A Grizzly ending

Not too many interesting leftovers from Thursday's 105-96 loss to Memphis. It's just hard to figure out how the Bulls could be so badly outplayed in the fourth quarter when they'd been off for two days and the Grizzlies played in New Orleans the previous night.

I think this was one of those games when the Bulls needed to sustain a lead in the fourth quarter, because Memphis has a very good starting lineup. The Bulls did lead 84-79 about two minutes in, but that didn't last long.

When it came down to a possession-by-possession ending, the Grizzlies were able to pound it inside to Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, while the Bulls had no chemistry going on offense.

There's been no secret to the Bulls' successful stretch of the past two months. They've won games because Derrick Rose was able to carry them in late-game situations.

Memphis seemed to be able to cut off Rose's lanes to the basket better than most teams have recently. He finished with 20 points, but went 2 for 6 from the field for 4 points in the fourth quarter.

It's also interesting that Rose has collected just 3 assists in the last two losses. Not sure it's all his fault. Rose got Kirk Hinrich several good looks down the stretch on Thursday, but he hit just one long jumper before leaving the game with an ankle injury.

--Rose had an interesting take after the game on what went wrong.

“Not moving the ball, particularly on my part," he said. "Not moving it, running the wrong play sets, should have doubled some more to get the ball out of people’s hands. I was getting to the lane, but I wasn’t finishing good tonight."

--Here's a couple lines of analysis from coach Vinny Del Negro:

“We’re going to win by defending. We’re not going to outscore people. We’re going to have to get better defensively and find ways to get loose balls and rebounds against these good teams.

“We have to share the basketball better. Our assist numbers have to go up; 17 is not enough assists for us."

--In the fourth quarter, Memphis outscored the Bulls 29-16, led in rebounds 16-9 and went to the foul line 14 times, compared to 4 by the Bulls. The home team, meanwhile, shot 30 percent from the field (6 for 20).

--Next up is Dallas, which will carry a nine-game win streak into Friday's home game against Sacramento.