Under the circumstances — no Joakim Noah, playing on the road against a great home team — the Bulls were pretty darn good through three quarters. And during that opening stretch, Derrick Rose gave us one of the great highlights of this season…or any other for that matter.

Freaking amazing, right?

Anyway, the Bulls played really well for three quarters and even entered the fourth with a 70-64 lead. Then they were outscored 27-11 in the final 12 minutes.

Offensive fail.

Credit the Hawks defense, and some truly shoddy play calling and execution, for the Bulls collapse. For your viewing displeasure, here’s a list of Chicago’s fourth-quarter possessions. Read ‘em and weep.

Kirk Hinrich turnover (pass stolen by Josh Smith)
Devin Brown missed 17-footer
John Salmons missed layup
Taj Gibson turnover (traveling)
Taj Gibson missed 20-footer
Offensive rebound
Salmons missed 14-footer
Salmons made jumper (Brad Miller assists)
Miller missed three-pointer
Salmons missed three-pointer
Luol Deng missed three-pointer
Rose missed 19-footer
Deng made 17-footer
Rose made 18-footer
Hinrich missed 8-footer
Rose made layup
Rose missed three-pointer
Hinrich missed 21-footer
Offensive rebound
Deng missed jumper
Deng missed jumper
Rose drew a fouls (1-for-2)

So…the Bulls went 4-for-18 (mostly on long jump shots), committed a couple turnovers and made only one trip to the line (with 24 seconds left in the game). Ugly.

Chicago also gave up five offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, including two possessions in which the Hawks snared two offensive boards in the same sequence. After those five offensive boards, Atlanta got a layup by Joe Johnson (Hawks 76, Bulls 72), a putback by Josh Smith (Hawks 78, Bulls 72),  and a three-point dagger by Mike Bibby with 2:10 left (Hawks 86, Bulls 78).

Those were three critical possessions. Man, the Bulls sure could have used Joakim Noah. They also could have used Rose’s jump shot, which was MIA most of the night. Derrick finished 6-for-9 at the rim and 3-for-12 away from it. His shot looked flat all night.

Even without Noah, the Bulls did a pretty good job of shutting down Atlanta’s fast break (12 points) and protecting the rim (where the Hawks were only 16-for-28). But Chicago’s defensive rotations weren’t as crisp as they could have been, and Atlanta burned the Bulls from long range (8-for-18 from downtown). Although, in all fairness, the Hawks hit some tough shots, especially when they ripped off an 8-0 run to start the final period.

And Josh Smith (18 points, 14 boards, 10 assists) played out of his mind.

Meanwhile, with Miller starting at center, the Bulls got almost nothing out of their bench (8 points, 4-for-14). Big Brad played 40 minutes but finished with only 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 turnovers. And Miller didn’t score in the second half. Meanwhile, Tyrus Thomas earned only 16 minutes and had  4 points, 4 boards, 2 steals and 2 turnovers. I really thought that, with Noah out, Thomas would play 20+ minutes.

Another factor in Chicago’s offensive woes is that they throw bad passes. The Bulls aren’t selfish, and the players genuinely try to hit open teammates, but there are way to many passes that end up at someone’s feet, at their waist, up by their shoulder, a foot to their left, a foot to their right, so on and so forth.

A good pass has to lead into a player’s natural shooting motion. When a player has to collect the ball and then redirect it into their shooting motion, they not only lose a critical split second during which the defense can react, they usually won’t be able to fire it up in rhythm. The Bulls are a bad shooting team this season despite having guys (like Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons) who have hit a pretty decent percentage of their field goal attempts in the past. And Devin Brown — who went 0-for-3 from the field in seven minutes off the bench — had to reach down to his knees for one pass. And yes, that pass led to a missed jumper.

It just seems like the Bulls would benefit from some work on their passing. Because when players are already struggling to find their shots, bad passes only makes things worse.

Let’s hope we see some better passes tonight against the Heat.

Timeout Tally:
This continues my effort to track the Bulls’ performance coming out of a timeout.

1st timeout: Rose missed a 21-foot jumper
2nd timeout: Miller hit a short jumper
3rd timeout: Deng missed a 20-footer
4th timeout: Miller commited a turnover
5th timeout: Gibson missed a 20-foot jump shot
6th timeout: Deng drilled a 17-footer (Rose with the assist)
7th timeout: Rose missed a long three-pointer

Summary: Out of seven timeouts, the Bulls went 2-for-6 and committed a turnover. Five of their six shot attempts were from deep. It’s worth noting that Derrick’s three-point attempt happened with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter when the Bulls were making a desperate comeback attempt. However, even discounting that shot, the Bulls ended up with several empty possessions after their timeouts.

Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Advanced Box Score, Play-By-Play, Shot Chart, Photos.

The game: Chicago Bulls (6-6 overall, 2-5 on the road) at Portland Trail Blazers (10-5 overall, 5-2 at home).

The history: Last season, the Blazers won the season series 2-0, beating the Bulls 116-74 during last year’s circus trip as Andres Nocioni (13 points), Drew Gooden (11 points) and Derrick Rose (11) points were the only Chicago players to reach double figures. The Blazers also won 109-95 in Chicago thanks to a 33-point explosion from reserve Travis Outlaw.

The stats: The Bulls rank a solid 9th in Defensive Rating (102.0 Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions) but dismal 27th in Offensive Rating (97.7 Points Per 100 Possessions). And Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro just blasted his team for not trying hard enough on offense. How often do you hear coaches make that complaint? Meanwhile, the Blazers are a strong third in DR (99.3) and slightly above average 13th in OR (107.3). More telling, Portland ranks first in both Field Goal Percentage Defense (.412) and Effective Field Goal Percentage Defense (.443).

I try to be optimistic, but asking Chicago’s terrible offense to score enough points to win against one of the league’s best defenses is kind of like asking an orangutan to build a pair of rocket boots and fly to the moon.

The big question: Assuming the Bulls can hold their own on defense, what are they going to do on offense? So far, only Joakim Noah and Luol Deng have played with the kind of consistency the team needs…although Rose has picked up his scoring the last two games (even if they were blowout losses). Who else is going to step up? John Salmons, who happens to be the worst shooter on the Bulls roster (34.5 percent)? Kirk Hinrich, who’s the second-worst shooter (36 percent)? Taj Gibson, the rookie who’s starting only because Tyrus Thomas is injured? Brad Miller (43.4 FG%) or Jannero Pargo (40.4 FG%)?

Vinny wants better ball movement and more transition opportunities. He thinks the Bulls have been standing around too often on offense, and maybe he’s right. But the ball movement is suffering because opposing defenses can sag off the team’s shooters and clog the passing lanes. Not to mention the driving lanes, which as I’ve been repeatedly pointing out, has been preventing the players from driving to the hoop and/or getting clean shots at the rim.

So yeah, more ball movement would be good, but guys have to start knocking down shots. More importantly, Rose needs to start creating easy shots for his teammates. Among NBA point guards, he’s currently 17th in Assists Per Game (5.3) and tied for 34th in Assists Per Turnover (1.78). That latter stat puts him behind guys like Sacramento’s Beno Udrih (2.14), Indiana’s Earl Watson (2.13), and Minnesota’s Ramon Sessions (2.00). And it’s not like those guys are dishing off to lights-out shooters.

In short, Derrick has to create, and guys have to finish. Sounds easy. So why is it so damn hard?