Dennis Wierzbicki- USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bulls returned home to the United Airways Center last night in hopes that they could continue playing they way they did the night before against the New York Knicks. Unfortunately for them they were unable to do that and lost to the Phoenix Suns. This lose normally wouldn’t create much panic but given the last hand full of games it is.
The Suns were coming in with a five game losing streak and yet somehow managed to pull out the victory. This game didn’t just mean another home loss though; it was the Bulls’ second home loss in a row as well as continuous pattern. The pattern is that the Bulls seem to play to the level of their competitors. They displayed this when they lost to the Charlotte Bobcats at home with the Bobcats riding an 18 game losing streak and they most recently lost to the Milwaukee Bucks at home. All three of these teams have something in common; Chicago should be able to easily beat them!
After the Bulls handled the Knicks in Madison Square Garden I said that if they continued to play the way they did that teams would have a difficult time beating them. Last night’s game proved just that by proving the opposite; Chicago played terribly and thus were easily beaten. Carlos Boozer didn’t record a field goal in the first 22 minutes of play and the team as a whole shot just 36% from the field and a terrifying 18% from downtown. How is that possible when you have three sharpshooters on your team? Well it would help if one of them (Daequan Cook) saw more than three minutes on the court for starters.
When asked about the poor home performances of late, coach Tom Thibodeau had this to say, “We have to play with more intensity, more of an edge…we are not doing that. We have to correct it.” Coach Thibodeau is right seeing as the Bulls will host the fourth ranked Atlanta Hawks tomorrow at 8 o’clock pm.
