Outscoring teams is not something the Bulls do well

The Bulls managed to stay afloat, until the end of the third quarter, on the strength of their offense. But if you follow the Bulls or have pay attention to Vinny Del Negro’s coaching, you know, that there is hardly ever a reason for their good offense, beyond Derrick Rose or guys just making shots.

Simply, the Bulls aren’t a team that outscores people; eventually, they were going to have to make some stops. They never did. Besides a stretch early in the third quarter where the Jazz became careless with the ball and the Bulls generated some turnovers, they never could slow down the Jazz.

Courtesy of StatSheet.com

Offensively, the Bulls were efficient en route to 108 points. Four guys – Brad Miller, Hakim Warrick, Flip Murray and Kirk Hinrich – reached double-figures, while also keeping their effective field-goal percentage (eFG%) above 60%. Miller was particularly good in the first half, when he was three of three on 3-pointers.

And not that anyone is surprised, but Rose had a great showing against Deron Williams, on offense. Rose had 25 points and tied a career-high with 13 assists against someone who is gaining support for the best point guard in the game.

It was another story on defense. Rose’s stat line was good, but Williams’ was bigger: Williams had 28 points and 17 assists. With the game out of hand in the fourth quarter, color man Stacey King called out Rose for his defensive play, and said that he’s too good an athlete to struggle the way he does. I don’t know if this is the first time he, or Neil Funk, has done this, but it’s the first time I remember.

Rose’s failure to defend doesn’t make him different than anyone else on his team. And even though the Bulls have struggled lately, the Jazz deserve a lot of credit for the Bulls’ inability to stop them. They just run their offensive sets so well. And they pass the ball so well, especially in the paint, defense is almost impossible.

It gets even more difficult when C.J. Miles hits six of seven shots from behind the arc. On the way to scoring 23 points, Miles had a 100% eFG%. Without Noah, the entire Bulls roster has to help in the paint, but they didn’t do a good job closing out in order to get a hand Miles’ face; and really, it was his shooting in the third and fourth quarter that put this game out of reach.

But more important than one loss to a far superior team is news that Luol Deng will have an MRI on his calf today. Also, Taj Gibson continues to be bothered by plantar fasciitis.