When Bill Cartwright gathered the Bulls for their Tuesday morning meeting, he informed them Charles Oakley and Marcus Fizer would start in place of Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler.
Orlando made a lineup change too. Tracy McGrady returned after missing one game with severe back spasms following a fall last Friday night.
Cartwright achieved his goal of a more defensive-oriented start. But McGrady still helped send the Bulls to their 12th loss in 13 games, scoring 20 points with 11 rebounds and seven assists in a 96-82 victory at TD Waterhouse Centre.
“I felt Oak and Marcus give us more experience and stability,” Cartwright said. “We’ll see how it plays out. I don’t know how long we’re going to do it . . . but we can’t win games guarding how we’re guarding.”
Either Chandler or Curry likely will return to a starting role against Philadelphia on Thursday night because–unless the league overturns it–Oakley will be serving a one-game suspension without pay. The veteran forward was whistled for a type-one flagrant foul on guard Darrell Armstrong with 11 minutes 8 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
That is the less severe of the two classifications, but Oakley has accrued enough flagrant foul points for each subsequent one to warrant a suspension. This will be the second suspension for Oakley, who chased Armstrong on a breakaway and fouled him on the head.
“That’s ridiculous,” Cartwright said. “If you go for the ball, as Oak did, it’s not a flagrant. I thought that was just a poor call.”
Oakley held Armstrong to prevent him from falling after the foul.
“What can you do?” said Oakley, who would forfeit close to $90,000 if suspended.
Save for Jalen Rose, the Bulls’ offense went into a suspended state in the third quarter, when the game turned.
Trailing 50-46 at halftime, Rose scored 14 of his game-high 20 points on 6-for-12 shooting in the third. The rest of the Bulls combined to score one point and miss all six shots. The Bulls shot 38.7 percent overall.
McGrady scored six straight points in the fourth to ice matters. Monty Williams added a season-high 18 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for Orlando.
Chandler played 18 minutes and Curry 11.
“I think they’re tired too,” Cartwright said. “We’ll scale their minutes back and try to get more out of less.”
