Bulls can't complete rally against Sixers
All those ugly performances against beatable opponents were bound to catch up with the Bulls sometime.
It not only caught up to them on the New Jersey Turnpike trip, it blew by them in the passing lane.
Friday's 104-99 loss at Philadelphia was practically a carbon copy of Wednesday's 2-point defeat in New Jersey: Decent first half, miserable third quarter, then a furious but futile rally in the fourth.
The Bulls' defense in the third quarter against the 76ers was just abysmal. The home team hit 14 of 18 shots from the field and outscored the Bulls 32-18, opening a 12-point advantage.
“They got in rhythm early on us,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “When a team gets confidence, it's much harder to slow them down. They got their confidence going and we had a hard time all night. We have to get back to being a defensive team first.”
There was no Carlos Boozer controversy this time. After he sat out the final 14 minutes in New Jersey, Boozer erupted for 31 points, 13 rebounds and hit 14 of 19 shots from the field in 35 minutes on Friday.
The Bulls (23-12) showed very little scoring balance, however. Derrick Rose added 27 points and Luol Deng finished with 22, leaving the Big Three responsible for 81 percent of the offense.
While the Boozer issue fizzled quickly, a couple of other questions won't go away: Can the Bulls afford to keep starting Keith Bogans (no points in 14 minutes) at shooting guard? And why can't they get more from proven shooters C.J. Watson and Kyle Korver, who went a combined 4-for-7 from the field for 10 points against Philadelphia.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulls demonstrated that they're capable of a much better defensive effort, limiting Philadelphia to 6-of-19 shooting.
“When you're not playing defense, it's going to haunt you,” Rose said.
But they couldn't finish the comeback. Boozer's layup brought the Bulls within 98-94 with 1:55 remaining. On the other end, they let Sixers guard Lou Williams get loose for a couple of driving baskets to stretch the deficit to 8.
Watson drilled a corner 3-pointer and Rose added a pair of free throws to bring the Bulls within striking distance at 102-99 with 37.6 seconds left.
The Bulls forced a Williams miss on the other end, but their old friend Andres Nocioni pulled down the offensive rebound, hit 2 free throws with 15.9 seconds on the clock and it was basically over.
When the Bulls beat the Sixers by 45 points at the United Center on Dec. 21, Nocioni admitted he wished he still played in Chicago.
Earlier in the day, Boozer shook off his fourth-quarter inaction against New Jersey.
“I was mad we lost,” Boozer said, according to bulls.com. “And, of course, when you lose you want to be out there to help your team playing as a competitor. I felt like if I was out there I would help my team win. That's over and done with now. You can't go backwards.”
The Bulls have lost three games this season to teams with losing records. They'll complete a stretch of four games in five nights today against Boston at the United Center.