Like truckers at toll booths and school buses dropping off elementary schoolchildren, the Bulls have encountered plenty of speed bumps this season.
The latest two are yet another injury — Tyrus Thomas’ sprained left foot — as well as an inability to establish consistently the up-tempo offensive attack emphasized when interim coach Jim Boylan first took over.
In Monday night’s late game against the SuperSonics, the Bulls once again made getting stops defensively and running out in transition a priority.
They did so against a Sonics team seeking its first four-game win streak since April 2006 and one that suddenly had discovered defense after a recent franchise-record, 14-game losing streak.
Ending a season-high seven-game homestand, the Sonics had limited a Spurs team without Tony Parker, a Cavaliers team without LeBron James and a Knicks team without Eddy Curry to combined 42 percent shooting.
How fitting. That’s the league-worst percentage the Bulls entered with, thanks to an offensive attack that struggles to get easy baskets and takes far too many contested shots.
“We’ve had guys out and different lineups,” guard Kirk Hinrich said. “We still try to make plays for each other. We haven’t been as successful at that this season. We have a tendency to hold on to it and try to do too much.
“We’ve also been struggling stopping teams. A big part of getting out and running is being able to get stops. When you’re taking the ball out of the net, it’s hard to establish tempo.”
Entering Monday, the Bulls actually had topped 100 points 11 times in Boylan’s 20-game tenure. But they had done so just twice in the previous eight games, including Saturday’s loss in Sacramento.
Injuries to Ben Gordon, who has returned, and Luol Deng, who remains out indefinitely with left Achilles’ tendinitis, haven’t helped the offense. Losing Thomas, who tested his injury in individual warmups but couldn’t go, is less damaging.
“Our mentality is the same,” Boylan said. “We’d like to try to get the ball out as quick as we can and get into our offense and keep our tempo up.”
The Bulls experienced a modicum of success early Monday. Andres Nocioni, otherwise sketchy with two brutal turnovers, buried a three-pointer in transition and also tipped home a miss as Hinrich drove to the rim on a fast break.
In the half-court game, Joe Smith returned as a starter to bury four first-half jumpers, and Aaron Gray gobbled up Thomas’ minutes with strong post moves and seven first-half points.
After Wally Szczerbiak buried back-to-back threes to help trim a 10-point deficit to two, Hinrich hit another three in transition. The Bulls closed strong to lead 56-49 at halftime.
This could be the Bulls’ final trip to Key Arena as team officials and the city of Seattle haggle over a possible move to Oklahoma City.
It has been close to 12 years since the Bulls played in the 1996 NBA Finals here, back when the roads were free and clear and the speed bumps were for the players trying to defend Michael Jordan.
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kcjohnson@tribune.com
IN THE WEB EDITION
For Monday’s result, go to chicagotribune.com/sports
