The Chicago Bulls and the Charlotte Bobcats are both near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, but only one of those teams was expected to be there.

The struggling Bulls look to again shake their early season woes as they try to beat Charlotte for the second time in five days on Wednesday.

Chicago (4-11) was picked by many to contend for the East crown, but instead has the second-worst record in the conference.

The Bulls looked like a playoff contender in their 111-95 win over the Bobcats (6-10)on Saturday, posting season highs in points and field-goal percentage (54.3). On Monday, though, they suffered a disappointing 103-98 loss to Dallas.

Chicago shot 28.1 percent through three quarters against the Mavericks and made only 34.5 percent of its shots for the game. The Bulls are last in the league in shooting at 39.3 percent.

"As tough as this has been, you have to stay with it and be mentally tough as a team," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "I have confidence that things will turn around. Life isn't as good as it normally would be when we are winning."

Luol Deng finished with 10 points - all in the second half - on just 4-of-13 shooting Monday after scoring a season-high 29 on 13-of-21 shooting against Charlotte.

Bulls leading scorer Ben Gordon had a season-high 34 points on 13-of-21 shooting against the Bobcats, but scored only 10 - 8.6 below his season average - on 4-of-16 shooting Monday. Gordon is averaging 24.3 points on 55.9 percent shooting, including 12-of-18 from 3-point range, in his last four games against Charlotte.

The Bulls have won four of their last five against the Bobcats, but lost 100-85 in their last trip to Charlotte on Feb. 14.

Chicago has lost four straight road games by an average of 17.7 points, and is 1-7 away from the United Center this season.

The Bobcats opened 2007-08 with six wins in 10 games for the best start in the franchise's four-year history, but they've lost six straight since a 101-92 home victory over Portland on Nov. 19.

Charlotte, which finished tied for the East's fourth-worst record last season, lost 98-79 at Toronto on Monday.

Few of the games during the losing streak have been close, as the Bobcats are being outscored by an average of 12.0 points. They have not led after the first quarter in any of those games.

Their defense has been a big reason for the slump. Charlotte is allowing 105.7 points during the slide - 12.0 more than it gave up in its first 10 games.

"We're digging ourselves into the Grand Canyon right now and it's too much to come back," said Gerald Wallace, who finished with 19 points on 4-of-13 shooting Monday.

Raymond Felton missed all eight of his shots and Jason Richardson was just 3-for-17 as Charlotte shot 33.3 percent from the floor.

"When that group is 7-for-38, then we don't have a chance," Bobcats coach Sam Vincent said. "Our core players, who have to provide us with some scoring punch, just couldn't get it going. We don't have the depth for two or three of our core guys to not perform."

The Bobcats are in the midst of their longest skid since losing eight straight from Feb. 24-March 10.