McGraw: Is Bulls' 7-3 start promising, or unimpressive?
There are a couple ways to look at the Chicago Bulls' 7-3 start.
In some ways, it's promising. They have two quality wins over Cleveland and Oklahoma City, and two of the losses were in overtime.
On the other hand, there have been some unimpressive wins, like Monday's, when they barely held off a short-handed Indiana squad 96-95 at the United Center.
A persistent problem returned in this one — the Bulls' offense hit a brick wall late in the fourth quarter. They finished the game hitting just 1 of 14 shots from the field over the final eight minutes.
It was reminiscent of the overtime loss to Minnesota on Nov. 7 when the Bulls managed only a Pau Gasol tip-in over the final 11 minutes of action and were shut out in overtime for the first time in franchise history.
Against Indiana, the lone made shot down the stretch was a 15-foot pullup jumper by Jimmy Butler off a screen-and-roll with Gasol. It was essentially a game-saving basket.
“We got stagnant and missed free throws; made a couple of time-and-possession mistakes by trying to take it at the basket when we should have pulled it back out,” coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. “Really, we quit with our flow. I thought our flow was pretty good all night.
“I thought we had good pace and those last eight minutes, we just shut it down from a pace standpoint and got too stagnant. What got the lead, you've got to continue to do that, but we'll learn from it. It's always better to learn from a win than a loss.”
The dry spell coincided roughly with Derrick Rose's left ankle injury. He scored a team-high 23 points, but left the floor at the 5:53 mark and is listed as doubtful for Wednesday's circus trip opener at Phoenix. It's too soon to tell if Rose might be back on Friday at Golden State.
So why do the Bulls struggle to score down the stretch so often? The simple answer is they're still getting familiar with Hoiberg's offensive system, and when good defensive teams like Indiana turn up the heat late in games, the offense collapses.
“A little fatigue (hurt the offense). We had great shots. We normally make those shots,” said Taj Gibson, who leads the Bulls in fourth-quarter minutes this season. “It's part of the game. We can worry about it tomorrow knowing that we got a win, but we're going to correct it. It's just repetition, being in the gym, back to the drawing board. I'm glad we got a win against a good team.”
Hoiberg also hasn't settled on a closing lineup. Rose and Butler are always out there, when healthy. Gasol usually checks in late in games, but Hoiberg also has used Gibson and Joakim Noah extensively for defensive reasons.
Nikola Mirotic has been hot and cold all season. He didn't play at all in Monday's fourth quarter, but Hoiberg likes using guard E'Twaun Moore late in games and moving Butler to small forward.
“I really don't care (who plays at the end). I just go do my job,” Gibson said. “Our team is real unselfish and we don't really complain. We just want to see everybody succeed. We understand, there's a bigger goal at hand. I don't really worry about the other antics, I just go out and do my job whenever coach calls my name a be responsible.”
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