What makes Saturday afternoon's 78-71 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden so hard for the Bulls to stomach is that they had an excellent chance to win.

This doesn't happen often for a team whose 1-11 record is the worst in the league.

''I like the fact we can shoot a poor percentage [33 percent] and still have an opportunity to win,'' Bulls coach Tim Floyd said. ''If we make our free throws today, and in the Golden State game and the Milwaukee game, I think we are looking at a three-game win streak.''

Instead, the Bulls are nursing a nine-game losing streak.

''[Poor free-throw shooting] has been like a disease for us lately,'' said reserve forward Marcus Fizer, who missed four of eight free throws. ''I can't explain why we're missing.''

''Even I'm a part of the problem,'' said Bulls center Brad Miller, who scored a team-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds. ''I usually do well at the line.''

''We're just going to have to work more on our free-throw shooting,'' said Bulls captain Charles Oakley, who wishes he could shoot more free throws because he's 6-for-30 from the field in his last six games.

But at the line Saturday, the Bulls missed 13 of 37 free throws, including eight in the fourth quarter, more than equaling the Knicks' margin of victory. For the season, the Bulls are shooting 66.4 percent from the line, second worst in the league behind the Miami Heat's 64.8 percent.