MILWAUKEE – Give Bulls general manager Gar Forman some credit.
For the second consecutive season he’s managed to build underachieving mediocrity.
No easy feat considering the roster underwent a complete facelift in the summer, adding two championship players in Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo.
As Forman has shown the last three seasons, however, if it’s not broke he will kick it until it can no longer be fixed.
But the real trick that Forman continues to pull off? Through all the missteps, distrust and dysfunction he’s created throughout the locker room and within the coaching staff, he can walk through the halls with a swagger that reeks of “I dare someone to fire me.’’
To his credit, no one in the organization has enough commonsense to dare do that.
That’s why Tuesday happens.
That’s why former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau and his group of diaper dandy 21-year-olds overcame a 21-point deficit to run a suddenly disinterested looking team out of the United Center.
And that big response by the Bulls on Thursday? That flexing of pride that should have been on full display?
A one-sided laugher in Milwaukee in which the Bucks jumped out to a 30-18 first-quarter lead and only had to glance over their shoulder several times the rest of the night, winning 108-97.
It was the fifth loss over the last seven games for the Bulls, as all the good feelings from October and November have them currently sitting with a 13-12 record.
Even the injury card couldn’t be played against the Bucks (12-12), as Rondo returned to the starting lineup after he was dealing with a sore ankle.
“It’s recognizing what we do out there that makes us successful when we go on good runs,’’ coach Fred Hoiberg said, when discussing the team’s split personality from game-to-game. “When teams go on good runs against us we have to find a way to keep battling, keep playing. It’s just finding that consistency and we talk about that daily.
“You have to keep your foot on the gas. You have to step on a team when they’re down.’’
Sort of like Milwaukee did to the Bulls.
Sure, Hoiberg’s team at least showed a bit of life in the final five minutes of the contest, cutting the deficit to eight points. But with 1:34 left, Matthew Dellavedova – no stranger to being that thorn in the foot for the Bulls – hit a clutch three that stretched the lead back to 108-97. The Bulls had several possessions to cut into it, but a missed shot and then registering their 17th turnover of the night all but ended any sort of heroics.
“The way we came out of the gate … You talk about the things that you have to do in order to survive a game like this,’’ Hoiberg said. “You’ve got to find a way to make a team uncomfortable.
“The meetings that we had the last two days, I would have hoped that we would have solved playing the half a game or three-quarter game. We’ll continue to stress it, we’ll continue to work on it, but we need to improve if we want to have a chance to win games this year.’’
And the kicker of the entire evening. Nikola Mirotic – a player Forman insisted two years ago was a key core player moving forward – got the DNP [Did Not Play] Coach’s Decision.
“Just the way we went,’’ Hoiberg said.
