Roman Modrowski of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Jerry Krause is reaching. He?s trying to explain the Bulls six-game road losing streak without making excuses.

As Krause sees it, the Bulls have been a victim of circumstance more than a casualty of careless play or superior opponents. In short, the basketball gods are not smiling on his team.

"We had the NBA's worst schedule to start the season, with fewer home games than anybody,'' Krause said. "We checked this the other day, and every team we played out West had a day off before facing us. And we played four games in five days with two back-to-backs.''

The conspiracy thickens.

"And when things are going bad for a team, things seem to happen, like Shaq coming back against us and [Raef] LaFrentz and [Nick] Van Exel coming back against us,'' Krause said.

Just to continue along that line of reasoning, as luck would have it, the Bulls face the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. The same Cavaliers who will benefit from the return of Ricky Davis from a two-game suspension. Davis is averaging 19.5 points and was the Cavaliers' leading scorer before rookie point guard Dajuan Wagner burst on the scene.

Last season, Krause said that the team?s slow start was due to a rash of injuries. The Bulls opened last season with Ron Artest, Jamal Crawford and Eddie Robinson on the injured list.

Krause knows that a young team like his will suffer through slumps, but he is optimistic. "I'm not concerned at all. They're still going to develop into fine players, but the biggest thing is we just have to have patience. We knew what was ahead."

Krause is hoping the Bulls sprint to some victories in December. They play 11 of their 14 games this month at the United Center.