Chicago Bulls Still Searching for Killer Instinct After Game 4 Loss to Cavs

CHICAGO — Playoff heroics from LeBron James are not a new story. His game-winning (and possibly season-saving) buzzer-beater at the United Center in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon certainly wasn't the first time he’s hit a big shot on this stage. And this time, how he got there is a continuation of another troubling story that’s been around for a while.

The Chicago Bulls simply cannot put teams away.

For the Bulls, this game was lost long before James’ miracle shot. They led by eight points in the second quarter but didn’t score for almost seven minutes, giving up a 16-0 run before stopping the bleeding.

They entered the fourth quarter leading by seven and gave up that entire lead in the first three minutes.

Chicago finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field. That included plenty of good looks—it shot 35.9 percent on uncontested field goals and 35 percent from inside the restricted area, per NBA.com.

“We had a few moments where our offense wasn’t as smooth,” Bulls center Joakim Noah said after the game. “We can’t have that. We’re going to watch the film and see what we can do better. We’re doing a lot of good things out there. It’s just coming down to a few little things that we can do better, and we will.”

That’s been the story for much of the season. There was no reason the game should have come down to James’ final shot.

Thanks to Jimmy Butler’s swarming defense, James’ 25 points came on 30 shots. Derrick Rose had perhaps his best game of the postseason, scoring 31 points on 11-of-23 shooting. And Cleveland's Kyrie Irving played 41 minutes despite being clearly hobbled by the right foot that’s been bothering him since the first round. He shot 2-of-10 from the field.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

With Irving hurting and Kevin Love out, Cleveland’s Big Three—the source of its regular-season dominance—was reduced to a Big One. James had to beat Chicago all by himself. And he did.

Yes, it’s a testament to the greatness of one of the best players ever to set foot on a court. But the Bulls gave James the game on a platter when it shouldn’t have even been close.

“We’ve been like that all year,” Chicago forward Mike Dunleavy admitted, sitting at his locker while the loss sank in. “We can’t step on people’s throats. Just too many stagnant offensive possessions. It’s kind of been our Achilles’ heel all year on offense. So it’s not surprising; it’s disappointing. It’s almost as if we know nothing comes easy for us. We’re going to be in a dogfight, expecting it to come down to the last shot.”

All season, the Bulls have been making things harder than they need to be. Chalk it up to the lack of continuity they’ve been battling all year or to rigid rotations. Whatever it is, it’s been a recurring theme throughout the season. And on Sunday, the Bulls squandered a prime opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead and put themselves on the verge of their first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2011.

Instead, they’re tied at two games with the Cavs, no longer possessing home-court advantage and with much less margin for error than they otherwise would have had.

“We just couldn’t capitalize on it,” Chicago forward Taj Gibson said. “We’re going to have droughts, but in those droughts you have to tighten up on defense. Just got to regroup.”

Regroup they will, just as they did after losing Game 2 on the road Wednesday. This is a focused, resilient group that has been in these situations before. But without these self-inflicted errors, they wouldn’t be talking about regrouping in the first place. Like they have all year, they’ve unnecessarily increased their own degree of difficulty.

The series is not over by any means—the Cavs’ health issues and defensive question marks make it impossible to be any more confident in their ability to put the series away than the Bulls’. Unless Irving’s foot miraculously heals itself overnight, James will be tasked with beating Chicago by himself two more times.

Chicago is still in position to win this series, and if there’s anything the first four games have proved, it’s that nothing should surprise anyone when these two teams play. But it didn’t have to be this do-or-die.

James hit the final shot with the same hand in his face, Butler’s, that’s rendered him so ineffective for much of this series. But Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau doesn’t want to hear about the Cavs stealing the game. He knows what everyone else in the locker room knows: Chicago gave it away.

“I don’t think there is any stealing going on anywhere,” the Bulls coach said. “I don’t think we steal from them, I don’t think they steal from us. The games are hard-fought and you have to win.”

On Sunday, the Bulls had every opportunity to do that, but they couldn’t capitalize. It’s been the story of their season, and it could result in a premature summer vacation.

Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter at @highkin