The Chicago Bulls were blown out for the fourth straight game of the circus trip, losing to the Utah Jazz 105-86.

One of the key issues of the game was the Bulls’ lack of depth. The Bulls were without Kirk Hinrich, who was forced out with an injury to his hand. Without him, the Bulls are forced to play Jannero Pargo (or Lindsey Hunter) significant minutes, and neither of those options are conductive to winning basketball.

The other main problem with the Bulls last night was a complete defensive breakdown. The guards failed to close out on shooters, giving the Jazz good looks on their jumpshots. Additionally, the Bulls guards failed to stick with their men in motion. Up front, the Bulls were just as bad. Brad Miller, Taj Gibson, and James Johnson were often out of position, leading to Utah getting a lot of easy looks right at the basket.

The Bulls were completely dominated by the Utah Jazz front court. Carlos Boozer led the way, finishing with 28 points on 12-14 shooting, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. Mehmet Okur chipped in 14 points on 5-9 shooting, and Paul Millsap finished with 12 points on 6-8 shooting and 9 rebounds.

Conversely, the Bulls front court produced little. Joakim Noah had 6 points on 3-9 shooting and 9 rebounds, Taj Gibson had 8 points on 4-5 shooting, and Brad Miller had 0 points, and James Johnson had 10 points on 3-6 shooting, but all of those came in garbage time.

I think it is time for the Bulls to end the Taj Gibson experiment. He can hit the the midrange jumpshot pretty well, but he is too much of a string bean to compete on the low block.

If the Bulls are going to suck without Tyrus Thomas, which it looks like they will, they might as well take advantage of the opportunity to develop James Johnson. Because of his strength, Johnson is more apt to playing downlow than Gibson. Johnson also could open up the Bulls offense, as he shows a willingness to try to create his own shot, and Johnson would also improve the Bulls’ dismal fastbreak.

That was one of the Bulls biggest problems last night. They could not finish on the fastbreak. Multiple times last night, John Salmons tried to finish on the fastbreak by himself only to be blocked.

Salmons had another bad game, scoring just 9 points on 4-11 shooting.

Ronnie Brewer scored 15 points on the Bulls, many on easy baskets near the rim off of backdoor cuts.

The Jazz also won the point guard matchup. Rose finished with 19 points on 9-17 shooting, while Deron Williams finished with 21 points on 9-11 shooting, and 6 assists.

Luol Deng played pretty well last night, finishing with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals. His scoring efficiency wasn’t the greatest, but he played hard all game.

Aaron Gray returned to the court last night for the Bulls.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 6-8 on the season, and their losing streak is extended to four games.

Closing Comments

It looks like the Bulls ship is sinking fast. It was always going to be a challenging season because of the Bulls’ offensive struggles, but now it looks like the season could become a shipwreck, because of their newfound defensive struggles. The Bulls, who were one of the elite defensive teams at the beginning of the season, have now fallen down to the 15th best defensive team, and they have been getting worse with each progressing game. If the Bulls can’t score or defend, this is going to be a very tumultuous season.

The most disheartening part of the game is the Bulls complete lack of effort. Luol Deng and Joakim Noah were the only two players showing any kind of hustle last night.

The other thing that needs to be considered is the extent that Kirk Hinrich. It is unacceptable for the Bulls to trot out Jannero Pargo and Linsdey Hunter for a prolonged period of time. Bulls fans should not accept it, especially when there is a bit of an Answer out there for the Bulls guard problems.

Derrick Rose attended the Chelsea FC soccer match in London yesterday. Rose was joined by Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz, as well as some of the Luvabulls and Utah Jazz cheerleaders. Rose and the Bulls are in London as part of the NBA Europe Live 2009. The Bulls will play the Utah Jazz tomorrow at the O2 Arena, a game which will be shown on NBA TV.

Chelsea FC won the soccer match 2-0.

Here are some pictures of Rose’s trip the the Chelsea vs. Liverpool match, courtesy of Michael Ehrlich.

As of 11:00 PM Central Standard Time, Ben Gordon is no longer a member of the Chicago Bulls and has become an unrestricted free agent.

Ben Gordon looks to cash in big, as he is coming off a big 2008-2009 season, and is the top free agent of the 2009 free agent class.

Last summer, Gordon agreed to sign the Bulls $54 million over 6 year deal, but the owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, refused to let him sign the deal, so Gordon signed the one year qualifying offer, which made him an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Gordon’s competition for dollars decreased today, as Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz both opted into their contracts for next year, as did Kobe Bryant. The Pistons, one of the teams with cap space, had interest in Boozer.

The Pistons are said to be in hot pursuit of Gordon, and appear set to offer Ben Gordon at least an $11 million a year contract.

Oklahoma City and Portland are other teams with cap space that could become possible landing spots, but unless Portland waives Steve Blake and/or Travis Outlaw, it would need to be a sign and trade. The Knicks and Heat both tried to sign Gordon last summer, but were nixed in sign and trade deals by the Bulls.

In a matter of days, hours, possibly minutes, Ben Gordon may no longer be a Chicago Bull. It still comes down to the fundamental question, and that is, are the Bulls willing to pay Ben Gordon what he is worth?

According to Chris Broussard, Ben Gordon would re-sign with the Bulls if the offers are similar. The Bulls should go ahead and match the Pistons offer, as $11 million a year is a reasonable contract for a team’s top scorer.

No matter what happens with Gordon, Bulls fans should appreciate what he did here. He has been the best player on the Bulls since Michael Jordan retired.

At the end of this process, Ben Gordon should be a Bull, but it is very likely that he will not. The Bulls’ ownership group, led by Jerry Reinsdorf, has been more profit driven than winning driven. The Bulls have been the most profitable team in the NBA for over a decade, yet they’re still grasping at the luxury tax as being a barrier for their spending.

It’s time for Jerry Reinsdorf to start acting like he is the owner of a big market team, and re-sign Ben Gordon for what he is worth.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 106 to 98 at the United Center earlier tonight.

The Bulls looked disinterested early in the game and fell behind early on. After Rose left with his second foul in the game, Gordon led the Bulls on a run to get back in the game. From there on out the game was close.

The Bulls were able to come through in the clutch behind the double clutch duo of Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon. With 5 minutes left in the game, the Bulls trailed the Jazz by 1. From there, Rose and Gordon took over. Rose started it by getting fouled on a drive to the basket and making both free throws. On the next drive, Rose got to the basket again, this time making a layup. Next time down the floor, Nocioni found Gordon for three. From there on out, it was just a free throw contest for the Bulls.

Ben Gordon was the Bulls best player tonight, finishing with 26 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block. Sensing the Jazz’s lack of shotblockers, Gordon was able to drive on the Jazz at will. Gordon drew 2 fouls on Deron Williams in the first quarter on drives to the basket. Gordon abused C.J. Miles whenever he was on him. Gordon got to the free throw line 10 times tonight. Unfortunately, Gordon only made 7 of his free throws.

Like the Celtics, the Jazz met Gordon with double teams when he touched the ball, although the Jazz play much softer defense. Gordon was able to cut through or drive past some of the Jazz’s double teams to get to the basket. There is no scenario where that should happen, so the Jazz need to seriously analyze their defensive effort. Still, the Jazz forced Gordon to turn the ball over, but when you’re getting 26 points and good defense out of Gordon, you can live with 4 turnovers.

Derrick Rose was also key in tonight’s win, finishing with 24 points, 3 assists, and 5 rebounds. It looked like it might be another down night for Rose after a poor first stint in the game, but Rose quickly picked up his play. Rose, like Gordon, was able to drive to the basket at will against the Jazz. The Jazz’s soft interior defense just made this an easy game for Rose. Defensively, Deron Williams abused Derrick Rose early on, but did very little late in the game. The only other negative in Derrick’s game is his lack of passing.

Andre Nocioni had another nice game, scoring 15 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. There is a strong possibility that Nocioni has been hurt for most of the year and has just recovered from the injury, as his effort and hustle levels are much higher than earlier.

Thabo Sefolosha had a nice game, finishing with 10 points and 4 steals. Sefolosha came in and really disrupted the Jazz, using his length on defense to force them into turnovers.

Luol Deng gave the Bulls 8 points, and Larry Hughes added in 10.

Joakim Noah had 9 rebounds and 1 block. He played really energetic, and gave the Bulls some second chances with his great offensive rebounding, finishing with 8 in the game.

Deron Williams finished the game with 19 points and 6 assists.

The Jazz’s front court destroyed the Bulls. Mehmet Okur had 23 points and 13 rebounds and Paul Millsap had 22 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulls just lack any semblance of man interior defense. If a big man gets the ball in a decent scoring position, he probably is going to score. Fortunately, tonight, the Bulls perimeter players were able to frustrate the Jazz front court duo into 9 turnovers.

Tyrus Thomas and Drew Gooden sat out the game for the Bullz. Carlos Boozer was out for the Jazz.

The Bulls are now 13-14 on the season and are ranked 8th in the East. The Bulls are 1/2 game behind New Jersey for the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls will have a chance to return to .500 against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 101 to 100 on a Larry Hughes buzzer beater to give the Bulls their second win of the circus trip.

Derrick Rose took over down the stretch scoring basket after basket to keep the Bulls in the game. With the Bulls down 100 to 99, Rose pulled up for a jumpshot and bricked it off the back of the rim. The ball bounced out to Hughes on the left side and Hughes stuck in the jumpshot for the win as time expired.

Rose was phenomenal tonight. Rose had 25 points and 9 assists. It is going to be difficult for Rose to be denied the rookie of the year award if he continues up this type of play. Rose is not only putting up pretty stats, but has also led his team to victory on many occasions.

Larry Hughes started at small forward once again and put in another nice performance. Hughes finished the game with 16 points on 5-10 shooting. If Hughes keeps up this play, he should continue to start at small forward, especially if Deng keeps up his current play. Luol Deng was abominable tonight, scoring 2 points on 1-5 shooting and turning the ball over 3 times in just 13 minutes of action. Deng doesn’t even look like an NBA player out there.

Ben Gordon had a solid game, finishing with 15 points 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Gordon hardly touched the ball in the fourth quarter, only taking one shot. As a result, the Bulls offense stagnated a bit in the fourth allowing Utah to get back in the game, but the Bulls were still able to win this one thanks to Derrick Rose taking over the game and Hughes’ nice jumpshot.

In the first quarter, Ben Gordon missed his first free throw of the game. This ended Ben Gordon’s 36 free throw streak.

Drew Gooden gave the Bulls some production in the front court, scoring 18 points, although his defense was poor. Aaron Gray scored 8 points off the bench and got the Bulls some good baskets throughout the game.

Once again, the Bulls front court was completely dominated. Mehmet Okur had 26 points and 9 rebounds and Paul Millsap had 21 points and 10 rebounds. This is a real problem for the Bulls and Paxson needs to start addressing it by a trade, whether it is making a move for Chris Kaman, Joel Pryzbrilla, or someone else. The Bulls cannot continue to give up big games to marginal front court players like Millsap and Okur.

Ronnie Brewer also had 18 points for the Jazz.

This was by no means a pretty win. The Jazz were without their two best players, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, and were also missing some role players. Still, it is a win on the circus trip, and you cannot take such wins to come by since they have been so scarce since Jordan retired.

The Bulls are now 7-8 on the season and 2-3 on the circus trip. The Bulls have now equaled the amount of wins that we predicted them to get on the circus trip.

The Bulls next game is Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio. The Spurs are expected to get Manu Ginobili back for Wednesday’s game.