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.
