Thibs was stressing before the game that they’ve done this before and have the “same core” as last year. Same core, maybe, but not the same bench scoring, as you note — no Nate and no Marco. And since Luol can’t create offense and Booze gets tired or something after the first half, it falls on Kirk and Dunleavy to score, and tonight they didn’t.

So these Bulls will lose games like this, which is almost unbearable. But I don’t think they’ll finish under .500 or out of a playoff spot. Too much pride and too much Thibs for that to happen. That said, if they want to make a move with Deng, now’s as good a time as any.

Finally, great freak-outs at the refs by both Joakim and Thibs tonight — Jo yelling “wake the f*uck up” repeatedly at the ref, and Thibs going nuts at the refs after the continuation foul call late in the game.