On Saturday night, the Bulls gave the fans their first Big Macs of the years, beating the Atlanta Hawks 101-98.

Monday night, it looked like the Bulls were set to give the fans Big Macs in back to back games. By the second quarter of the Bulls game against the Sacramento Kings, I was declaring that it looked like the Bulls would win this game. With 8:50 remaining in the third quarter, the Bulls were up by 35 points, 79-44, and easily on way to delivering the fans the greasy burgers they love.

However, the Bulls only scored 19 points in the final 20 minutes and 50 seconds of the game, falling 2 points short of the 100 points needed for the Big Mac. Not only did the Bulls fail to reach 100 points, but they also managed to squander their 35 point lead, losing the game 102-98.

This is just about the most embarrassing collapse in NBA history. It was the biggest comeback since 1996, when the Utah Jazz came back from

However, this game was looking like a blowout for the Bulls at one point, so what was going right that allowed the Bulls to create such a large lead in the first place?

Well the short answer is that the Kings were playing Andres Nocioni, who is horrible (and all the turnovers the Kings were committing early in the game). I was one of Nocioni’s harsher critics in his final years here. Loved the guy his first few years, but he had become an abomination in his last year or so here. The guy chucked up bad shots, and wandered around on defense like a chicken with his head cut off. He was simply an on the court cancer.

Unsurprisingly, this is the Nocioni that showed up at the United Center last night. Luol Deng took advantage of Nocioni’s horrid defense early, scoring on a variety of slash and cuts to the basket. Derrick Rose even got involved with a pick and roll that involved Deng. Nocioni appeared confused what to do on the pick and roll, which led to some easy scoring opportunities for the Bulls.

The turning point was when Paul Westphal benched Nocioni, who finished with 3 points on 1-7 shooting and a -28 +/-, for the rest of the game. The Kings defense tightened up, while their offense caught fire, leading their comeback.

Even after their collapse, the Bulls had the opportunity to win the game in the clutch, but no one stepped up and got them the win.

Kirk Hinrich didn’t step up, letting Tyreke Evans score on him at will. Tyreke Evans, who finished with 23 points, with 9 of them coming in the last 2:28 of the game, is a bit of an amazing player, as seen by his shot over Luol Deng’s tight defense, but Hinrich’s defense was weak, making it easy for Evans to score.

One of the more disappointing moments of the game was when Tyreke Evans missed a layup with 19 seconds remaining, and the Bulls failed to secure the defensive rebound, forcing the Bulls to foul.

Even then, the Bulls had a chance to tie. Derrick Rose missed short on a little one handed fall away in the paint with 8 seconds remaining in the game. The Bulls were forced to foul, and Udrih hit both free throws, making it a 102-98 Kings victory.

Luol Deng finished the game with 26 points, but faded late in the game. Deng scored 14 points making his first 7 shots, completely abusing Nocioni.

Derrick Rose finished with 24 points and 7 assists. Kirk Hinrich had 14 points and 8 rebounds, Taj Gibson had 10 points, and John Salmons had 14 points and 6 steals.

For the Kings, John Thompson had 14 points. The Kings got a lot of help off their bench, with Beno Udrih scoring 16 points, Ime Udoku scoring 17 points, and Sergio Redriguez scoring 10 points.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 10-16 on the season.

Closing Comments:

It’s hard to see Vinny Del Negro lasting too much longer with a loss like this. The Bulls have a knack for firing coaches on Christmas Eve, and if the Bulls come out flat against the Knicks, Del Negro might join Tim Floyd and Scott Skiles as coaches fired on Christmas Eve by the Bulls.

The Bulls under Del Negro haven’t exactly been horrible as a whole. They are 51-57 in regular season games, and 3-4 in playoff games. 6 games under .500 isn’t bad for a coach with no coaching experience. Sure, it’s not a winning record, but Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t give Del Negro a winning team.

However, where Del Negro will likely lose his job is the style of losses the Bulls have suffered. When you’re losing to one win teams, being blown out, and blowing 35 point leads, it is unavoidable that you will end up on job life support, which Del Negro should now be on.

According to ontheinside2 on the Oregon Live Forums (a massive Blazers forum that is part of an Oregon newspaper’s website), the Bulls are discussing a trade that will send Kirk Hinrich and Cedric Simmons to the Portland Trail Blazers for Raef Lafrentz and Sergio Rodriguez.

ontheinside2, according to Blazer fans, is a reputable source who has broken news in the past, such as the Zach Randolph trade.

This trade is valid under the CBA. This trade would make a lot of sense form the Bulls side. Raef Lafrentz is a big expiring contract. By trading Hinrich for Lafrentz, Paxson will be doing two things: 1. Sending a message to Ben Gordon that he is their preferred second guard to Rose and 2. We are commencing with the 2010 plan.

One problem that remains with this trade is that the Bulls take on $1.854 million in extra salary in the trade. This trade is actually detrimental to getting back under the luxury tax threshold. But if the Bulls are hellbent on getting under the luxury tax threshold, they can simply trade Tyrus Thomas out for a 2nd round pick swap option or something like that.

The Bulls also cut Demetris Nichols earlier today, which might have something to do with getting our salary down closer to the luxury tax threshold.

This will be a great trade for the Bulls as it sets into two motions two things. Ben Gordon being here long term and the Bulls making a run at another star in 2010 to add to the Rose, Gordon, Deng core.

Here is a link to the original O-Live forum post.

Lafrentz Salary Update

In 31 more games, 80% of Lafrentz’s salary becomes covered under insurance, so the Bulls will make up all of their luxury tax losses through those savings if they make this trade.