So Bulls coach Scott Skiles was contemplating again Tuesday how the Bulls, still without injured Luol Deng, were going to score enough points to compete Tuesday night against the highest-scoring team in the NBA, one outscoring the Bulls by an average of more than 21 points per game coming in.
“What are the alternatives?” Skiles asked. “It’s not like I have guys flying off the bench scoring a lot of points.”
Surprisingly, the Bulls did have that against the Nuggets Tuesday despite losing badly 112-91 in the final game of this Western Conference swing. The Bulls, now 2-8 overall, move on to meet the Knicks Saturday in New York.
Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson led the Nuggets with 26 and 22 points respectively. Joakim Noak had 16 for the Bulls.
The Bulls did get that scoring boost off the bench from Thomas Gardner, who led the Bulls in first half scoring with nine, two points more than he had scored cumulatively all season. Noah added six points in the first half in making his first NBA field goal, though no one stopped the game. Noah had been 0 of 8 shooting coming into the game.
That was a form of good news, though the reason those players got a chance was the bad news, the continued poor shooting of the Bulls primary scorers.
Ben Gordon was 2 of 9 in the first half and the Bulls shot 41.5 percent, good for them this season, but not good enough to play in a shootout with a team like the Nuggets, who led 72-53 at halftime and then 94-69 after three quarters in the second consecutive blowout loss on this 1-3 trip.
So the questions came. Why start Adrian Griffin in place of the injured Deng? Which Skiles did again, though he started Joe Smith in the second half. What about Tyrus Thomas? What about Noah? Aaron Gray?
“Everything is magnified in general when the players who are supposed to be carrying the team are struggling to do that,” Skiles said. “That’s the main issue. That’s what we have to solve. Until our main players step up and carry the team, everyone gets penalized. Our guys have been getting quality looks. If you have three guys out there who can score, they have to step up and score.”
Though the Bulls three aren’t quite like the Nuggets Big Three of Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony and Whoever Else.
The Bulls guys once again were sideways with their shots, and things went badly almost from the start.
Thomas was yanked out of the game with two fouls and a turnover in 42 seconds in the first quarter. Noah dropped the ball out of bounds on an open fast break layup. The Bulls were down double figures less than six minutes into the game.
They opened the second quarter in a zone and had some brief results to draw within 37-32, but Eduardo Najera and J.R. Smith hit threes in a 13-0 run and the Nuggets mostly appeared to be playing with — instead of against — the Bulls after that. Kirk Hinrich lost the ball dribbling behind his back and was yanked.
Skiles ran halfway across the court to protest a non-call on Gardner, who clearly was hammered, though after he clearly had traveled and that wasn’t called. Skiles was assessed a technical foul. Andres Nocioni got another a bit later.
Things were getting so embarrassing, it didn’t appear the Nuggets were expending much effort defending the Bulls.
Gordon ended 2 of 14 for six points. Hinrich was 6 of 13 for 14 points and Nocioni was 4 of 8 for 10. Ben Wallace did have 12 rebounds and three blocks. But Anthony and Iverson, and a stunning 28-5 disparity in free throw shooting at halftime, were way too much for the slumping Bulls.
“What’s happening,” Skiles said, “is teams are not challenging us [on the perimeter] really hard right now. They challenge us we can drive by and get in the paint and make things happen. If anything, teams are standing there and saying, ‘Shoot the ball.’ Other coaches are saying we are a good shooting team, don’t leave guys. But players get a feel for what’s going on. Normally, we are challenged real hard on the perimeter. The last few games we haven’t been challenged as much. Until we prove we can make shots, they’ll do that.”
