No 'D' spells another defeat for Bulls

ATLANTA - Remember when the Bulls used to play good defense?

A couple of years ago, they could come into a game like this one in Atlanta and basically make the Hawks quit by getting up in their faces and making every movement on the floor difficult.

Of course, the Hawks are much better than they used to be and the Bulls have changed many of their players, but defense has disappeared from the game plan. Now the Bulls specialize in run-and-gun shootouts, and they aren't always good at it.

On Saturday night, the Bulls shot 62.1 percent from the field through three quarters but trailed for the entire second half of a scoreboard-bending 129-117 loss.

The Bulls lost their seventh straight road game, while the Hawks, who hadn't played in four days, improved to 13-2 at home.

Where exactly has the defense gone? Three players offered different opinions inside the Bulls' locker room:

"It's personal, you know," forward Andres Nocioni said. "Everybody needs to step up. It's the only way. Because if we don't play 'D,' I think we're going to be out of the playoffs for sure. Today was, I think, terrible defense."

Nocioni and Ben Gordon are really the only two players who were around in the Scott Skiles heyday of leading the league in defensive field-goal percentage. Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich are out with injuries.

"That was a couple years ago, I guess," Gordon said. "Whole different coaching staff, whole different system. (We need to) start from practice. We can't come out and expect to figure it out in the game, just magically. It starts from practice makes perfect, and we've got to carry it over to the game."

Rookie Derrick Rose mentioned defense as the team's biggest weakness weeks ago. There is only so much that can be done against great scorers.

But the Bulls had too many mental lapses to count - things like not knowing who is supposed to guard a dangerous shooter, leaving opponents wide open off double-teams, and no one coming to help when it's badly needed.

"I'd say communication," Rose said. "We didn't talk. Once we get that going, I think we'll be all right."

The Bulls (13-17) never recovered from 21-2 Atlanta run in the second quarter, which brought the Hawks from a 6-point deficit to a 13-point lead. The closest the visitors could get in the fourth was 107-105 before Rose missed a driving shot that could have tied the score with 6:40 remaining.

Atlanta (19-10) quickly built the lead back to 7 points, though the Bulls later had the ball down by 4. Nocioni missed a 3-point attempt, and Marvin Williams' layup and 3-point play basically put things out of reach with 1:44 left.

Hawks guard Joe Johnson became the second opponent in five days to drop 40 points on the Bulls, joining Detroit guard Rodney Stuckey. Johnson finished with 41 while hitting 16 of 31 shots.

Still, Gordon and Rose managed to outscore Atlanta's guards. Gordon (33 points) knocked down 6 of 8 shots from 3-point range to pass Scottie Pippen as the all-time franchise leader but managed just 4 points in the fourth quarter.

Rose posted a season-high 27 points, along with 7 assists, and hit 12 of 19 shots. He was clearly determined to make up for a rough shooting night Friday in Miami, staying on the floor longer than usual before the game to take extra shooting practice.