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Are slumping Bulls in danger of missing playoffs?

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The All-Star break couldn't have come at a better time for the Chicago Bulls.

Then again, there aren't many signs that things will get better when the Bulls reconvene a week from now.

With their 23-point blowout loss at home to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday - Chicago's 13th loss in 18 games and fifth straight home loss - the Bulls now sit seventh in the compact Eastern Conference standings, only one game clear of the ninth-place Charlotte Hornets.

The already banged-up Bulls also lost Taj Gibson to a foot strain during their latest listless performance, although it doesn't sound like the big man will miss much time.

It seems preposterous that the Bulls, a perennial East contender coming off a 50-win season, could be in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, but it's becoming a legitimate concern with only 30 games remaining.

The Bulls' offense has been a disappointment under first-year head coach Fred Hoiberg, who was supposed to rejuvenate Chicago's attack after years under defensive mastermind Tom Thibodeau, but the team's dependable defensive prowess continued to prop the Bulls up as fringe contenders.

That is, until recently. Whether the result of injuries, generally poor play, or a combination of both, Chicago's defense has looked completely unfamiliar to anyone who's watched this team over the last five years or so.

Since Jan. 9, the Bulls rank in the bottom-10 on the defensive end, bleeding points at a rate of 107.4 points per 100 possessions, barely better than porous Kings.

On Wednesday, the Hawks flirted with a 50-40-90 performance as a team.

Earlier this week, the Bulls started Kirk Hinrich and E'Twaun Moore in the backcourt - a tough spot for any team trying to hang around a playoff race - and it's unlikely they'll be this bad defensively once they're at least an extra body or two closer to full health.

But Joakim Noah is likely out for the season, All-Star Jimmy Butler is out until March, and Nikola Mirotic is without a timetable to return after a second surgery following his appendectomy. Plus the Bulls get the Cavs and the surging Raptors on a back-to-back coming out of the break, so it's possible they'll be a .500 team on the outside of the playoff picture by the time they start to get healthy bodies back.

At that point, whether healthy or not, they'll likely be in a dogfight with some scrappy East upstarts down the final stretch of the season - a spot that no one saw the Bulls in at the beginning of the year.

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