Boylan says coaching job his to lose
Jim Boylan doesn't have a problem with anyone lobbying for the Bulls head coaching job.
Boylan was named interim coach last week to replace Scott Skiles, but the position won't be filled permanently until the summer. The way Boylan sees it, it's his job to lose.
"Right now I'm standing here and I've always been someone who wasn't afraid of a challenge," Boylan said. "The challenge for me right now is to do a great job and make the Chicago Bulls hire me long term. That's my goal. That's what I'm setting out to do."
Former Bulls star Scottie Pippen became the first to publicly campaign for the job in a story published Monday.
Pippen has no coaching experience, but neither did fellow NBA legend Larry Bird, who had a successful three-year run with the Indiana Pacers that ended with a trip to the 2000 NBA Finals.
Boylan got his first taste of late-game pressure as a head coach during Monday's 112-110 overtime loss to Orlando.
"It was fun," Boylan said. "It was enjoyable, putting guys in position, giving them an opportunity to make some plays, then have them come through. I wish we would have had Kirk (Hinrich, who fouled out late in the fourth quarter) at the end.
No rest for regulars: The Bulls are halfway through another stretch of four games in five days, their second in the past three weeks. But Jim Boylan indicated that extra rest may not necessarily be in order.
"I told a couple of the guys I'm going to ride them," Boylan said. "We need to get this team right and I know we have a lot of games in a short period of time, but our season is slipping away and we need to get ourselves back on track and the guys understand that and they're ready to take on that responsibility."
Luol Deng and Ben Wallace both played close to 45 minutes in the overtime loss to Orlando, while Ben Gordon logged 41 minutes.
Boylan didn't give much time to the young big men. Tyrus Thomas, Aaron Gray and Joakim Noah all played less than six minutes and only during the first half.
Real Chapu returns: Andres Nocioni finally showed signs of busting out of his shooting slump with 19 points against Orlando. He hit 7 of 14 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that helped erase a 6-point deficit.
In his previous six games, Nocioni averaged 6.5 points and shot a miserable 23.1 percent from the field.
Bull horns: Orlando knocked down 11 of 25 shots from 3-point range on Monday. ... In the past two games, starting guards Kirk Hinrich and Chris Duhon combined for 25 assists and 2 turnovers.