What can you even say?  I told you that the Bulls would not score more than 85 points this game.  It just wasn't going to happen.  And I'm sorry, but it wasn't goint to happen with Derrick Rose in the game either. 

This all really seems like a bad dream.  A bad dream that you can't wake up from.  Nightmare to be exact.  Night terror maybe?  The swings in an NBA season are just insane when you think about it.  In December, the Bulls were "the biggest disappointment in the entire league" blah blah blah.  How could a team that had such a terrific playoff series in the spring come back and be so bad in the fall?  Truth is, they weren't that bad.  They were trying to find their way without their leading scorer from the previous season and their franchise player hobbling with an ankle injury.  Somehow, in spite of all this, the media kept calling the Bulls a disappointment.  Um no.  If you expected anything more under those circumstances, then you just don't know this team and maybe don't even understand the NBA.  It got so bad that Vinny Del Negro was on the verge of being fired around Christmas time.  Chris Broussard even came out with a report that stated that Vinny had already been fired, and they were just going to wait a little longer before they actually let him go due to a lack of a sufficient replacement being available.  As with so many media reports about the Bulls in recent years, it ended up not happening.

Then...just as the Bulls do every year...they started to turn it around.  Derrick got healthy and had an MVP-like December and January.  Joakim Noah was 2nd in the league in rebounding.  Taj Gibson started to come into his own.  Luol Deng started playing with tremendous consistency and became a solid second option.  Even Brad Miller caught a second wind and started producing off the bench.  The Bulls were playing so great that they won 5 games in a row, on the road, against winning Western Conference teams.  No team had ever done that before.  And they did it with Joakim Noah sitting a few games due to plantar fasciitis.  But it was plantar fasciitis.  No big deal, right?  Not like any bones were broken.  Not like he needs a cast, right?  He'll be over it in no time.  A few games rest should do, right?  RIGHT?  The Bulls even got their first All-Star since Michael Jordan.  Derrick had done it.  We were on top of the world.  We're talking cloud nine.  The 6-seed was ours.  We were chasing the 5-seed, and we were sure we were going to get it.  No...WE KNEW we were going to get it.  Vinny was even catching less flack at that point, and even earning some accolades for turning this team around.  Maybe Vinny shouldn't get fired?  Maybe there's a madness to this guy's methods?  Maybe we can get used to the hair?  Maybe.

Along comes Dwight Howard.  In the game before the All-Star break, the Bulls played the Orlando Magic at the United Center.  Two minutes into the 1st quarter, Derrick takes the ball to the basket strong with the explosiveness we had become accustomed to.  When Derrick goes up, he goes up with everything he's got.  Collission.  Dwight Howard jumps in the air and commits a pretty hard foul on Derrick, causing him to fall straight back and land on his tailbone.  Derrick wouldn't come back that game.  The Bulls got the wind knocked out of them.  Their leader...their All-Star...the heart-and-soul of the franchise just took a horrible foul and had to leave a game against one of the most imposing teams in the league. We got blown out.  It was over in the 1st quarter.  But that wasn't the concern at that point.

Bulls fans were worried.  This kid was about to play in his first All-Star game.  We wanted our first All-Star in 12 years to play in the actual game.  We wanted to see him in the box score.

He only had a bruised hip.  He played in the game, even though we could see him wince as he ran up and down the court in his 15 minutes of PT (the lowest of any player in the game).  Still Bulls fans hadn't forgotten the fact that Dwight Howard caused Rose to miss the Skills Challenge, which he had one the year before and probably would have won again based on the performances this year, and also ended up playing the least amount of minutes in the All-Star game.

Looking back on the season, that fould was really the turning point where things went sour.  Derrick came back and eventually was fine, but now every time he took it to the basket, you held your breath.  He held his breath.  Vinny held his breath.  On top of that, Joakim wasn't getting better.  He was getting worse.  It turns out plantar fasciitis is pretty damn serious.  It turns out playing Joakim 5 minutes here, 7 minutes there, was only making it worse.  And it was hurting the team.  Playing Joakim at 20% strength was essentially wasting minutes, because it was doing nothing to help this team get wins.  For Joakim to be effective, he needs to be at full strength.  How do you get to ful strength when you have plantar fasciitis?  Rest.  Consistent rest.  And the organization should have known this.  Andres Nocioni had plantar fasciitis in 2006-2007.  He missed 33 games before he came back semi-healthy.  It's not like this is the 1st time the organization was seeing this injury.  They should have been aware of what needed to be done.  Instead, he was missing a game here, playing two right after, missing two right after that, playing one after that, not making the trip on the road after that, etc.  Finally, it was time to rest him.  Shut down.  For 3 weeks.  Until April.

The emotional and defensive leader of this team was gone.  Not coming back till the season was pretty much over.  Tyrus Thomas traded away at the deadline.  While his defensive prowess is constantly exaggerated and overstated, the Bulls could have used his length and rebounding in the frontcourt.  It was now up to Brad Miller, Taj Gibson, Hakim Warrick, and Chris Richard.  Who?  Chris Richard.  Don't ask.

Then another bad omen.  Derrick bangs knees with Earl Watson in the last two minutes of a game against the Pacers.  He has to come out of the game and his right knee looks hurt.  He doesn't practice one day, and he ends up trying to play the next game.  In the first two minutes against the Hawks in the very next game, he ends up banging knees with Mike Bibby.  This time he looks even more hurt...and it's his other knee.  Another bad omen?  Have the basketball g-ds forsaken the Bulls?  He has to come out of that game, but ends up returning and by the time he came back, it was too late.  The Bulls just couldn't catch the Hawks.

Then, the media finds out that Taj Gibson's plantar fasciitis is getting serious.  Yeah, he had it too.  His was a mild case, but it's starting to bother him.  Is this stuff contagious?  With the Bulls current frontcourt situation, they could ill-afford to lose Taj, especially when he was started to be taken seriously by the entire league.  He was gettin' good.  But now this PF garbage was about to start slowing him down just when he was making serious progress.  Damn you basketball g-ds.

What was going to happen next?  More injuries?  How many more bodies could we afford to lose?  None.  But life ain't fair.  Luol Deng bangs knees with Josh Howard in a game where he ends up finishing and leading all scorers with 31 points.  Overnight, the knee swells up and he becomes seriously hobbled by it.  It has continuously bothered him all the way through last game, where he ended up straining his right calf.  Did I mention he had flu-like symptoms about a week ago as well?  Good lord.  He is now sidelined for 4 games or so, at least, and he didn't even make the trip to Orlando for tonight's game.

By the way, there was also an incident a couple games ago where Kirk Hinrich rolled his ankle twice in one game, and had to leave the game on the second roll.  How many times have you seen that before?  He didn't miss any time beyond that one game, but how insane would it have been if our starting shooting guard went down as well?  Imagine a lineup of Pargo, Flip Murray, James Johnson, Hakim Warrick, and Brad Miller.  That's D-league-esque.

Speaking of tonight's game, it was the first time the Bulls had seen the Magic since the Dwight Howard incident.  The Bulls wanted to come out and do the best they could to take it to the Magic for what happened in the game before the All-Star break.  11 minutes into the 1st quarter...Derrick Rose showed he still was not intimidated and has no fear...he took it right to Dwight Howard in the lane.  He got fouled hard.  Again.  On the same exact move.  Fell the same exact way.  This time he tried to break his fall a little bit with his left hand, probably to avoid the hip bruise that he suffered last time.  He jammed it.  Sprained left wrist.  He has to go to the locker room and put his arm in a sling.  The Bulls get blown out by 30 or so.  Same EXACT situation as last time.  Same hard foul.  Same ridiculous foul.  Derrick goes up against big men every game.  He takes it to the hole every game.  That's what he does.  He gets fouled every game.  That's what happens.  But only when he does it against Dwight Howard does he go flying like a rag doll and get injured.  Do I blame Dwight Howard?  A little.  The nature of that kind of foul is unnecessary.  All he has to do is put his hands up and jump straight up.  The way I see it...Dwight is throwing his weight into Derrick as he's jumping.  That's a sneaky way of fouling someone extremely hard.  And he's done it twice now.  And I absolutely hate him for it.  And that was the ball game.

In terms of the actual game...like I said...there just isn't much to say.  This is the bazillionth game in a row where a Bulls opponent has shot well over 50%.  This is the 9th game in a row that the Bulls have let up 100 or more points.  Can you even fathom how absurd that is?  It's getting out of hand, but there's nothing they can do.  Dwight Howard got to do whatever he wanted obviously.  Joakim Noah's absence was taken advantage of rebound-wise and everything else-wise.  Everyone's absence was taken advantage of.

But clearly, defense isn't the only issue.  The Bulls actually got off 14 more shots than the Magic, but shot only 39.8%, while the Magic shot 55.1%.  The Bulls scored 18 or less points in 3 out of the 4 quarters tonight.  17 in the first, 16 in the second, and 18 in the 3rd.  Don't see that very often.  This team, with its 3 best players hurt, could lose every game the rest of the season.  If Luol Deng and Derrick Rose manage to come back in a few games and be healthy, they may end up stealing a few here and there, but there's no guarantee of even that.  It's bad right now folks.  They are now a serious longshot to make the playoffs, let alone stay in the 9-seed.  Silver lining?  They are only 1.5 back of the THREE...count it...THREE teams immediately ahead of them.  All that needs to happen is for one of those teams to falter, and I suppose the bulls could be back in it?  But right now, with the Bulls confidence at an all time low and the injury woes they're facing, it's a pipe-dream.  And Vinny's back on the hotseat.  Sorry Vinny, that's just the nature of the beast.  But mostly, sorry to the Bulls fans, as the basketball g-ds have truly forsaken us in this rollercoaster of a season.

Finally, some footage surfaces of Derrick doing some damage during the Jazz game as well.  Yes...he did get posterized by Deron later in the game, but look how he leaves Deron in the dust on this sick back door cut and tomohawk.

Durrrrrrrrrrty.

Broussard and Bucher of espn.com argue which injury has been more impactful on their respective teams...Joakim Noah or Kenyon Martin.  Look at the downfall of the Bulls since Noah went down...obviously it's Joakim Noah.  I don't think any argument can be made for Kenyon Martin, especially when Nene is still going strong in their frontcourt.  The Bulls, on the other hand...have Chris Richard.  Are you kidding me Broussard?  Here's an excerpt.

"QUESTION: Which injured player is most integral to his team's success?

RIC BUCHER: A lot of playoff runs have been impacted by injury to a significant player, but I'm going with the Bulls' Joakim Noah as the most damaging one. Chicago simply doesn't have enough talent, especially on the front line, to compensate for his absence. The Bulls will still snare a postseason berth, but they have no chance of scaring anyone without that bowtie-wearing Frenchman.

CHRIS BROUSSARD: I like Noah a lot, so I'm in no way trying to belittle his loss. But Denver's loss of Kenyon Martin is far more impactful -- it has championship implications. With a K-Mart who's fully healthy and not rusty, the Nuggets are legit contenders. Without him at the top of his game, they could lose home-court advantage in the first round and struggle to get to the Western Conference finals. Noah's injury has limited impact because with or without him, the Bulls would definitely lose to Cleveland, Orlando or Atlanta in the first round. Boston would probably beat them as well, whether Noah is there or not."

They go on for a while...and it's worth a read, so if you're an ESPN Insider member, check it out here.  Based on how far the Bulls have fallen, and how not so far the Nuggets have fallen, I think it's pretty clear.  And no Chris, Hakim Warrick and Brad Miller cannot combine to fill the shoes of Joakim Noah.  Clearly, this guy hasn't really watched Joakim Noah play this season...go back and watch the game tape, Chris.

Hey, we might currently be both the worst offensive and defensive team in the league.  And our best players might all be injured.  But the Bulls front office knows how to compensate the fans for the team's inadequacies.  FLASH MOB.  This happened a week ago.

If I've ever not looked forward to a Bulls game, tonight is that night.  Bulls fans, we are about to witness an annihilation.  While the official starters haven't been announced, I'm fairly certain we are sending out a lineup of Rose, Hinrich, James Johnson, Hakim Warrick, and Brad Miller.  Can you imagine how quckly Dwight Howard is going to get Brad Miller into foul trouble?  And you know who that leaves to guard him?  Chris Richard.  Dwight Howard is absolutely going to have a field day tonight.  I'm talking 30 plus points, and roughly 25 rebounds.  Who's going to rebound for the Bulls tonight?  Brad Miller, a billion years old and all, is the only one at all capable of double digit boards.  And if he gets in foul trouble, who's going to crash the glass?  Chris Richard?

Did I mention Luol Deng is going to be out with a calf strain?  So this leaves the entire scoring load on Derrick's shoulders, and the entire rebounding load on Brad Miller's shoulders.  Even if both those guys have absolutely stellar games, it still won't be enough.  There's absolutely no one to counter the production of the combination of Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, and Rashard Lewis.  Derrick Rose alone cannot counter their total contributions.  Unless Flip Murray has his best game as a Bull thus far, the Bulls will score no more than 85 points, while I expect Orlando to score well over 100. Plus, I would not be surprised if Matt Barnes has himself a C.J. Miles stellar three-point shooting type of performance.  Those type of players always seem to have career performances against the Bulls...it's absolutely unreal (See Devin Brown/Rodrigue Beaubois/C.J. Miles), and with the defense the Bulls are currently playing...why not?

You would think the Bulls would come out tonight and really try to play lock-down defense after the embarrassing defensive displays they've put on in the last week, especially the last two games.  However, I just don't think they are capable of doing it.  The talent just isn't there.  Without Joakim Noah, there's no defensive leader and no one to get on his teammate's backs.  You know what they say...defense is infectious.  Well it looks like the Bulls have found the vaccine.  It's called plantar fasciitis.  And it has prevented Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah from being able to produce.

Bottom line, the Magic are just too long, too talented, and too strong.  And they're at home.  So the Bulls have the privilege of being embarrassed on national tv, since the game is on TNT tonight.  This will make it 6 losses in a row and will place the Bulls a game and a half back of Toronto, Miami, and Charlotte.  It's getting worse, and I don't see it getting better any time soon.  Depressing...I know.

Some more discouraging news from the Berto Center.  Looks like Luol Deng will be out for at least 2 games with a calf strain.  Wonderful.  Am I surprised?  No.  Does this suck?  Yes.  Did I think the basketball g-ds might have a little mercy on the Bulls at this point?  Yes.  Also, what this means is that Derrick Rose will literally be required to take at least 30 shots a game to keep the Bulls competitive.  There is nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody else to share the scoring load.  Brad Miller?  Eh.  We know he can't do it every game.  Don't even bother looking in anyone else's direction.

And who knew that plantar fasciitis was contagious?  Apparently Taj Gibson will also be sitting for at least one game as well with PF.  Coaching staff looking for an excuse for Taj's ridiculously bad performance last night?  Keep fishin' boys.  Get ready for a starting lineup of Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, James Johnson, Hakim Warrick, and Brad Miller for what looks like will be an indefinite amount of time.  That leaves only Flip Murray, Jannero Pargo, and Chris Richard coming off the bench.  However, what is definite is that the Bulls are in the midst of the hardest stretch of their schedule all season.  No way on G-d's green Earth are the Bulls going to be pulling off any upsets with that lineup.  Can't wait to see what Vinny can do with this group.  I call it right now...Vinny still ends up taking Derrick out with 3 minutes to go in the third quarter and only bringing him in with 8 or 9 to go in the 4th.  He does it every single game, and this the stretch...EVERY SINGLE GAME...where teams end up pulling away.  I'm telling you.  He'll do it.  Even with this depleted roster, Derrick is still replaced by Jannero Pargo with 3 minutes to go in the 3rd.  You just watch.  Should be fun.  More on that tomorrow...

This happened.

D-Rose had a few of his own tricks up his sleeve, but let's face it...this is what people will remember.

Oh how quickly things can change in one month's time.  I remember feeling like I was on cloud 9 about a month ago after the Bulls won their 5th straight on the road against contending Western Conference teams.  The Bulls were talking about securing the 5th seed by the end of March.  At this point, I hope we can secure the 10th seed.

Tonight was a historic night.  Not like the good kind of history...but more like the we just allowed a 35 point come-back loss brand of history.  Not quite as bad, but...BAD.

Courtesy of Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald:

 

"--On April 9 and 11, 1984, the Bulls gave up 265 points in consecutive games, but that included a 136-134 loss in double overtime at Washington, along with a 129-112 home loss to New Jersey.

--The most recent example with two 48-minute games was March 20 and 22, 1983. The Bulls lost at Seattle 128-116, then lost at home to Detroit 134-116 for a total of 262 points allowed.

--The worst two-game defense in this decade was 247 points. That was on March 28 and 29, 2003 with a 140-89 loss at Indiana (a result often blamed for the demise of general manager Jerry Krause a few days later) and a 107-92 home loss to Sacramento.

--The Bulls haven’t given up 250 points in consecutive games since Feb 1 and 3, 1990, a 139-112 loss at Houston and 112-111 loss at San Antonio."

 

It gets worse.  This is the 1st time in 20 years the Bulls have given up 100 points in 8 consecutive games.

IT GETS WORSE.  The Bulls' opponents are averaging 115 points in this 5 game skid.

This is the worst display of defense this league has seen in a long time.  And Bulls fans are definitely not used to this.  Typically, at least in the last 20 years, Bulls teams have prided themselves on good defense.  They took pride in their defense because a lot of times, specifically in the last 11 years, there really wasn't much offense.  But even the team that had the greatest offensive duo of all time also had the greatest defensive trio of all time...Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman.  And what did Scott Skiles always always always stress?  Defense.  What is he stressing in Milwaukee, aka the 5th seed that now sits 3 games ahead of the Bulls?  Defense.  They play absolutely spot on defense and they just took down a defensive powerhouse tonight in the Celtics.

Look...I get it.  Joakim Noah is injured.  I know the man is missed.  I know as well as anyone that if he was around, these unfortunate historic marks would not have been set.  He makes that much of a difference.  But come on.  He's not Bill Russell.  It's not as if you lose Joakim Noah, and all of a sudden  you must be destined to give up 115 points a game.  I know that's the reality of what's happened.  But it doesn't have to be this way.  It shouldn't be this way.  You have to take a little pride in staying in front of your man, keeping a hand in his face, and shutting him down.  The problem lies just as much in the fact that not only is Joakim's play missed, but his infectious energy and defensive influence on the rest of his teammates.  When he's ont he court, he's on his teammates backs about staying in front of their man and playing phsyical and tough.  He's got a little Kevin Garnett in him.  You can argue whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.  And I hate Garnett as much as any Bulls fan.  I mean I loathe the guy.  This little incident from tonight with him barking at Nate Robinson is a great example of why.  But whether it's good or bad, you can't deny that it motivates his teammates, and that's a big part of why they win (maybe not tonight, unfortunately).

No way you can let a team score 132 points in 4 quarters in this league, ESPECIALLY after giving up 122 in the previous game, ESPECIALLY when you're despearte for a win and trying to snap a 4 game losing streat AT HOME.  Inexcusable, regardless of Joakim Noah's injury.  Utah's a good team and all, but 132 points good?  I'm fairly certain the Bulls' D-League Affiliate, the Iowa Energy, could have come out tonight and held the Jazz to less points than that.  Where's the heart?

That's not to take anything away from my boy and fellow Illini Deron Williams.  28 points on 11-15 shooting, with 17 assists.  Holy stat-line.  On top of that, he visciously posterized D-Rose on a durrrrrrty one handed dunk on a fast break.  It's not as fun when Derrick is the one being posterized.  My apologies to Goran Dragic.

But also, give Derrick Rose all the credit in the world.  Up until late in the third quarter, this game was an all out duel between Derrick Rose and Deron Williams.  Derrick finished the night with 25 points on 10-19 shooting and 13 assists of his own.  He tried to put the Bulls on his back, but one man can only do so much.  Especially when his so-called second option only really contributes for one half every game.  Luol Deng scored 12 points in the first half.  He finished with 14.  A near identical night to Andrei Kirilenko, so those two essentially cancelled each other out.  Deng came out in the third quarter with a "calf strain," whatever that means, so I can't totally blame him. But who are we kidding...he would have disappeared for the entire half either way.

Taj Gibson played the worst game of his career on a night where I figured he'd put up a decent fight due to the lack of defensive prowess in the Jazz frontcourt.  Get ready for this stat-line.  0 points on no attempts, with 1 rebound, 3 turnovers, and he fouled out in 13 minutes of play.  Trying not to laugh.  Talk about a dose of reality.  You know Taj is laying in his bed just staring at his celing tonight, because if he ever manages to fall asleep, he knows he'll be having nightmares of Carlos Boozer diving to the basket at 20 mph.

Not that Boozer had a spectacular game.  He finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but he really didn't need to do more with Deron dominating the way he was.  Kirk couldn't do a thing to slow him down, and don't get me started on Derrick Rose's defense.  I still cannot comprehend why he can't play the same type of defense as D-Will:  strong, quick and physical. He's just as capable.  Is he just lazy on the defensive end?  I don't get it.  And I feel like I talk about this after every game.  Frankly, it's getting pretty annoying.

And oh yeah, why does Boozer have to waste his time shooting when he can just kick it out to C.J. Miles for three.  In 19 minutes, C.J. Miles scored 26 points, on 9-12 shooting, and 6-7 from three.  6-7 from three?  I feel like C.J. Miles couldn't even hit 6-7 from 3 if he were wide open in practice.  Hell...Ray Allen might not be able to hit 6-7 from three in practice.  Yet, this guy is draining them from every spot on the court, wide-open, or hand in his face...didn't matter.  Talk about efficient scoring.  Does it get more efficient than that?

But here's the craziest part of this game.  The Jazz shot 54.2% from the field, and the Bulls shot 53.9%.  Up until garbage time, the Bulls were shooting at roughly 57% and were outshooting the Jazz.  I'm still semi-confused as to how they were losing this game.  I blame the disparity more than partially on free throws.  The Bulls went 18-27 from the line, while the Jazz went a whopping 30-39.  They shot nearly 40 FREE THROWS.  Good lord.  That's a lot of free points.  And obviously, the Bulls got outrebounded 42-32.  No surprise there.  I don't even know how the rebound disparity was so small with Taj doing squat and Noah gone and Deng getting hurt.  I guess it's because neither team missed that much?

Silver lining?  Brad Miller shot extremely well going off for 20 points and was hitting the three-point shot with consistency, going 3-3.  If we have any shot of making the playoffs, he needs to be able to do that every game.  Also, Flip Murray had a pretty good bounce back game and was hitting the three a little bit.

But unfortunately, there really isn't any end in sight.  The Bulls are now on the outside looking in and back under .500.  They need some easy wins to get them out of this funk, and it ain't happening any time soon with Orlando, Miami, Memphis, Dallas, and Cleveland up next in that order.  I see the Bulls POTENTIALLY winning only one of those games, and that's against the Heat.  But with the defensive efforts they're putting up with Noah absent, it's just not likely.  I mean it's epically bad.  So I kid you not when I say that in 9 days, the Bulls could be on a 10 game losing streak and essentially eliminated from playoff contention.  The schedule and the injuries might do them in, and it's a sad state of affairs for a team that had so much potential a month ago when everyone was healthy and things were clicking, just to have it all ripped away by the basketball g-ds.  Now all we can do is pray for some upsets and stolen victories.