Time for Bulls to show what they're made of

Usually, there are dire warnings when a team approaches a difficult stretch of the schedule.

For the Bulls, it might be the best thing that could happen.

They've struggled all season against sub- .500 teams at home, but have plenty of wins against strong opponents and are one of the league's best road teams.

So maybe the focus will improve in the coming days. The Bulls host Washington on Wednesday, followed by a trip to Boston, home against East-leading Atlanta on Saturday, then a visit to Cleveland, San Antonio at home, followed by Dallas on the road. Not long after that, the Bulls will embark on the six-game ice show road trip.

"We're a work in progress," Joakim Noah said after Tuesday's practice at the Advocate Center. "If you deal with the good, you've got to be able to deal with the bad. Keep working."

While losing three of their last four games, the Bulls have hit two different extremes. They scored a season-low 77 points in a 20-point home loss to Utah last week, then gave up a season-high 121 points (in a regulation game) in a home loss to Orlando on Monday.

While they try to get back on track, it's tough to even identify the Bulls' biggest problem these days.

"This is our story and this is the journey," Noah said. "In a season, there's always going to be ups and downs. When there's adversity, people show their true color. That's just the way it is.

"We're going through something right now and we've got to stick together and make it work. The injuries, the new guys - we can make excuses, but this is who we are. It's not going to change. So it's on us to fix it or it's not going to work."

In the big picture, the Bulls aren't doing badly. They own a 26-13 record and are a few percentage points away from second place in the Eastern Conference.

Back in 2010-11, when the Bulls won a league-best 62 games, their record at this point in the season was - wait for it - 26-13.

"One of the things I do like about our team, at the beginning of the year our problem was rebounding," coach Tom Thibodeau said Tuesday. "The focus was shifted to that and they've corrected that. Now there are other things that we have to correct.

"You're preparing to play your best at the end. But you have to build the right habits along the way."

The defense was atrocious in the loss to Orlando. The Magic shot 59.3 percent from the field, which is the best shooting percentage by a Bulls opponent over the past two seasons.

It's hard to blame any one person, but Orlando clearly won the center matchup behind underrated 7-footer Nikola Vucevic (33 points). He buried several 18-foot jumpers early in the game, then when Pau Gasol tried to take away the outside shot, Vucevic went to the rim and threw down a nasty left-handed dunk over Gasol late in the third quarter.

The Magic pushed the pace and got several easy baskets before the Bulls could set up on defense. Orlando got some open looks from the 3-point line, and second-year guard Victor Oladipo took over in the fourth quarter, when he scored 13 of his 33 points.

The Bulls just couldn't get enough help when Oladipo attacked the basket. On one key possession late in the game, with the Bulls trailing by 5, Orlando set up a high screen and roll with Oladipo and Vucevic. Vucevic never did set a screen on Jimmy Butler, so Butler and Gasol followed Oladipo all the way to the basket, but the former Indiana star was still able to drop in a driving bank shot.

"That's where you get your team being tied together," Thibodeau said. "Often times, you might have four guys doing the right thing, and if one guy is a step behind, now you pay the penalty for it."

There haven't been any severe penalties yet for the Bulls' sluggish play. They're contenders in the East, but must now play better against the good teams than they have against the bad.

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