The Bulls emerged as a championship contender with a 15-3 stretch after the West Coast trip in February.

Since then, even Derrick Rose has noticed that the team is not playing as well as it was.

‘‘A win is a win. But right now we’re not moving in the right direction,’’ Rose said. ‘‘If we’re trying to do something special, playing like this at home, we can’t do that.’’

And though the Bulls lead the NBA in rebound differential, they were outrebounded for the third time in five games Tuesday night.

‘‘I’m concerned any time we’re outrebounded,’’ Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. ‘‘But everybody in the league is going through the same thing. So it’s our ability to concentrate and focus, to be ready. We have to get to a point where we can play 48 minutes.’’