center Chris Kaman on the floor. He sat out the previous two games with an ankle injury and returned against the Bulls to pour in 21 points.
Second-year guard Eric Gordon led the Clippers with 24 points, scoring often off turnovers or knocking down open 3-point shots.
"We got back to too much holding of the ball," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Our ball movement was not good enough, and we didn't make any shots."
The Bulls shot 38 percent from the field as a team, turned it over 20 times and were bumbling and fumbling the ball throughout the game.
They stayed reasonably close for 21/2 quarters, then couldn't convert a couple of chances to cut into a 6-point deficit in the third quarter.
That's when the Clippers opened things up suddenly with a 14-2 run. The visitors took their largest lead at 78-60 with 38.8 seconds left in the third when a Bulls turnover led to a fastbreak lay-in and 3-point play by Gordon.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Clippers missed 14 of their first 17 shots, but the Bulls couldn't put the ball in the basket to save their lives. The final score was as close as it got.
"They've got a variety of guys that are good shot blockers and the length of the team is crazy," Rose said. "They've got a lot of leapers. When you go to the hole, you're going to get somebody jumping at your shot, always."
Mike McGraw's game tracker Clippers 90, Bulls 82Home doesn't help: The Bulls can handle winning teams on the road, but the Clippers at home are another story. The Bulls fell behind by 8 at halftime and never got back in it, bringing their five-game winning streak to an abrupt end.Colder than cold: Here's this game in a nutshell: To start the fourth quarter, the Clippers hit 3 of their first 17 shots, but during all that time the Bulls could trim only 4 points off a 15-point deficit. Overall, the home team shot 38 percent in their first game at the UC in 18 days.Little to no offense: Bulls forward Luol Deng hit 6 of 7 shots for 16 points in the first quarter, then added just 2 free throws the rest of the way. Derrick Rose hit 7 of his 20 shot attempts to finish with 16 points. Good thing all-star ballots were due last week.False14661995The Bulls' Derrick Rose, who hit only 7 of 20 shots and finished with 16 points, watches the final seconds of Tuesday night's loss.Associated PressFalse <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Stories</h2><ul class="links"><li><a href="/story/?id=356244">Rose excused from rookie game<span class="date"> [2/2/10]</span></a></li></ul></div></div></div><p class="factboxheadblack">Game Day: Bulls @ Philadelphia</p><p class="News"><b>Time</b>: 6 p.m.</p><p class="News"><b>TV</b>: Channel 26</p><p class="News"><b>Radio</b>: WMVP 1000-AM</p><p class="News"><b>Update</b>: Even though the Sixers are well off the playoff chase with a 16-31 record, they haven't played since beating New Jersey on Sunday, while the Bulls will be on the second leg of back-to-back games. On the other hand, Philadelphia is just 7-16 on its home court this season - second-worst in the NBA ahead of the Nets. Andre Iguodala is the top scorer at 17.1 points per game, followed by Allen Iverson at 14.7 ppg. These teams haven't met since Nov. 14 when the Bulls won 94-88 at the United Center.</p><p class="News"><b>Next</b>: Friday vs. Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena, 7 p.m.</p>