Bulls can't afford letdown vs. 76ers
PHILADELPHIA -- The Chicago Bulls are attempting to maintain their hold on an NBA playoff berth, but on Tuesday night, they let a game slip through their fingers.
They will attempt to rectify that Thursday night, when they face the injury-ravaged Philadelphia 76ers in the next-to-last game of a four-game road trip.
The Bulls (38-40) lost 100-91 to the New York Knicks on Tuesday, and they are in a three-way tie for the final two Eastern Conference playoff spots with Indiana and Miami. All three teams have four games left.
"We didn't come out with the fire that we needed to," All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler said. "They came out like they were playing for something, and we didn't. They whipped our tail in every aspect of the game."
Butler scored 26 points and Nikola Mirotic added 21, but the Bulls shot just 38.1 percent and were outrebounded 53-36.
"We missed a lot of shots that we had been making, and we let it affect us on the other end," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Most importantly, we let it affect us on loose balls and physical play. During the four-game winning streak (that preceded Tuesday's loss) we were very good on the glass. (Tuesday night) we just got kicked on the boards. You aren't going to win when you have an effort like that."
The 76ers (28-50) would appear to offer a remedy for all that ails Chicago. Five Philadelphia players are out for the season, and backup point guard Sergio Rodriguez (strained left hamstring) will miss his sixth consecutive game on Thursday. Rookie forward Dario Saric, the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month in March, is also playing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
Philadelphia, as a result, dropped its fourth straight game Tuesday, by a 141-118 count to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets, the NBA's worst team, set Wells Fargo Center records for points, first-half points (81) and first-half 3-pointers (12, in 17 attempts). They also established season highs for field-goal percentage (64.0), 3-point percentage (51.6) and assists (36).
"Today our performance was under any NBA level," Saric said. "I always to try to talk honestly and I apologize to Philly fans."
Coach Brett Brown was no less blunt in his assessment.
"None of us could guard any of them," he said. "Sometimes games like this happen when you have 7 1/2 players."
That was a reference to veteran center Tiago Splitter, who only recently returned after missing most of the season following hip surgery and resultant calf problems.
"This group cares," Brown said. "This group has given the organization and given the coaching staff everything they've got. ... I'm not overreacting. I think these guys deserve that. Nobody is going to walk out of here losing their minds."
Bulls guard Dwyane Wade, who missed the past 10 games with a fractured right elbow, is doing conditioning work. Hoiberg told the Tribune that Wade is progressing but still "a ways away" from returning.
