Bulls’ Joakim Noah: Will not return to Monday’s contest

The Chicago Bulls dropped their third straight game on Monday night when the Brooklyn Nets came to the United Center and defeated them, 105-102.

Injury was added to insult as Joakim Noah left the game with a bad-looking shoulder injury, and though the Bulls had a couple spurts in the 4th to get the deficit down to 4 they never found themselves with a chance to tie the game.

With the game tied 60-60 in the third quarter, the Nets took control and went on 21-9 run, which was capped by a 3-pointer by guard Bojan Bogdanovic with 4:38 remaining.

The Bulls (15-11) pulled within 101-99 with two free throws by center Pau Gasol with 20.9 seconds remaining.

Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg gestures to his player during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015, in Chicago.

But they went back to the snooze button soon as halftime ended, allowing the Nets to dictate tempo and barely put any pressure on the visitors defensively on the way to giving up more than 100 points for the 11 time, and they’re 1-10 in such matters. The Nets led 85-78 heading into the fourth quarter and never trailed again. He had four points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Lopez then blocked Butler’s shot attempt, grabbed the loose ball and was fouled with 4.8 seconds remaining. You could argue that the Bulls offense is so bad that Butler “taking over” may be their most efficient option, especially late, though he was blocked by Brook Lopez in a critical possession where everyone knew he was shooting, and hit his only 3 of the game (he was 0-5 otherwise) at the final buzzer in a garbage moment. “He’s just not finishing some of the shots he normally finishes”, coach Lionel Hollins said. With Mirotic starting, Portis played the backup minutes at power forward, while Snell, who has started 21 games, was out of the rotation.

The Bulls now have a few days off before visiting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Christmas Day.