Outmanned and short on talent, the Bulls came close on pure hustle and desire before falling to the Detroit Pistons 110-100 Monday night in the Silverdome.
”You`re out there and we didn`t have enough guys to do a layup line properly before the game,” Bulls` guard Kyle Macy said. ”We were hustling from one line to the other so much that we finally cut it short to save our energy.
”Then you look at the other end and there`s these giants and they look like they`ve got three battalions out there.”
The Bulls, who had just nine players in uniform, had their three-game winning streak snapped. The Pistons, behind Kelly Tripucka`s 41 points, Isiah Thomas` 33 and Bill Laimbeer`s 20, won their eighth straight.
”You take Isiah, Kelly and Laimbeer out of their lineup and see what they`ve got?” Bulls` coach Stan Albeck said. ”You have to be realistic. When you have less talent than just about every other team in the league, you have to try a lot of gimmicks.
”You`ll get away with it a certain amount of the time. But when you don`t have the personnel to execute it and don`t have the talent, you face frustration every night. They realize, `Hey, that`s the only way we have a chance to win.` ”
The all-out effort let the Bulls match up with the Pistons for more than three quarters. It was 59-all at halftime and 86-82 Pistons after three quarters, and it was only 95-90 with 6 minutes 23 seconds left.
But hustle can match talent only so long in this league, and Thomas made sure of that.
”We had hoped to catch them a little overconfident, and they were asleep for a while,” Sidney Green said. ”But in the last 10 minutes of the game, you give the ball to Isiah and the game is theirs. It`s been that way ever since he`s been in the league. It`s been like that in college, been like that in high school.”
George ”the Iceman” Gervin led the Bulls with 26 points, 22 in the first half. When Albeck decided to go with his best defensive lineup, Gervin sat much of the second half. Green had 22 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocked shots, and Charles Oakley had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Tripucka noticed the intensity with which the Bulls executed their special defense.
”Chicago tried to play a two-man trap with the other three guys picking up the closest player to them,” Tripucka said. ”You`re not supposed to play a zone in this league, but it was disguised very well. Give Stan a lot of credit.”
Bulls` vice president of operations Jerry Krause continues his search for a big man to replace Dave Corzine, who broke his left hand Saturday and is out for the season. Monday, Krause attempted to locate ex-Denver Nugget back-up center Joe Kopicki, who has been playing in Italy. That`s the same place ex-San Antonio center Ozell Jones is playing.
Krause is still attempting to work out a deal to bring Bulls` fourth-round draft pick Mike Brown back from Italy. Brown, a 6-9 1/2, 255-pound center-forward, was the leading rebounder in last summer`s rookie league. Krause said he will be talking with Brown`s Italian team Tuesday. If that fails, other possibilities are 6-11 Ron Crevier and 6-8 ex-Illinois center George Montgomery.
Orlando Woolridge had a cortisone injection in his right wrist and had his left knee examined by Bulls` physician Dr. John Hefferon Monday. Hefferon determined that arthroscopic knee surgery wasn`t necessary at this time and that Woolridge is suffering from tendinitis. Krause and Woolridge will confer Tuesday, and Krause said he hopes Woolridge will be back for Friday`s game against Cleveland at the Stadium.
