Chicago Bulls bench justifies playing time

The Chicago Bulls clearly have some problems, but if there's one unit that's trending in the right direction, it's the bench. As noted by ESPN Chicago, Taj Gibson spoke for his benchmates after Wednesday's beatdown of the Dallas Mavericks. Gibson said that the team was angry following a Monday loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

"We were angry," Gibson admitted. "Because I felt that we should have won that game. We should be on a two-game winning streak. We understand that every game in this league is hard to win. Especially being on the other side of this; having a tough go-round so far early in the season. Every game is tough to win ... and we've got a lot of guys that take a lot of pride in wearing the Bulls logo across their jersey so getting this win tonight, it was real special."

In the aforementioned loss to the Bucks, the Bulls squandered a 27-point lead en route to the one-point loss. Only three reserves played in that game, however, and the Bulls' bench was outscored 56-10. On Wednesday, the bench outscored the Mavs' bench by 50-34.

Clearly, the Bulls' bench is making a case for more playing time. Tom Thibodeau had been known for keeping his starting lineup out on the court, with his minutes management being called out more than any other decision he's made. It's likely not born from a lack of trust in the bench though, so more strong performances could lead to him going back to those guys.