Bulls aim to clean up turnover issues

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When observers look at the past two games for the Bulls, they might wonder why it would take an overtime period to relinquish the Pistons on Sunday and -- even with Derrick Rose and Luol Deng out on Monday -- how it's possible to lose to the Wizards, two teams with less combined wins than the Bulls' 46?

That Kevin Seraphin, he came out of nowhere, said Kyle Korver. Hes a good player, a big boy, heavy and strong boy. They just kind of beat us up down low.

Korver was referring to the Wizards second-year forward after his 21-point, 13-rebound and five blocks were key to Washingtons dominance over Chicago with a 48-22 edge in points in the paint.

Turnovers in particular have hurt the Bulls the past three games as theyre averaging 17 in that span. They gave away that amount on Wednesday and it helped the Wizards to 20 fast break points, while they could only muster two points in the open court.

We have to play a lot better, said Coach Tom Thibodeau. That part is on me. I have to get the team to play well, we have more than enough to win with. We didnt do our job tonight, I didnt do my job. It starts with me. I have to have them ready.

Added Korver: What makes us a good team is were a lot of pieces that fit really well together and we all bring something different and we all just need to do our jobs and do whatever it is that we do. They played a lot harder than we did tonight and that was the bottom line. They got a lot of guys who are playing for their careers and it just goes to show in the NBA you can win any night, you can lose any night.

We dont need to coast until the end of the season, we just have to win our games, he continued. Lets go win them. we can win them. We can win every single one. We have to get healthy, we have to get some timing, guys are beat up but we can. After the New York game on April 8, it was like the world is crashing down on us, then we won two big games and everything was amazing. We just have to get back to playing good basketball.

The Bulls seem to also fall into lulls during the game before picking up their intensity towards the end. That was on display in Sundays overtime win in Detroit and again vs. Washington -- only this time, their late push fell just short.

To be honest, thats the way weve been playing, said Thibodeau. That edge and that sense of urgency has to be there at the start of the game. Were scrambling at the end and executing well at the end, but thats not the way you win. Youre not going to be consistent by doing that.

As angry and disgusted as Thibodeau was after Mondays loss, Wednesdays game against the Charlotte Bobcats is the perfect matchup for a bounce-back performance foucing on correcting the mistakes that have plagued the team recently.

I think we just try to get a little too cute with the ball, said Korver. I think sometimes, its fun to make the pass that gets the assists and sometimes you just have to swing the ball and I think were making too many assist passes instead of making the easy play.

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