Not easy to explain Bulls' hot-and-cold spells
This all started on Nov. 8 at the United Center.
The Bulls were rolling along on a four-game win streak and, with a soft schedule ahead, figured to head out on the circus road trip with a 9-1 record. Then they lost a home game to Boston, dropped another to Indiana and the trend was established.
It's difficult to figure out. For four years, the Bulls' identity under coach Tom Thibodeau was playing with great intensity and overachieving without Derrick Rose.
This season, the Bulls have been losing games they should win, blowing big leads and acting as though winning basketball games is not particularly important. Injuries and ever-changing lineups are issues, but they don't explain why the Bulls have gone soft, at least compared to the way they used to play.
"We get lackadaisical sometimes," Taj Gibson said after Thursday's win at Miami, according to bulls.com. "We have so many weapons. Look at Niko (Mirotic), Tony (Snell). We think we'll come back so easily. We like to play to our competition, and it hurts us a lot and we lose track of what we need to do and then it's too late."
Thursday's game was an all's-well-that-ends-well scenario. The Bulls played a great second half and beat the Heat 89-78. But that was after a miserable eight-minute stretch of the second quarter when they fell behind by 19 points.
It also followed a rough night in Orlando, where the Bulls squandered a 15-point lead, gave up loads of easy baskets down the stretch and lost to the lowly Magic 105-103. That loss might cost the Bulls the No. 3 playoff seed in the East.
After beating Miami, several Bulls complimented veteran center Nazr Mohammed for helping light a fire at halftime. But why did it come to that? The Bulls knew a loss to Miami might cost them homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Why was there no sense or urgency until Mohammed spoke up?
"Nazr, he really chewed us out," Gibson said.
"Nazr gave us a great halftime speech about playing together and playing for the right reasons," added Joakim Noah, "staying together, not getting down on ourselves."
Of course, the Bulls have some quality victories this season. They've beaten every playoff team from the West, including Golden State, Memphis and the L.A. Clippers on the road. They've blown out Cleveland, swept Toronto and split four games with Washington. The one team the Bulls haven't had any luck against is Atlanta.
One theory to explain all the hot-and-cold spells is the Bulls simply haven't had enough full-roster practice time to build a cohesive group. They started the season with three key newcomers - Pau Gasol, Aaron Brooks and Nikola Mirotic - plus Rose, a star player who had barely seen the court in two years.
Through 35 games, the Bulls were 25-10. That's actually two more wins than they had in 2010-11 after 35 games.
The difference is that the 2010-11 team was limited to two significant injuries - Carlos Boozer's early-season broken hand and Noah's torn thumb ligament. Those Bulls pulled together, hit the gas and finished 62-20.
After Jan. 1, this year's club lost Derrick Rose, Mike Dunleavy, Jimmy Butler and Gibson for at least 10 games at a time. That's why the Bulls are in the state they're in, hoping Toronto loses one of its games in Florida this weekend so they can reclaim third place.
Why they needed a pep talk from Mohammed to play harder against Miami? That is still difficult to understand.
"I just think we had enough," Dunleavy said. "Adrian Griffin, our assistant coach - I was sitting there on the bench waiting for the second half to start and he asked me, 'What do you think is wrong with your guys? Tired?'
"I just said, 'Everything is going to be all right.' After that, I felt like we were going to make it happen; dug in, got stops, rebounded and put the ball in the basket. Sounds easy, but that's what we did. Tonight we just said enough is enough. And just played our best basketball of the season in the third quarter."
Is that enough to carry into the playoffs? Tough to tell. After playing 20 minutes in last two games, Rose is hoping his playing time increases on Saturday against Philadelphia. But the Bulls are also dealing with another new injury. Butler missed the Miami game with a calf problem. His status for Saturday is unclear.
For the Bulls, playoff success can officially be listed as questionable.
• Get the latest Bulls news via Twitter@McGrawDHBulls.
Bulls game day
Bulls vs. Philadelphia 76ers at the United Center, 7 p.m. Saturday
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: ESPN 1000-AM
Outlook: Oddly enough, this is Philadelphia's only visit to the United Center and it comes with three games left in the regular season. In the lottery standings, the 76ers (18-61) are in third place, behind New York and Minnesota. After all the roster changes, Philadelphia's top scorer is 6-9 forward Robert Covington (13.1 ppg). Rookie C Nerlens Noel has averaged 13.1 points and 10 rebounds since the all-star break, but he's expected to miss this game with a sprained ankle. PG Isaiah Canaan (12.6 ppg) is out with a foot injury, so there will be some unfamiliar names wearing Sixers uniforms. The Bulls won twice at Philadelphia this season, but both games went down to the wire.
Next: Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center on Monday, 6:30 p.m.
- Mike McGraw