Tristan Thompson’s ejection vs Pelicans sums up Bulls’ late-season collapse

The Bulls suffered perhaps their worst loss of the season at the hands of a subpar New Orleans Pelicans team.

The Chicago Bulls haven’t been spectacular in the month of March. The team has lost 10 of their last 12 games and are only one game out of the play-in tournament. Their loss Thursday night was compounded by their backup big man, Tristan Thompson , getting tossed from the game in the final minutes of the contest.

Thompson wasn’t on the court at the time, but disagreed with the officials giving a flagrant one to Ayo Dosunmu after he fouled Jose Alvarado on breakaway layup that didn’t have much rough contact.

As the refs were going to monitor to review Dosunmu’s foul to see if it fit the criteria for a flagrant, Thompson let his frustrations be heard.

With 22 seconds left in the game, he picked up back-to-back technical fouls. Before the game, Billy Donovan noted that he would like to see his players get on each other more and show emotion. While Thompson had the right energy, it was misdirected. The team as a whole had the wrong energy in the fourth quarter.

Tristan Thompson’s ejection sums up the Bulls’ late-season collapse

They allowed the Pelicans to outscore them 40-24 in the fourth quarter after playing an even game through 36 minutes. On a night where Zach LaVine scores 39 points, the Bulls shouldn’t lose to a team without their two best players — even if DeMar DeRozan wasn’t playing.

With Thursday night’s loss, the Bulls have now dropped eight of their last nine road games and have three more trips before they return to Chicago. DeRozan’s status for their next game is to be determined, but after this embarrassment, it’s likely that he will play. Will that fix what’s been happening? Probably not. DeRozan has been on the court for all but one of those losses.

The reason behind this awful stretch of isn’t clear and Thompson’s misdirected frustration is understandable (but also sums up what’s been happening with this team).

"“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” LaVine told the media after the game. “Obviously, we’re trying to figure out how to get back in a rhythm. We want to be going into the latter part of the season on a high note. We’ve got to figure it out. Nobody’s going to help us. We’ve done enough trying to pep talk and rally. It’s time to stop talking and get it done, start playing the right way and win these games.”"

The right way that LaVine is speaking of starts with hustle. The Bulls were out-rebounded for the 10th straight game and failed to come up with key loose balls in the fourth quarter during the Pelicans’ game-deciding run. Upping the consistency of their intensity will help their offense and, more importantly, their porous defense.

"“We’ve got to go back to our brand of basketball,” LaVine said. “We can’t give up 122 points. We can’t do that if we’re a playoff team. We’re going to have to start figuring out what our weaknesses are and covering them up.”"

Chicago will travel to Cleveland for must-win game (aren’t they all now?) against the Cavaliers. The Cavs are one game behind the Bulls and are tied with the Toronto Raptors for seventh in the Eastern Conference. A loss to the Cavs, puts the Bulls in the hectic play-in tournament conversation. Considering their aspirations, they cannot afford to lose on Saturday.

Thompson and the rest of the team better bring the fire that we saw too little too late on Thursday.