Late-game errors contribute to Bulls’ fourth-straight loss
November 26, 2007
TORONTO – Whether it’s getting blown out early or faltering in the fourth quarter, the Chicago Bulls keep finding ways to lose.
Chris Bosh had 16 points and 13 rebounds, rookie Jamario Moon matched his career-high with 15 points and the Toronto Raptors pulled away in the fourth to beat Chicago 93-78 Sunday, handing the Bulls their fourth straight loss.
“There’s no fun in moral victories,” said a downcast Kirk Hinrich. “I feel like we played better but we lost the game and we struggled down the stretch again.”
The energetic Moon added nine rebounds, six blocks and three steals.
“He gave us a lot of problems,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said.
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Starting in place of the injured T.J. Ford (sore left arm), point guard Jose Calderon had 19 points and 14 assists for Toronto.
“Jose is playing fantastic right now,” Bosh said. “He’s moving the ball where he’s supposed to and taking good shots. He’s just poised and controlled. We need that right now, especially with T.J. being out.”
Luol Deng had 21 points and nine rebounds in his return to Chicago’s starting lineup after missing the previous three games with a sore lower back.
Ben Gordon added 17 and Hinrich had 15 for Chicago.
Carlos Delfino had 13 points and eight rebounds for Toronto.
The victory was the 114th for Sam Mitchell as Raptors coach, moving him past Lenny Wilkens for the most victories in team history.
The Raptors led 70-64 after three quarters, but missed their first six shot attempts in the fourth. A pair of jumpers by Chicago’s Joe Smith cut the gap to two before a Jason Kapono 3-pointer with 8:06 to go ended Toronto’s slump.
Kapono’s basket seemed to deflate the Bulls, who didn’t make another shot until Deng’s 3-pointer with 2:36 to play and the game already out of reach.
“In critical moments, we’re a little flat-footed out there,” Skiles said. “Right now at least, we don’t have the thrust of energy that we need at that moment.”
Hinrich said defensive lapses have hurt the Bulls in late-game situations.
“In the past, when we got down to those points in the game we were getting stops,” Hinrich said. “It’s something we haven’t been able to do this year, which puts that much more pressure on us to execute at the other end.”
No Chicago player was able to defend Moon, who brought the crowd to its feet by blowing past Ben Wallace for a layup with 5:32 to play, giving Toronto a 75-68 edge.