The ugliness of losing finally came to a head for the Bulls Tuesday night.
Coach Doug Collins and his players met for 28 minutes after losing their sixth in a row, 114-96 to the Dallas Mavericks in front of a sellout crowd of 17,007 at Reunion Arena. The Bulls` record fell below .500 (32-33) for the first time since Feb. 5.
Instead of ranting and raving at his players, Collins calmly pointed out why the ballclub has deteriorated in the last nine days, and asked the 12 downtrodden Bulls if they knew why.
Collins was pleasantly surprised at the response. In other meetings and talks this season, the coaching staff did the talking while the players appeared to be listening. This time, according to Collins, most of the players spoke up.
”It was an opportunity for the guys to say some things that were in their hearts,” Collins said about the impromptu meeting triggered by the team`s collapse in the fourth quarter against Dallas.
”For the first time, guys spoke up. There are certain things everybody can do to make us better. It was the majority opinion that we`ve gotten away from the little things that helped us win before.”
Nobody was in more need of a little constructive criticism than Charles Oakley, who spoiled a 23-point, 16-rebound night by committing 10 turnovers. All season, Collins has talked to Oakley about the one fault that is keeping him from reaching his potential.
On this night, with the numbers staring him in the face, Oakley relented. He admitted that his coach had a legitimate concern. ”I need to work on avoiding mental errors,” Oakley said.
The muscular, hard-working power forward wasn`t the only culprit in Tuesday`s loss. Gene Banks was 1-for-7 from the field and forced up some shots inside when he would`ve been better off passing to an open teammate. Michael Jordan was only 7-for-21 while scoring 21 points.
The Bulls managed to stay within striking distance of a high-powered Mavericks` ballclub and trailed only 100-95 with 3:48 to go after John Paxson`s second three-point basket.
But from there, they were outscored 14-1. Dallas` Mark Aguirre led all scorers with 31 points. Teammate Sam Perkins added 27, 16 in the fourth quarter, and had 15 rebounds.
”This (meeting) was something we really needed to do,” Paxson said.
”It was good, real good.”
”He`s (Collins) the boss, and he was making us aware of things that are going on,” Banks said. ”He`s right, he`s definitely right about a lot of things he told us.”
The Bulls had raised their game five games above .500 with a physical defense, relentless rebounding and committing the fewest turnovers in the league. But they aren`t the kind of team that can play at that level relying on individual talent alone. Even Jordan can only carry them so far.
When opponents double- and triple-team Jordan, his teammates must dominate the offensive boards. By holding down the turnovers, they can also keep the scores lower, which is to their advantage. When you have less ammunition than the other guy, you better make all your bullets count.
”All the little things we had been doing to have success had been washed away,” Collins said. ”We`ve got to get back to it.”
