There is no one to blame for this loss but the refs. It pains me that I can't blame Jose, but it wasn't him, offense, defense, nothing, because the officiating was so scandalously calculated that it enormously impacted all those things. Refs know that in most games, foul trouble disturbs your rhythm and you can't get stops because everything is a foul. It also caused Fish to use wild line-ups of players who hadn't been playing at all, nor with each other, because everyone was in foul trouble. It was musical chairs out there with players droppin' like flies to head to the bench.
To add insult to injury, every time NY went to score on the other end, a ghost travel, phantom offensive foul, or some other violation was called to give the ball right back to the Bulls. You can't beat the Sixers with that kind of officiating, let alone a team with Chicago's talent. It's trip how people love to give the refs passes when they control the game more than the players and coaches do. Just like everyone holds players and coaches accountable, the refs should be called out even more. I expected this, but it's still very tough, especially considering that in a fair fight, NY seems to be a match-up problem for injury-prone Chicago.