Deng watches the Knicks capitalize on the Bulls mistakes

With Luol Deng on the sideline, the Chicago Bulls managed to led a lead over a bad team slip into a loss. Deng his still dealing with the strained Achilles tendon and his return is uncertain for now. But the Bulls still have to play games in his absence. 

Andres Nocioni got the start in place of the injured Deng, which might have been a good idea against a team that plays a little rougher in the Knicks. The game was competitive throughout though. There was never a major point when either team was far ahead of the other. The Bulls held a couple of 9 point leads at various points, but that was the biggest margin.

Aaron Gray and Joakim Noah are starting to see some more playing time under Jim Boylan. Gray seems to spell Ben Wallace now and Noah is out there at random points with both. The nice thing is that both are starting to contribute. Gray had some tough baskets underneath and is looking to score when the opportunity presents itself. That is a much needed change of pace in the center position given Wallaces penchant for standing there looking stupid when a shot is right in front of his face.

Ben Gordon continued his streak of at least 20+ points since being relegated to the bench. His minutes have gone up and so has his production. The only thing that still concerns me is that the Bulls consider him the go to guy in the late minutes with the game on the line. He has not sufficiently proven he is capable of such an undertaking. He has proven that he takes risky shots during those moments and is good at turning the ball over.

That presents another major issue with the Bulls. They don't have an established leader. There is no Lebron James, Tim Duncan, Baron Davis, etc. The guy that consistently puts their team in a position to win. The Bulls have good players in Kurt Hinrich, Gordon, Deng, Joe Smith, Nocioni. But none of these guys would ever be considered a sure fire scoring threat. Or a sure fire late minute clutch guy. They just don't have it.

Against the Knicks, the Bulls let the game slip away in the late minutes of the fourth quarter. They let a bad team show them how to win a game. The Knicks took advantage of every missed shot and poor attempt at a rebound the Bulls had in the fourth quarter. It was hard to watch. While there were good performances by many Bulls players(Smith, Hinrich and Gordon) and some promising performances by Noah, Gray and Tyrus Thomas; it still wasn't enough to beat a bad team with a worse record. Mistakes were abundant and the Bulls looked lost during those final minutes. Someone needs to step up or else this is what the rest of the season looks like.