Bulls defense falters in preseason loss to New Orleans

New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis, center, if fouled on the way to the basket by Chicago Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich, left, while guard Jimmy Butler, right, defends during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game, Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, in Chicago.

It's way too soon to know if the Bulls' new breakneck pace will continue or even succeed into the regular season. The Bulls have been reaching some high numbers, though, with new coach Fred Hoiberg in preseason.

On Monday at the United Center, the defense wasn't up to the task. The Bulls dropped to 2-2 in preseason by losing 123-115 to the New Orleans Pelicans, letting a 20-point lead slip away.

The Bulls scored 66 points in the first half, but gave up 69 in the second half.

"I think we rely too much on our offense," Jimmy Butler said. "That can't happen. Obviously. It's preseason, everybody's learning. I just think whenever we're scoring the ball well in the first half, we think that we're going to continue to make shots and then we don't have to guard."

Rookie forward Bobby Portis led the Bulls with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Doug McDermott had 17 points, Tony Snell 15, Pau Gasol 14 and Aaron Brooks 13.

The Bulls couldn't keep up a fast start from 3-point land. They were 7-for-12 from 3-point range early in the second quarter, but went 4-for-20 the rest of the way.

The biggest problem on defense was fouling. New Orleans went to the foul line 37 times. Chicago native Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 26 points.

"I thought we stopped doing what got us that lead," Hoiberg said. "We were getting our, running, getting open shots. Then our pace went bad and we obviously didn't stop anybody in that second half. They had that big run and we just seemed to quit playing. You've got to develop a killer mentality. If you get the lead up to 20, push it up to 30.

The Bulls played without Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson on Monday. Snell turned his right ankle late in the game and walked through the locker room with the aid of a single crutch after the game.

The Bulls' offense was fairly ordinary outside of a five-minute stretch late in the first quarter. They scored 25 points in a 5:19 span, which included 3-pointers by Gasol, Brooks and McDermott. Portis and Brooks scored 11 points off the bench in the opening quarter.

A question Hoiberg needs to answer is whether he needs to find time in a crowded frontcourt rotation for rookie Bobby Portis. The 6-11 forward from Arkansas hasn't played a bad game yet in preseason. He's quickly become a fan favorite with his hustle and does some good things defensively.

"We'll see," Hoiberg said. "We've got four games to get everything figured out. We'll get the rotation figured out. It may be an evolving thing. It may not be the final rotation right at the beginning of the season. Everybody's going to have to be ready to play. Everybody's going to have to sacrifice to get where we want to be."

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