Tempers flare in Houston; Bulls again lose out on chance for .500

HOUSTON — It continues to elude the Bulls.

Twice now in the last few weeks, the .500 mark mockingly stared at them, waiting to be grabbed. But the Bulls have stumbled and let it slip through their fingertips.

The Clippers did it with offensive finesse a few weeks ago, and Thursday the up-and-coming Rockets did it with physicality, taking the Bulls into the alley and coming out with a 127-117 victory.

The Rockets’ task was made a lot easier after DeMar DeRozan was ejected.

With 6:02 left in the third quarter and the Bulls (34-36) down 84-75, DeRozan appeared to throw a left leg in the direction of a dribbling Jalen Green, sending Green to the ground and stoking tempers.

As DeRozan was walking away, Rockets antagonist Dillon Brooks walked up to him and let him know how he felt about the play. DeRozan whipped around as the two grabbed each other and then the scuffling began.

Bulls security eventually tried to separate the pair and the late-arriving Torrey Craig, and all three tumbled to the floor, which ended the escalation.

The officials determined that DeRozan’s foul was a Flagrant 2, resulting in an ejection. Brooks also was sent to the locker room for, well, likely being Dillon Brooks.

“I was surprised just from the simple fact that I was trying to hedge out and just be aggressive, obviously bumped him, but if you look at it, I kind of tripped into it,” DeRozan said. “I’m not dumb. These days it’s just so hard to tell when you go back and look at a review. It wasn’t anything I was trying to do intentionally.”

Going back at Brooks, however, was very intentional.

DeRozan lives by a code, and in his estimation, Brooks crossed it.

“Just walking up on me in any type of way,” DeRozan said of why he reacted so angrily. “I don’t play the walking up on somebody when their back is turned. Nah, that’s just not a thing we do. I walked away from the situation after the foul. I just felt like it’s an issue walking up on any man from behind.”

With the “King of the Fourth” abdicating his throne, the Bulls were without their leading scorer, and more importantly, their closer.

And while there was fight in the final quarter, there just wasn’t enough in DeRozan’s absence.

Any time the Bulls did something positive to regain momentum, it was met, and then some. Nikola Vucevic cut the deficit to eight on a solid eight-foot jumper, but then watched the young, athletic Rockets go on a run that included an Aaron Holiday lay-up, another dunk from Green, a Jabri Smith Jr. lay-in, and then a Green three-pointer.

The Bulls became a boat that had lost its rudder.

Sure, there was one last-minute charge when Dalen Terry tipped in a basket to cut it to seven with 1:31 left, but Jock Landale put the game on ice with the hoop and the foul, completing the three-point play and ending the latest charge for .500.

Coach Billy Donovan thought it was a lack of physicality by his team right from the get-go, as well as frustration from the lack of fouls being called.

“It can sometimes get frustrating, but we have to control ourselves and focus in on what we’ve got to do in those moments,” Donovan added.

That’s also why DeRozan apologized to his teammates afterward.

“I felt bad not being out there for my team,” DeRozan said. “That’s what I’m more frustrated with more than anything.”