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“I guess you look at our offense, how we got so much firepower,” Gibson said. “And everybody’s elevated their game, too. We had a lot of guys that were just defenders, and then defenders turned [into] kind of scorers a little bit and feeling comfortable scoring the ball now. At times we kind of loosen up on defense, and that little bit of loosening up in the game … can really open up a can of worms for the other teams that really [hit] their stride and score points on us. And that’s been the little letdowns in the games, I think.”

“It’s going to happen sometimes when you’re feeling good about yourself,” he continued. “Everybody’s telling you, ‘You’re good, you’re good, you’re good, you’re good,” throwing things basically in your lap, [and] you kind of lose track of things.”

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"As of late, we've just been getting beat," Gibson continued. "We've been getting humbled to tell you the truth. We lost to Utah; we lost to Orlando; teams are coming in really just trying to beat us. Of course, everybody's trying to beat us, but everybody's really trying to take it to the edge -- take us to the edge, basically battle us -- because they know we're one of those teams with high expectations. It's up to us to just push through this hard bump in the road. All the good teams go through it. Right now it's just our turn."

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But Gibson believes there's a more important issue at hand. He and his teammates feel the heightened expectations around this team, and he understands that other teams want to make a name for themselves against a title contender.

"Teams are looking at us as a test to see how far they can go," Gibson said. "If I was another team, I would come in looking at the Chicago Bulls trying to go after them as hard as I can, learn from it. Us, we're just thinking that we're going to beat teams sometimes."

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"You look at how we play, how we start games, and how we play sometimes, we just think we're going to beat teams just because we got Chicago across our chest," Gibson said.

"And that's basically just like a target, because these guys are coming in, giving us their all the first five minutes into the game, and then we're wondering like, 'What happened?' But we'll get it together." - Friedell

McGraw: Many reasons behind Bulls recent struggles

If the Bulls look up right now, they'll see a strange sight -- the Atlanta Hawks running away with the Eastern Conference lead.
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There's not a single problem plaguing the Bulls. Quite often, the defense has been ineffective, but coach Tom Thibodeau's squad also scored just 77 points in a recent home loss to Utah.
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Gasol and go

Make no mistake, Gasol has been a great addition for the Bulls and is on pace to start in the All-Star Game. But fitting a successful lineup around him has been a challenge.

Gasol is not a defensive stopper. But neither was Carlos Boozer, who was part of excellent defensive teams. Gasol is much better at basket protection, ranking fifth in the league in blocked shots.

So why can't the Bulls make this work? They might still be trying to figure that out themselves. With Gasol on board, the Bulls have transitioned to a much higher-scoring team, which bodes well for the playoffs. But they haven't discovered the defensive secret.

Gasol can't switch onto any defensive assignment, like Noah does. He can get overpowered by strong post players, but so do most NBA centers. Gasol had a tough night against Orlando's Nik Vucevic on Monday. Vucevic started out by hitting medium-range jumpers, then started driving to the basket and the Bulls couldn't bring enough help to slow him down.
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Pick your poison

Tom Thibodeau's defense has traditionally been renowned for clamping down on pick-and-rolls, the staple of NBA offense these days. That's not happening right now.

Against Washington, the Bulls didn't try to jump the pick-and-roll. The big man backed off and the guard tried to get over the screen. The outcome was a number of ridiculously easy baskets for the Wizards. A single high screen led to open jumpers by the guards. If the ball was thrown to the roller, typically one extra pass brought an easy layup.
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Butler not at his best

Over the past five games, Butler is shooting just 29.8 percent from the field and averaging 13 points. The Bulls haven't found a way to replace his offense and aren't playing defense well enough to make up the difference.

"Jimmy will be fine," Thibodeau said. "Jimmy doesn't rely on jump shooting. His ability to get to the line is a great strength. His post-up ability, moving without the ball -- those are all things that could help us."
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Dunleavy on leave

Mike Dunleavy has missed the last seven games. Is he that important to the Bulls' success? Maybe.

Dunleavy is a smart veteran who knows how to play, and when he's shooting 40 percent from 3-point range, the Bulls' offense should benefit. Then again, the team is just 10-7 when Dunleavy makes multiple 3-point baskets, so maybe his absence is more of a continuity issue.
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Rose returning to form

Maybe the most disappointing part of Wednesday's loss is it wasted a season-high 32 points from Rose. He's still inconsistent and trying to get comfortable after his two-year layoff.

If Rose returns to all-star form, will the Bulls' troubles be over? Probably not.

This is a multifaceted slump, but fortunes can always change quickly. -Daily Herald

Stratmaster wrote:Taj wasn't calling the team out...well, he was, but himself included. he has been nowhere near the force he used to be and often disappears. He seems to be playing hard in about 2 minute stretches.

Stratmaster wrote:He seems to be playing hard in about 2 minute stretches.

Rerisen wrote:

Stratmaster wrote:Taj wasn't calling the team out...well, he was, but himself included. he has been nowhere near the force he used to be and often disappears. He seems to be playing hard in about 2 minute stretches.

Hard to be as big a force when you aren't playing as much, nor as important minutes.

Ice Man wrote:

Stratmaster wrote:He seems to be playing hard in about 2 minute stretches.

I think his defense has been pretty solid. Offensively, he's trying to figure out where he fits on this team. He is playing more cautiously than he was last year.

Stratmaster wrote:Taj has played the 6th most total minutes on the team, which seems about appropriate as he is the 6th man. And it seems especially appropriate since he has played the 6th most minutes on the team while playing the 9th most games, having missed 9 due to injury. He has started 9 of the 31 games he has played in. Respectfully, what you just said is made up.

Stratmaster wrote:

Rerisen wrote:

Stratmaster wrote:Taj wasn't calling the team out...well, he was, but himself included. he has been nowhere near the force he used to be and often disappears. He seems to be playing hard in about 2 minute stretches.

Hard to be as big a force when you aren't playing as much, nor as important minutes.

Taj has played the 6th most total minutes on the team, which seems about appropriate as he is the 6th man. And it seems especially appropriate since he has played the 6th most minutes on the team while playing the 9th most games, having missed 9 due to injury. He has started 9 of the 31 games he has played in. Respectfully, what you just said is made up.

Rerisen wrote:

Stratmaster wrote:Taj has played the 6th most total minutes on the team, which seems about appropriate as he is the 6th man. And it seems especially appropriate since he has played the 6th most minutes on the team while playing the 9th most games, having missed 9 due to injury. He has started 9 of the 31 games he has played in. Respectfully, what you just said is made up.

I'm not talking about missed games. Taj has been good as a starter, just shy of 15 and 9 a night, with .567 TS%. And his usual high +/- impact.

But I'm talking about full roster rotation, he's down to 24 mpg and he doesn't play the entire 4th like he used to, so he is getting less opportunities to be as impactful.

Maybe you just don't care about defense.

Red-Bulls83 wrote:

Stratmaster wrote:

Rerisen wrote:
Hard to be as big a force when you aren't playing as much, nor as important minutes.

Taj has played the 6th most total minutes on the team, which seems about appropriate as he is the 6th man. And it seems especially appropriate since he has played the 6th most minutes on the team while playing the 9th most games, having missed 9 due to injury. He has started 9 of the 31 games he has played in. Respectfully, what you just said is made up.

He should be playing more than Noah right now, imo. Ideally him and Noah should switch roles and minutes because Noah is limited because of his own injury issues

Stratmaster wrote:Again, what you just said is made up. Taj has played 30 or more minutes in 3 of the last 7 games, and over 25 minutes in 5 of them. He is averaging 27.5 mpg, about 1 minute less than he averaged last season. Again, he has the 6th most total minutes played on the team despite missing 9 games.

Stratmaster wrote:I don't see the same defensive play I am used to from him. Guys are going around him a good bit which I rarely used to see.

His defensive rebounding also seems much weaker, although he is still hitting the offensive boards.

But I'm not trying to dis his play. He hasn't been the issue. I do feel like he has lost a bit of athleticism and doesn't seem to have the same fire he used to; but that is likely the difference between being 23 and 29.