Energy absent with two starters injured and Ross ill
Comments (...)PHILADELPHIA – Here’s about all you need to know regarding the Bulls’ 98-82 blowout loss to the 76ers on Wednesday:
The quick, athletic 76ers forced 17 turnovers and scored 29 points off of them. They piled up 21 fast-break points to the Bulls’ four.
They had more rebounds, more second-chance points and way more energy, particularly in a 26-11 third quarter.
No wonder coach Tom Thibodeau said he would have stuck with the reserves who played the entire fourth quarter, even if they had whittled a 20-point deficit lower than the 12 to which they dropped it.
The Bulls rejected the notion that having starters Richard Hamilton and Luol Deng out is catching up with them.
“I’m not trying to think that way,” said Derrick Rose, who was ill at the morning shootaround. “We do miss them. But there are no excuses. We still have to put forth the effort. It was clear that we didn’t.
“We were sluggish. The energy wasn’t there. I really can’t explain it. This is something we’re going to learn from.”
The Bulls closed a ragged second quarter in strong fashion to pull within 49-44. Then, they failed to score a field goal for the first 6 minutes, 29 seconds of the third and committed six turnovers in the period.
“You can’t do that,” Thibodeau said. “They came out with a lot of aggressiveness. We got back on our heels.”
76ers coach Doug Collins had talked at the morning shootaround about the similarity between the teams, how they both play every possession hard. In some ways, the 76ers resemble the Scott Skiles-era Bulls – an unselfish team lacking one transcendent star.
And the Bulls’ star, Rose, wasn’t a factor with illness and ineffectiveness. He finished with 18 points, six assists and four turnovers in 31 minutes. C.J. Watson scored 20 off the bench to lead the Bulls.
Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young both scored 19 to lead five 76ers in double figures. Young came off the bench to force matchup problems with a small, athletic lineup.
“They’re quick to the ball,” Thibodeau said. “Our reaction was very poor. They beat us to loose balls, second-effort plays.”
You could say the 76ers beat the Bulls at their own game.
“We were a step slow,” Kyle Korver said. “We’d crash the board, the ball would go the other way. Sometimes we wouldn’t crash the board. It was just a really frustrating game.
“They have a lot of life and energy on that team. They’re hungry and wanted to prove a point.”
Don’t look now but the 76ers are just one game behind the Bulls in the Eastern Conference.
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