McCaffrey: Thibodeau Has Work To Do As Bulls Lose At Home
By Brendan McCaffrey-
(CBS) Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has some work to do. He said so himself after a 99-90 loss at home Saturday night against a depleted Indiana team, reflecting on Chicago's 7-3 start.
"We've got to figure out how to play better (at home)," Thibodeau said after the game as the Bulls dropped their third home contest of the season. "We have a lot of new players, so you're trying to figure out how they're working together. You want them to build chemistry."
With Derrick Rose sidelined with his injured hamstring, Thibodeau searched in vain for that "edge" he requires from his team, grasping for any lineup that could both stop the Pacers and score on offense. Doug McDermott started the fourth quarter, but after the Pacers' lead ballooned to a game-high 17, Tony Snell finished it. Mike Dunleavy didn't play at all in the final period. Nikola Mirotic saw his requisite five minutes in the first half before sitting, never to be heard from again. The bench contributed eight of the team's 13 turnovers and scored a total of 20 points, down from their season average of 30.1, according to hoopsstats.com.
"We were looking (for help from the bench), we were looking anywhere tonight," Thibodeau said. "We were flat."
The continued rebounding struggles will need to be addressed as well. Indiana outrebounded the Bulls, 46-34, grabbing 10 more rebounds than the Bulls in the second half. It was the highest margin the Bulls had been outrebounded by all season, and they dropped to a tie with the Spurs for 16th in the NBA in total rebounds per game.
"We're still figuring stuff out on our second unit," forward Taj Gibson said. "We're still trying to figure out defensive sets, still trying to gang-rebound. It's a process. It's just frustrating because I know how hard everybody practices and then when things don't go our way, it's frustrating."
One consistent bright spot for the Bulls remains the play of Jimmy Butler, who scored a career-high 32 points Saturday, converting 11 of his 14 free throw attempts. Until Rose returns and strings together a few healthy games, Butler remains the primary backcourt scoring option.
"I could care less how many points I score, actually," Butler said. "Yeah, I scored the ball but we didn't win. I think that's all the matters, is winning."
The Bulls now head west for a 15-day, seven- game road trip to focus on correcting their mistakes and improving on their 5-0 road record.
"We're going out on a long trip, we've got to come together," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "We've got to have that road mentality and hopefully we can come together as a team, play well and come back a better team than when we left."
