NEW YORK -- It shouldn't come as any surprise that the Chicago Bulls lost 100-91 to the New York Knicks on Tuesday. Anyone who has watched the Bulls this season knew their recent four-game win streak was a mirage. Sometimes they get up to play games they aren't expected to win, as was the case last week in wins over the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. But 77 games into this up-and-down season, the Bulls have been buoyed by the same hard truth: Just when you think they are ready to turn the corner and start playing with consistency, they find a way to lose a game to a bad team. The Knicks fit that bill on all fronts, playing Tuesday night without Kristaps Porzingis (back) and former Bulls Joakim Noah (suspension) and Derrick Rose (knee).

It is fitting in this strange season that the Bulls got out-hustled and outworked by a team that would be better served to lose at the end of a forgotten season. The Knicks have nothing to play for, but there they were, beating the Bulls up and down the floor all night.

"They came out like they were playing for something, and we didn't," Bulls All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler said. "All the cliché things to say, but they whooped our tail in every aspect of the game."

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The frustrating part for both the Bulls' players and their fans was that nobody in the team's locker room seemed that surprised by the result. It was as if most of the players were waiting for the clunker that would inevitably arrive.

"You just look at the numbers on the glass: That tells you everything you need to know," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "They just had their way with us. One guy beating three guys to the ball, [out-rebounded] 53-36 overall. [The Knicks had] 16 offensive rebounds. We were careless -- 15 turnovers. It's not how you win games.

"During the four-game win streak, we were very good on the glass. Tonight, we just got our ass kicked on the boards. And again, you're not going to win when you have an effort like that."

As angry as Hoiberg seemed at times during the game, the young coach will be even more upset when he watches the tape. The Bulls, who still sit in the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference but are just a half-game ahead of the Miami Heat (who are in ninth), played with little effort to start the game. The passion that had been on display many times the past week was missing. The Bulls, not the Knicks, looked like the team just going through the motions, waiting for the season to end.

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The Bulls went 15-for-45 from the field in the first half and 6-for-27 from beyond the 3-point arc in the game. Their defensive rotations weren't crisp, and in some cases, they were nonexistent. All the good feelings built up the past few days came crashing back down to earth in one 48-minute span of lifeless basketball.

"I think we've done a good job of holding each other accountable this past little stretch, and we didn't see that tonight," center Robin Lopez said. "It's something we're going to have to keep up and keep honed in on as we go into the playoffs, if we want to make the playoffs."

On paper, the Bulls' schedule seems extremely easy. They have two games against a woeful Brooklyn Nets squad, one against a poor Orlando Magic team and a Thursday date with a bad Philadelphia 76ers unit that gave up 141 points to those woeful Nets on Tuesday.

But as the season has proven, when it comes to the Bulls, expect the unexpected. Nobody seems to know how they will finish the season -- not even the players.

When asked after the loss to the Knicks if he was surprised the Bulls fell back into some bad habits, Butler couldn't lie.

"Nah, not really," he said. "It happens. It's happened before. But we can't let it happen again in these last four. We need these, just like we needed the one tonight. There's nothing that we can do about it now. Next one up."