Chicago Bulls Losing Streak Extends To 3 After Loss To The Rockets

The Chicago Bulls are being plagued by the circus road trip once again. The Bulls played the Houston Rockets on Wednesday and the team showed an improved defensive effort in comparison to their previous two games. The Bulls’ forced to the Rockets to turnover the ball 23 times. The Bulls also won the battle of rebounds as the team collected 48 rebounds compared to 45 by the Houston Rockets. While the Bulls’ defense showed signs of improvement, the Bulls’ offense struggled once again. The Bulls shot a little over 12% from three point range, and 4o% from the field. The Rockets, on the other hand, shot 43% from the field to go along with nearly 37% from the three point range. James Harden was the leading man for the Rockets as his 28 points contributed to the Rockets’ 93 to 89 victory over the Chicago Bulls. Former Bull Omer Asik scored 4 points while gathering 6 rebounds.

Nov 21, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah (13) drives against Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) and center Omer Asik (3) during the third quarter at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE

Nate Robinson was the leading man for the Bulls on Wednesday. Robinson scored a team-high 21 points while coming off the bench to go along with 5 assists in 26 minutes of playing time. Luol Deng led the starting five in scoring with a total of 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Carlos Boozer scored 13 points while collecting 15 rebounds. The interesting note with Boozer is that the starting power forward played 25 minutes while Taj Gibson played 31 minutes. Joakim Noah scored 11 points to go along with 7 rebounds. Both Kirk Hinrich and Richard Hamilton had 4 points on the night.

After game, Bulls’ head coach Tom Thibodeau suggested that there could be changes to the starting lineup. There are at least two positions where a change may be needed in the Bulls’ starting lineup. Those two positions are the point guard position and the power forward position. Boozer has struggled to play consistently throughout his entire tenure with the Bulls. This season is no different. Where Boozer does excel is as the sixth man playing against the opposing team’s second rotation of players. For that reason, it would make sense to replace Boozer in the starting lineup with Gibson. Hinrich has also struggled as the team’s starting point guard. Those struggles could be contributed to the injuries that have plagued him of late, but, the fact that Robinson has outplayed Hinrich this season should not be overlooked. For that reason, there could be some logic in Thibodeau replacing Hinrich in the starting lineup with Robinson.