Bulls Showing Faults In All Facets With Continued 'Unacceptable' Play

By Cody Westerlund--

CHICAGO (CBS) – For starters, we'll list the actions that accompanied the Bulls experience Friday evening, because their words sure are useless right now.

At around 5:15 p.m., forward Nikola Mirotic strolled down the United Center hallway to the home locker room. This wouldn't have been unusual, except for the fact that the Bulls had 4:45 p.m. film and an ensuing walk-through on the second of a back-to-back against the Bucks. Mirotic had completely forgotten about the scheduled team session, and his punishment was to receive a fine and be benched, his second straight DNP by coach's decision.

That, one could argue, was a better than having to endure the embarrassment of actually taking the floor in the home white jersey Friday night. In a 95-69 loss to the Bucks at the United Center, the Bulls registered their lowest point total since a playoff elimination in April 2014, according to Basketball Reference, and shot a season-low 30.4 percent.

At no point in time did the togetherness that marked the Bulls' strong 10-6 start reveal itself. Dwyane Wade threw his palms up after his man beat him to the hoop for a dunk, wondering where his help defense was. At various times, Cristiano Felicio would stand with a quizzical look, and Bobby Portis would wave his hand in frustration. There was scant communication, which Jimmy Butler and coach Fred Hoiberg would rue later.

Then there were the third-grade basketball moments. Early on, Hoiberg stood in absolute disgust as the Bulls chucked a pass some 40-feet backward for an over-and-back violation. Later, Rajon Rondo was called for an inbounds violation when stepping over the line with no defense around.

The 26-point loss was biggest setback of the season and perhaps marked the low point of the Hoiberg era, a second consecutive shellacking to the same .500 foe in a span of 27 hours in which Chicago (13-13) played with little emotion and little continuity.

If the Bulls had found a new way to lose, even a new way to embarrass themselves, perhaps it wouldn't have been so jarring. That wasn't the case, though. Much of Friday was simply a carbon copy of a 108-97 loss at Milwaukee on Thursday, the only difference this time being there wasn't a meaningless late run to create a more respectable final box score.

"The way that we've been playing, it's unacceptable, especially for this city," said Butler, who had seven points on 3-of-14 shooting. "We understand that."

Asked what adjustments were made between Thursday and Friday considering the games looked so similar, Hoiberg dodged the question, just citing that the Bucks again hurt the Bulls with their rebounding, points off turnovers and ability to push the ball in transition. He did acknowledge the Bulls have "taken a step back" defensively.

"We're all accountable," Hoiberg said. "It starts with me. I got to get us playing more consistently."

It was last year around this time that the first signs of a fracture in the Bulls locker room surfaced, with Butler saying Hoiberg needed to "coach harder." On Friday, Butler backed the game plan created by coaching staff, indicating it's on the players to perform better. The defensive game plan is "hella simple" to understand, Butler said.

"We just didn't do what we were supposed to do," Butler said. "Whether we switched the game plan or stayed with the game plan from (Thursday), we didn't come out and execute and do what the game plan said."

Butler shot down the notion that a players-only meeting would do the Bulls any good. Of more concern than words right now are actions. The Bulls are by far the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA. Their bench is among the league's worst. They often appear lost without Butler on the floor. Their fourth-quarter offense has stalled, in part because foes aren't respecting Rondo's outside shot. They can't keep up with athletic teams. And now their defense is showing big faults.

The answer to all this in Butler's mind? Just perform.

"We know what we're capable of," Butler said. "We know what to do – go out there and execute and do what we're supposed to be doing. We don't need to sit in a circle and hold each other's hands and talk about that. We don't talk that much out there on the floor. That's where the problem begins.

"We're not going to feel sorry for ourselves and sit in a circle and pat each other on the back."

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. He's also the co-host of the @LockedOnBulls podcast, which you can subscribe to on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.