After the Bulls 106-94 loss in New York Thursday night, which dropped them out of a playoff spot and to 36-35 on the season, Bulls power forward Taj Gibson let out his frustrations.
When asked by a reporter after the game if he was disappointed with the Bulls recent performance losing back to back games to the Knicks, this was Gibson’s response:
“Hell yeah, I’m embarrassed,’’ Gibson said. “I take pride in wearing this jersey. I love wearing a Bulls jersey, especially what we’ve been through. I take pride in playing for Chicago when I wear that jersey. I try and go out there and play my heart out. And it’s frustrating when we come up shot and we look at ourselves when we lose to a – I don’t want to criticize – but trash teams. Everyone is in the NBA for a reason, but we’re playing against teams that aren’t playing for anything and we’re just laying down.”
Referring to some of the teams the Bulls have lost to recently, including the Knicks as “trash” teams probably isn’t going to make him real popular with some of his fellow players, even if it may be true.
Gibson went farther with his perceived perception of how soft he feels the Bulls have become.
“It feels like we’re a target,’’ Gibson said. “It feels like teams aren’t taking us serious. Teams are more eager to play us. Where it used to be vice versa. They knew we were coming to punch people in the face and keep playing. It’s hard, man. It really eats me up inside. It’s hard to sleep at night knowing that it’s coming down to the wire and our effort isn’t there. It’s really frustrating.’’
Taj Gibson says the team doesn’t have the same toughness or desire that it had in the past and that is the difference between winning and losing games.
The Bulls are smack dab in the middle of the NBA in defense rating and points given up after being consistently in the top 10 for the past six seasons, including the top five for four of those seasons.
Although it seemed as though the Bulls were ready for something different this past offseason after years of grueling, hard-nosed style of former Head Coach Tom Thibodeau, they have seemed lost and without a true identity all season. Head Coach Fred Hoiberg has tried to speed them up and play with smaller lineups to match the trend that is pervasive around the league today.
The two main aspects of those tough, gritty, defensive-minded Bulls teams that were always in the thick of the eastern conference playoff race despite injuries were Thibodeau and Joakim Noah both of which are gone now and the team is suffering as a result.
The Bulls are currently a game and a half out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the east and have seven of their 11 remaining games on the road. Chicago may miss the postseason for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
