Wanted: A scorer at crunch time

ByMICHAEL WILBON
April 23, 2014, 4:11 AM

— -- CHICAGO -- It's the 12 minutes that ought to drive Bulls management to extreme action in an offseason coming sooner than any of them expected.

Twelve minutes, four baskets. Twelve minutes of missed shots, turnovers, 24-second violations, confusion, ineptitude and, ultimately, a missed free throw.

Twelve minutes, the equivalent of a full quarter of basketball, and all the Bulls got, playing at home, was a hard drive to the basket by Joakim Noah, a Kirk Hinrich jumper, a Taj Gibson dunk that rattled seemingly every part of the rim and a Noah layup.

Eight minutes without a single basket for the Chicago Bulls, 12 minutes with just four. It's the blueprint for how to blow a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quarter of Game 2, a mere 48 hours after blowing a 13-point lead late in the third quarter of Game 1.

If romancing Carmelo Anthony isn't at the top of the Bulls priority list, one would ask, why the hell not? Free agents, trades, draft picks, players stashed in Europe -- every option ought to be explored to death to avoid another season of this. Two straight games playing at home the Bulls couldn't get a basket when they needed one, and now they're halfway to summer.

The Wizards knew in their hearts this would be the case when they hustled from seventh place to fifth in the final days of the season to chase a first-round matchup with the Bulls. They knew they could smother D.J. Augustin defensively with Trevor Ariza. They knew two of the most polished offensive players the Bulls have, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy, are usually affixed to the bench in the fourth quarter because of their defensive deficiencies. The Wizards knew the Bulls routinely go six minutes, eight minutes, 10 minutes without being able to score a basket.