Bulls stay close, run out of gas in fourth
SALT LAKE CITY -- The Bulls seemed to relish the underdog role the past three games, but Saturday's task was a little too daunting.
Playing again without arguably their three best players, the Bulls finished a six-game road trip in Utah. The Jazz is tied for the best home record in the league at 22-3 and also had a 10-game winning streak snapped the previous night at Sacramento.
The visitors needed a little more of that Chris Duhon magic and then some. The Bulls managed to stay within 2 points until the final minute of the third quarter before Utah pulled away late for a 97-87 victory.
"I think we ran out of gas a little bit there at the end," coach Jim Boylan said. "A couple guys were pretty tired."
Kirk Hinrich (bruised ribs), Ben Gordon (sprained right wrist) and Luol Deng (left Achilles' tendinitis) all sat for the third straight contest.
With any luck, this was the last severely short-handed game the Bulls will play. Hinrich expects to be ready Tuesday against New Orleans, when Gordon's return also is possible.
The question as the Bulls come home following 12 days on the road is whether they can keep playing with the same scrambling desperation they had while short-handed.
"Each guy is trying to play a little harder and when the other guys come back that can't change," Boylan said. "Those guys who come back, the injured guys, they've got to play as hard as the guys who have been playing.
"It's up to each individual guy to come with that mentality, in practice and in games."
The other Bulls seemed to lay down a challenge for Hinrich, Gordon and Duhon. After beating just one team with a winning record all season (Detroit), the Bulls knocked off Golden State on Thursday missing three stars.
"There's no question. We've done it," Hinrich said. "We just haven't done it as consistently this year. But on this trip especially, the guys played real hard and it was good to see. I'm really proud of our team."
Added Duhon: "I think we've kind of created a base for the way we need to play. We just need the other guys, when they get healthy, to be on the same page with us."
Duhon followed up his career-high 34-point game at Golden State by going 4-for-12 from the field for 11 points, plus 8 assists against Utah.
Thabo Sefolosha led the Bulls with 22 points, while Andres Nocioni and Joe Smith each added 14. Carlos Boozer led five Utah players in double figures with 22.
The Bulls (20-30) got a break when Boozer picked up his fourth foul and sat out the final 10:09 of the third quarter. They took advantage by trimming a 14-point deficit all the way down to 67-65.
The Bulls missed a chance to tie the score, then watched reserve guard Ronnie Price, who didn't play in the first half, score the game's next 7 points to send Utah ahead 74-65 a minute into the fourth quarter.
The Bulls played reasonably well in the first half but were lucky to be down just 49-39 at intermission, considering they went scoreless for a 6:36 stretch late in the second quarter. They also hit just 4 of 12 free throws before halftime, while both Nocioni and Tyrus Thomas had 2 fouls less than four minutes into the game.
Thomas aggravated his sprained left foot when someone stepped on it and was limited to 12 minutes.