Late surge can't push Bulls past Clippers
Derrick Rose's popularity is soaring. He wears the fourth- best-selling jersey in the NBA, based on sales at the NBA Store in New York and on nba.com.
That's a sizable jump from No. 11 a year ago.
While Rose is on the rise, the Bulls are trying to avoid sinking in the standings during their seven-game "ice show" road trip. So far, it looks like the Bulls are overmatched by Western Conference competition.
They fell to 0-2 on the trip with a 104-97 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers late Wednesday at Staples Center. Based on won-lost record, the first two games of the trip should have been the easiest, but the Bulls couldn't handle the Clippers - or Golden State on Monday.
Rose led the Bulls with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists but didn't shoot well. One bright spot for the Bulls (18-22) was the first good game from Tyrus Thomas (18 points, 8-of-11 shooting) in a few weeks.
Kirk Hinrich was back in the starting lineup after missing Monday's loss at Golden State with the flu. But this time, John Salmons stayed at the team hotel battling a stomach flu. After scoring a team-high 25 points against the Warriors, Salmons became ill and spent the night in an Oakland, Calif., hospital.
The Bulls trailed by 14 points midway through the fourth quarter and climbed within 4 several times in the final 21/2 minutes but couldn't stop Clippers guard Baron Davis, who scored 11 of his 23 points in the final four minutes.
The Bulls got off to a fast start, building a 26-19 lead at the end of the first quarter, then stretched it to 9 when rookie James Johnson threw down a dunk over Al Thornton.
But the starters faded in the second quarter against some of the Clippers' reserves. With subs Thornton, Ricky Davis, Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair scoring all the points, the Clippers turned things around with a 25-11 run and led 50-47 at halftime. The margin didn't change much during the third quarter, then the Clippers started the fourth with a quick 6-0 run. The lead grew to 88-74 with 6:35 left after Chris Kaman hit 2 free throws. The Bulls finally responded with 8 straight points and pulled within 95-91 on a driving shot by Rose with 2:25 remaining.
The Bulls had a chance to move closer, but Rose forced a shot in traffic and had it blocked. On the other end, Davis pump-faked Thomas into the air and drew a 3-shot foul. He hit 2 of the free throws to boost the lead to 6.
While the Bulls got dunks from Thomas and Joakim Noah on their next two trips, they couldn't get a defensive stop. Kaman dropped in a post-up bank and Davis hit a pull-up in the lane to make it 101-95 with 48 seconds left.
Mike McGraw's game tracker Clippers 104, Bulls 97Clipped up: It turns out these bad Western Conference teams look pretty good against the Bulls. Golden State and the L.A. Clippers were supposed to be the easiest opponents of the seven-game ice show road trip, but the Bulls went 0-2 against them.Davis the difference: The Clippers' reserves took command of the game with a 25-11 run in the second quarter. The Bulls managed to trim a 14-point deficit to 4 late in the fourth quarter, but Baron Davis scored 11 points in the last four minutes to seal the outcome.Rose pads stats: Derrick Rose finished with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists but didn't shoot well. Luol Deng added 19 points, while Tyrus Thomas had his first good game in awhile, finishing with 18 points and 3 blocks.False512385Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich, center, goes up for a shot against Clippers forward Craig Smith, left, and center Marcus Camby.Associated PressFalse