The Chicago Bulls built up a 35-point lead with 8:50 to go in the third quarter of last night’s game with Sacramento, when Derrick Rose and company apparently decided to start their Christmas vacation. The Sacramento Kings closed out the game on a 58-19 run — outscoring Chicago 33-10 in the fourth quarter alone — and beat the Bulls 102-98.
It was the biggest comeback in an NBA game in over 13 years — since Utah rallied from a 36-point deficit to beat Denver on November 27, 1996.
Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro was already on the top of many “next coach to be fired” lists; last night’s performance certainly won’t help his job security. Even before last night’s collapse, there were indications that Del Negro would be let go if the Bulls don’t turn things around by mid-January. Can’t help but wonder if that timetable will be accelerated now.
Firing coaches during the holidays is something of a Chicago tradition; both Tim Floyd and Scott Skiles were let go by the Bulls on December 24th.
Chicago faces the Knicks at Madison Square Garden tonight.
Blue Christmas for Del Negro? originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 10:39:29.
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