The franchise-worst 14 straight losses are in the past. There is nothing the Bulls can do about them.
Thirty-six games remain. There is plenty the Bulls can do about them.
Welcome to Psychology 101, Bulls-style. Making authors of self-help books and preachers of positive thinking everywhere proud, several team members spoke of the need to stay united and avoid the finger-pointing that can result from the stench of so many consecutive losses.
“We need to make sure the team doesn’t fall apart from each other,” said guard Ron Mercer, one of the team’s three captains. “We need to stick together as a team no matter what happens, through the good times and the bad times. Right now we’re going through a difficult time. But we’ve stayed together. Hopefully, we can continue to do that.”
The Bulls woke Sunday with a loss-induced hangover. But they tried to cure it the only way they know how–by continuing to work. They lifted weights as a team before flying to Los Angeles to face the Clippers on Monday night.
“We’re not going to give up,” said forward Ron Artest. “I want to play hard for guys like Fred Hoiberg and Ron Mercer. All I know how to do is keep working hard.”
Grasping for positives, the Bulls focused on such facts as these: Tim Floyd earned his first career NBA victory over the Clippers on Feb. 7, 1999, and the Bulls have won 10 straight in Los Angeles against their next opponent. Floyd is aware of what the weight of so many consecutive losses can do to any team, much less one with seven rookies who are still adjusting to life in the NBA.
“I’m sure it affects confidence,” Floyd said. “It doesn’t help it. But the thing that I’ve been worried about throughout this streak is quitting. And I haven’t seen an ounce of that.
“At times, you wish you could dislike somebody throughout this. But I have a hard time not respecting their effort.”
That effort, according to Elton Brand, another captain, will continue.
“This is our job,” Brand said. “This is what we get paid to do. We’re all professionals here. I’m not worried about the team falling apart.
“I don’t want it to happen. That’s why I’m still out there trying to fight hard and play hard.”
Brand is doing so despite a sore and slightly hyperextended right elbow that has quietly been bothering him for close to two weeks. Brand even had the elbow X-rayed before the last home game Jan. 27, but the X-rays were negative.
“I’m feeling the pain,” Brand said. “It’s hard to extend my elbow. But I’m hurt more by losing 14 in a row.
“I feel if I can rebound and defend and block some shots and be a decoy out there, I’ll be able to help my teammates out.”
Brand has attempted only 23 shots in the last two games. The 74 percent free-throw shooter went 2-for-6 against Vancouver on Saturday night.
Breakout: The Bulls were still buzzing Sunday over Marcus Fizer’s best game as a professional, in which the rookie forward scored 26 points in 25 minutes. Fizer abused fellow first-round pick Stromile Swift in Swift’s three-minute stint. He also scored on Shareef Abdur-Rahim, flashing glimpses of the power game he displayed consistently at the collegiate level.
“That wasn’t my dream NBA game because we lost,” said Fizer, who admitted he hadn’t felt that confident in a game since college. “I got a lot of good looks and a lot of good touches.”
Floyd came away most impressed by Fizer’s decision to take what the defense gave him.
“To his credit, he’s really tried this second half of the season to let things come to him versus trying to manufacture every trip,” Floyd said. “He was a whirling dervish there for a while in the first half of the season. Now he’s kicking when he doesn’t have a clear path to the basket.
“It was very encouraging to see him get some numbers. I think with that will come with some confidence. I thought he played extremely well.”
