Depleted Bulls simply run out of gas

Flat Game 4 performance reflects late-arriving crowd

David Haugh

In the Wake of the News

11:58 PM EDT, May 13, 2013


By tipoff of the Bulls' 88-65 blowout loss to the Heat on Monday night, it became clear the United Center crowd would begin the game as short-handed as the team it came to watch.

Due to either low interest or heavy traffic related to Monday's rare rush-hour start at 6 p.m., nearly half of the 21,990 seats stayed empty. The loudest thing in the arena was Craig Sager's jacket. Those who fought the congested Chicago roads and arrived late had to wonder if it was worth the hassle.

Tom Thibodeau probably wishes he had driven to the game too.

His Bulls responded to the must-win situation with as little intensity on the floor as there was electricity in the building. As flat and lifeless as the atmosphere, the Bulls quickly fell behind 11-2 after missing 11 of their first 12 shots and never recovered in what likely was their home farewell. It was anything but a fond one.

"I'm disappointed with how we played,'' Joakim Noah said quietly. "But there's still a lot of basketball left, and we're not going to give up.''

Broadway Jo was in no position to guarantee anything else about Game 5 on Wednesday in Miami.

In a series in which the Bulls already established a franchise playoff low for the most lopsided loss, they set team playoff records for fewest points and poorest field-goal percentage (25.7 percent). Not since the 2004 Hornets has an NBA team shot worse in a playoff game.

This was a second-round playoff game disguised as the second night of a back-to-back in February. This easily marked the Bulls' worst offensive performance of the postseason and challenged some of the regular-season clunkers. More than enough? This was more than enough proof the Bulls peaked in Game 1.

Since that epic victory, the Heat have beaten the Bulls in three straight games by an average of 23 points. Once the Bulls altered their approach in Game 2 to start worrying about getting physical, they stopped resembling the team that shocked the Heat to start the series. The Bulls simply looked like a team out of gas with every station closed on their way home.

"We're not tired at all,'' Nate Robinson insisted.

His words said one thing. The Bulls' legs said another.

They shot 15 percent in the third quarter. They ran their offense like five guys who met at the WestEnd and decided to challenge the Heat to a pickup game. They cooperated on defense like feuding neighbors. They made Rip Hamilton feel needed.

The bright side? At least nobody got ejected, and the Bulls kept it clean.

Ironically, the worse the Bulls played as the game progressed — regressed? — the better their postseason run seemed when taking a step back from the carnage. How this team crippled with injuries and forced to rely upon players so prone to the inconsistencies the Heat exposed in Game 4 got so far remains a testament to Thibodeau and the organization. How Thibodeau managed to coax this limited roster into functioning so well in the playoffs for so long before breaking down like it did Monday night defies basketball logic.

The Bulls placed a placard on each seat before the game that said, "Next Man Up.'' Though it was unclear whether it was the Bulls' way of looking for positive reinforcement or just reinforcements. They needed both.

In the night's most dramatic moment for the Bulls, the team declared Luol Deng active for the game minutes before player introductions. Yet Deng never sat on the bench next to his fellow infirmed teammates Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich. If the move was symbolic to inspire the Bulls, nobody noticed.

Deng still finished the game with as many points as Robinson.

After carrying the Bulls for weeks, Robinson finally crumbled under the weight of the offensive burden. Remember how hot he was in the triple-overtime win against Nets? Robinson met the other extreme in likely his final appearance on the same floor, going 0-for-12 with four turnovers. Criticize Robinson for an awful game, but remember he also represents the main reason the Bulls still are playing.

"I just didn't make no shots,'' Robinson said, icing his injured shoulder. "We have another crack at it. You never know. I might go 12-for-12.''

And it probably still wouldn't be good enough against a Heat team that looks poised to repeat as NBA champions.

"For the most part, we played to our identity,'' coach Erik Spoelstra said.

For the most part, so did a depleted Bulls team without Deng, Hinrich and Rose. The biggest surprise was that it took this long for them to do so.


Twitter @DavidHaugh