The Chicago Bulls are fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. With just 11 games remaining, they can’t afford to lose to bad teams. Or, as Taj Gibson referred to them, “trash teams.”
After the New York Knicks swept the Bulls in a home-and-home series Thursday night, Gibson said he has “never been more frustrated and mad before.
“Hell yeah, I’m embarrassed,” he said, via Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. “I take pride in wearing this jersey. I love wearing the Bulls jersey. Especially what we’ve been through, I take pride in playing for Chicago. When I wear that jersey, I try to go out there and play my heart out. And it’s frustrating when we come up short, and we look at ourselves, we’re losing to … I don’t want to criticize any[body], [but] trash teams. Everybody’s in the NBA for a reason, but we’re playing against teams that are not playing for anything, and we’re just laying down. It feels like now we’re a target. It feels like teams are not taking us serious.
“Tonight, I’ve never been so frustrated and mad before. It was disappointing, man, just real disappointing. I’m just tired of having these same talks with [the media] every night. About how we got to do better. … [Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg’s] right. We got to look ourselves [in the mirror]. I look at myself in the mirror every night, and I try to do different things every night. Still got how many more games left? We’ve got 11 more games left. It’s really do or die, and it’s really frustrating. We got to want it. We got to want it. Sometimes I feel we want it, sometimes I don’t know if we’re kidding ourselves or not.”
It’s starting to feel like Groundhog’s Day when the Bulls speak with the media. The lack of toughness and consistency are recurring themes, with Jimmy Butler recently calling out his teammates in similar fashion and Pau Gasol before that.
The truth is, the Bulls are struggling in their first year under Fred Hoiberg. Even if they make the playoffs, they’d likely get dominated against the Cleveland Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors in the first round.
