With apologies to the perpetually injured Michael Ruffin, Monday marked the first time all season the Bulls had essentially played at full strength. With a brutal overtime loss to Oklahoma City fresh in their minds and a 42-point shellacking in Portland on Nov. 19 frying their long-term memory, it seemed a perfect opportunity to gel.

Instead, the Bulls blew an 11-point second-quarter lead and never achieved any semblance of rhythm as coach Vinny Del Negro adjusted to different rotations and substitution patterns.

"It's not going to be easy," Del Negro said. "But the guys who will play hard and give us the best chance will be out there, as well as trying to develop the younger guys. I'd rather have that problem than the one I've been having."

Larry Hughes might make Del Negro reconsider those words. Having already gone public twice with dissatisfaction over his role, Hughes played merely the final 7 minutes 3 seconds of the second quarter, 20 minutes below his season average.

Hughes was on the court as the Trail Blazers erased the Bulls' early lead with an 11-3 run to close the first half. Travis Outlaw scored seven of his game-high 33 points in that span.

After falling behind by 12 in the third, the Bulls clawed back to trail 83-78 early in the fourth. But Portland ripped off an 11-0 run highlighted by five straight points from Brandon Roy, who had gone 1-for-10 to that point. He finished with 11.

Greg Oden (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Steve Blake (16 points, 10 assists) added double-doubles for Portland.

Drew Gooden's 22 points led the Bulls. A more aggressive Deng added 14, including 8-for-8 on free throws.

"Even when we're not at full strength, we can play a lot better," Deng said. "I really feel that way. We've been lacking a little bit of energy, so hopefully we'll have a lot more.

"Sometimes the hardest thing is being on the same page, and when things go wrong, it's hard to turn it around. Hopefully right now with everybody coming back, it will lift everyone up. The [Oklahoma City] game, it seemed like everyone was a little down."

The Bulls stayed there.

"We're getting there," Del Negro said before the game. "We have to get some practices as a full unit and try to get some substitution patterns so guys can get comfortable. It's going to take some time. But it's good to have everybody back."

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Big number

21: Games guard Kirk Hinrich missed during his first five NBA seasons. He returned Monday after missing 31 games this season following surgery on his right thumb.

kcjohnson@tribune.com