Schuster: Bulls With A Rare Loss
By David Schuster--
Another poor start (and this time also a poor finish) caught up with the Bulls on Monday night as they lost to the 76ers 97-85. This was the Bulls 3rd straight poor start to a game. They overcame sluggish starts vs Memphis and Milwaukee last weekend but weren't up to the task on this night.
The Bulls trailed by 14 after one quarter, by as many as 23 in the 2nd quarter and by 19 early in the third. Then they started their come back and got to within 6 points with three minutes to go but couldn't get over the hump.
Derrick Rose scored 24 of his game high 31 points in the 2nd half but he also had a dubious double double with 10 turnovers. But it was the bad first half that killed them and when the game was on the line late they just did not come up with the big play.
The loss snapped their 14 game home win streak and was their first loss at the United Center in over 2 months. They did catch a break with Boston (leaking oil) again losing so their lead is still 2 games over the Celtics but Miami is also just 2 back and charging quick.
