NEW YORK _ Drenched in sweat, Dwyane Wade plopped down into a courtside seat to watch his Bulls teammates finish their shootaround Tuesday morning at Madison Square Garden.
The sight of the veteran guard ramping up his workouts buoyed a Bulls team that already was flying pretty high with victories in four consecutive games before taking the court against the Knicks.
"You know what, he looks good," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said of Wade, who is sidelined with a right elbow fracture. "He has been getting a great sweat, he has been doing a lot of extra conditioning. The biggest thing is just gaining a trust factor that he can shoot the ball normal. Make sure he has a good, high release, which is something Dwyane always has had and making sure that he trusts that he's good to go when that time comes.
"He still a ways away, from all indications, but the important thing is he's making progress every day."
Wade's progress bodes well for a return for the playoffs _ if not sooner. Of course, the Bulls first have to reach the postseason and that is suddenly more in doubt after they forgot how to play defense, rebound and shoot from long range in being defeated 100-91 Tuesday night by a Knicks team already eliminated from the postseason. To make matters worse, the Knicks were without Derrick Rose (knee), Kristaps Porzingis (back) and Joakim Noah (suspension) in the lineup.
Carmelo Anthony had 25 points to lead the Knicks while Courtney Lee added 12. Jimmy Butler paced the Bulls with 18 and Nikola Mirotic had 15.
The Bulls let the Knicks race to a 54-40 advantage at halftime and never really threatened in seeing their streak snapped. Despite the loss, the Bulls kept their seventh-place standing in the Eastern Conference but they allowed the Pacers to equal their record of 38-40 on the season and they failed to gain ground on the Hawks and Bucks.
Just when the Bulls thought they had put confounding losses behind them and were brimming with confidence after stringing together four straight victories _ including one to begin their current four-game road trip _ Tuesday night happened. They were 6 for 27 from 3-point range and were out-rebounded 53-36.
The Bulls dropped to 6-4 with Wade out of the lineup and teammates know that if _ and again, that's a big if _ they reach the playoffs they will need Wade on the court.
"We definitely need that guy, as everybody knows," Butler said. "We want him to come back to where he's not protecting anything, he's hooping, he's playing 110 percent and doing what he has been doing."
Added center Robin Lopez, who finished with 11 points: "Obviously, we want D-Wade back. He's a big part of our team. He's an amazing player and if we keep doing what we've been doing and we make the playoffs he's going to be a big part of it."
The Bulls first will have to regain their mojo for the final four games of the season to hold on to the postseason spot. Tuesday night's debacle once again put that in doubt.
