Bulls' Playoff Hopes Take Huge Blow With Loss To Pistons

By Cody Westerlund--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- As inconsistent and poor as they've been at times, the Bulls entered Saturday's contest against the Pistons still in control of their own playoff destiny.

They left the United Center further battered and with their streak of reaching seven consecutive postseasons in grave danger.

Playing without the injured Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, Chicago struggled offensively all evening and fell 94-90 to Detroit, putting itself squarely behind the playoff eight-ball. Sitting in ninth place in the East, the Bulls fell 2.5 games behind the seventh-place Pistons and also now sit two back of the eighth-place Pacers, who beat the 76ers.

On top of that, Detroit (41-36) secured the playoff tiebreaker against Chicago (38-38) by virtue of a 3-1 season series win.

"We're aware of our situation," said Pau Gasol, who had 16 points and 14 rebounds. "Math is probably against us at this point."

The Bulls don't have the time to worry about the odds. While the defensive effort has returned, an offense that ranks in the bottom six of the league in efficiency is the (current) concern, as Chicago shot just 38.6 percent Saturday. The offense was especially cumbersome and slow late, as the Bulls turned predominantly to a two-man game between Jimmy Butler and Gasol in the fourth quarter, the ball movement coming to a near standstill at times.

Coach Fred Hoiberg had gone away from offensive weapons Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott because they were each being exploited defensively. The sad part of the ensuing result was that is wasn't surprising.

"It's kind of how we've been all year," forward Mike Dunleavy said. "Really, our offense has probably let us down more than our defense.

"Offensively, we're just not there yet."

The reason the Bulls had a chance late was because of the quality play of Butler, who recorded his first career triple-double with 28 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists. He became just the sixth player since the 1983-'84 season to record such a stat line, according to basketball-reference.com.

"I just feel like I could've done more – hit some more shots, played better defense," Butler said, taking no solace in the night.

It was Butler who was on the hard-luck end of the game's biggest whistle. The Bulls' late gasp at a comeback was thwarted when he was called for a block with 20.4 seconds left on a bang-bang play with the Pistons leading 90-88. Sliding over to try to take a charge from the hard-driving Reggie Jackson, Butler got his toes planted outside the restricted area, but the officials ruled on the floor and then upon video review that his heels were hovering over the restricted arc on a vertical plane, which is a violation.

"It wasn't a charge," said Butler, who took a hard shot to the ribs on the play and stayed down on the floor for a minute. "It was a block."

Jackson then hit two free throws to help seal the win. It inched ever closer to sealing the Bulls' postseason fate as well.

Chicago has just six games left, and it remains in poor health entering Sunday's game at Milwaukee. Speaking pregame, Rose could only envision playing Sunday if his left elbow contusion improves, which it hasn't been doing much. Gibson maintained he'll try to play through a rib fracture despite admitting it's "extremely painful."

"We got to keep fighting," Hoiberg said. "That's all we can do right now."

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.