Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge posts up Taj Gibson. (Craig Mitchelldyer/US Presswire)
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Any time there's an urge to play revisionist history and lament trading LaMarcus Aldridge's draft rights for those of Tyrus Thomas in 2006, take a deep breath and remember this:
Who knows if the Bulls would've been in position to strike lottery gold and land Derrick Rose two years later?
Of course, such rationalization mattered little Monday night at Rose Garden, where Aldridge's myriad talents were on full display in the Trail Blazers' 109-103 victory over the Bulls.
Add the fact that Rudy Fernandez, whom the Bulls pursued in the offseason, found himself contributing to the game-changing, fourth-quarter run and it got doubly painful for Bulls fans.
Aldridge finished with a career-high 42 points and eight rebounds and exploited his matchup with Carlos Boozer whenever that happened. Fernandez added 18 points off the bench, including three free throws with 5 minutes, 48 seconds left after he pump-faked Rose into the air and drew a foul on a 3-pointer.
It's the second straight opponent to top 100 points after the Bulls held 20 straight teams under that number.
"Every aspect of the defense was missing," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "This is two games in a row we put ourselves in a bad position because we're not guarding. Andre Miller got whatever he wanted. Aldridge got whatever he wanted. Fernandez came in and we weren't able to take anything away from him.
"It was an easy game for them offensively. Then we're trying to outscore them. And that's not our game. We're playing with fire.
"There's not one aspect of our defense we're doing well right now, from defensive transition to post defense to pick-and-roll defense, to catch-and-shoot defense. We're not going to win trying to outscore people. I know that."
Rose's 36 points led the Bulls, who own their fourth two-game losing streak this season. They are one of four teams not to lose three straight, a feat that will face a stern test Wednesday in Utah.
Luol Deng battled foul trouble and managed 15 points in just 28 minutes, airballing a 3-pointer with just more than 2 minutes left and the Bulls down 96-91. Miller, who had a season-high 27 points and 11 assists, then found Aldridge for an alley-oop dunk to essentially seal matters.
"We wanted to post Rose and make him work," Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "The game plan was to go through LaMarcus, go through Miller and make Rose work defensively."
Normally mild-mannered Nicolas Batum was more succinct about Rose: "He's a great offensive player. He can't play defense."
After his career-worst, nine-turnover game against the Warriors, Rose came out aggressive, hitting his first three shots and scoring 10 first-quarter points on mostly jumpers as the Trail Blazers switched on most every screen. Ronnie Brewer replaced Deng after he picked up his second foul just 4:33 after tipoff.
The Bulls opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run as Kyle Korver hit a 3-pointer and Taj Gibson and Omer Asik contributed to an energetic bench effort. But Brewer missed a dunk for his second straight game, and Deng drew his third foul with 3:56 left in the half, which ended in a 50-50 tie.
Deng played just 8:25 in the first half, failing to score and taking just one shot. His first basket came at the 7:02 mark of the third on a jumper.
"The first foul, I tried to run (Batum) off the line and he made a good play," Deng said. "The second foul, he just bumped into me. I don't think I fouled him hard. The third one, the ref came to me at halftime and said he missed that call. Do I get that one back?"
The Bulls continued to struggle finding ways to stop Aldridge, going over the penalty with a whopping 6:57 left in the quarter. At one point, Thibodeau burned a timeout after Aldridge beat Keith Bogans, Boozer and Gibson to rebound his miss and emphatically dunked home two points.
"We were slow reacting and we did a lot of reaching and gambling," Thibodeau said. "That led to fouls and we gifted them points.
"We're going to have make some changes. We have to do a much better job. Our intensity has to be greater. Our concentration has to be greater. We have to challenge shots. If we're not challenging shots, we're not very good.
"When you shoot 49 percent and you're scoring 100 points, that should be more than enough to win."
Thibodeau emphasized he meant changes in execution, not personnel. He did admit to thinking about bringing an energetic Asik back for fourth-quarter minutes but ruled against it because the Trail Blazers went small.
The Trail Blazers enjoyed a 40-18 advantage in free-throw attempts.
"It's not the end of the world," Deng said. "We have to get back to playing defense. The last two games haven't been our best. We'll watch film and be fine. It happens. We know what the problem is. We have guys who will play hard.
"Losing hurts. But we'll bounce right back. It's a long season and this is just two games."
Source: http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2011/02/bulls-game-day-blazers-lead-early.html
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