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In other words, not good. Not good at all.
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The Bulls*missed their first 12 shots of the game and didn’t get onto the board until Dwyane Wade’s 21-foot jumper ended their scoreless drought 5:55 into the game. All in all, Chicago finished 3-for-22 from the field in the first quarter (a stunningly bad 13.6 percent from the field) and narrowly avoided the worst scoring quarter in franchise history*— rolling out more players (10) than they scored points (9).
Lest we need reminding this was an early Sunday game, Wade fell asleep on defense to start the day:
Dwyane Wade prepared and ready for the afternoon start pic.twitter.com/6JL0nmOegM
— BullsBlogger (@BullsBlogger) March 12, 2017
Not*a minute later, Jimmy Butler drove into a sea of red and just plain ran into Robin Lopez:— BullsBlogger (@BullsBlogger) March 12, 2017
The nationally televised disaster*only got worse from there, until*Cristiano Felicio capped the 100-80 loss*with a fitting finish, missing a wide-open transition dunk even after*Boston parted*that red sea:
Ladies and gentlemen, The Chicago #Bulls. pic.twitter.com/gzJ6y5eEM1
— Chicago Sports News (@ChiSportUpdates) March 12, 2017
Things got so bad C’s fans entertained themselves with the wave, and Boston players joined the fray:— Chicago Sports News (@ChiSportUpdates) March 12, 2017
When the fans start the wave and the bench wants in… pic.twitter.com/6EALw2kaAx
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 12, 2017
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 12, 2017
You know it's bad when even the @celtics players are doing the #WAVE w the fans ha ha. @jketroser @smart_MS3 pic.twitter.com/XDDk6CfWwP
— Kenny Boren (@kennybor24) March 12, 2017
It was an embarrassing outing for a Bulls team that’s now lost five straight and failed to capitalize on an opportunity to leapfrog the Miami Heat for ninth place in the Eastern Conference. They’re now two games in the loss column behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the East’s final playoff seed*with 16 to play.— Kenny Boren (@kennybor24) March 12, 2017
With seven of their nine remaining games in March scheduled against playoff teams, it won’t be easy for Chicago to salvage a season that looked promising after a 10-6 start to*the first month, and nobody who watched Sunday’s game could be confident*the Bulls care all that much about playing past April.
The “three alphas” were a failed experiment from the start, and they’ve been fighting with each other, their younger*teammates and their coaches*ever since. Sunday’s loss was just the latest reminder the Bulls are in need of a major shakeup this summer, whether it’s a rebuild around whatever youth and draft picks they can land*in a Jimmy Butler trade, another new coach and/or a revamped front office.
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Meanwhile, the Celtics looked sharp, bouncing back from losing three of their final four games on their West Coast road trip to move into a virtual tie with the Washington Wizards for the second seed in the East. Avery Bradley had his minutes restriction lifted, and Boston is at full strength for the stretch run, with rookie Jaylen Brown playing his best ball and exemplifying the C’s depth of talent:
Jaylen Brown around-the-world in transition ???????? pic.twitter.com/KfkqQwkQsS
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) March 12, 2017
They’re looking more and more like a team that’s one piece away from championship contention,*so maybe that wave by the Celtics*was just a greeting to let*Butler know he’d*be welcome in Boston.— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) March 12, 2017
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach