On Christmas Day, the Rockets came into the United Center, knocked everything off the shelves and mantle and left the water running on their way out.
Early on, the matchup of the shooting guards, James Harden and Marco Belinelli, was the dominant storyline of the first quarter. As expected, Belinelli couldn't do much to stifle Harden's offensive game; Belinelli was pulled about 7 minutes into the game for Jimmy Butler. Harden was 2-for-3 from the field (4-for-4 from the line) for 8 points by the 2:55 mark.
Luckily, despite looking a little worn down Saturday night in Atlanta, Luol Deng was on his game early, with 8 points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first period. It was a swift first quarter, featuring exactly zero turnovers. The Bulls took a 5-point deficit (27-22) into the second despite shooting 0% from beyond the arc (0-for-5), featuring one pretty macabre airball from Kirk Hinrich.
However, with Noah on the bench in the second, Omer Asik was able to pick up some baskets at the rim. The Bulls offense also slowed down with the reserves in the game, allowing the Rockets to build a sizable 49-32 lead almost eight minutes into the second.
This isn't exactly news, but without Deng and Noah doing their typical iron man act, the Bulls have trouble both scoring and, to a lesser extent, defending. People will continue to complain about the minutes Thibodeau gives these two, but I'm not too sure that an alternative exists.
Jeremy Lin drove by everyone en route to a layup that extended the Houston lead to 21, forcing a Chicago timeout. At this point, Lin was 6-for-8 from the field with 12 points; unlike the last meeting, Lin was not being shut down this time around.
Simply put, when you lose the transition battle (Houston-16 pts, Chicago-4 pts) and allow the opponent to shoot 60% from the field, you probably won't be in the game. The 58 first half points the Bulls allowed in this one tied for the highest total thus far this season (the first being the 58 given up to Boston on Nov. 12).
The Bulls faced the Rockets once before this season, a 93-89 loss in Houston that continued what was already a rough mid-late November for Chicago.
In the loss, their third in a row at the time, the Bulls shot a measly 40% from the field. Nonetheless, the Bulls took an 84-79 lead into the home stretch after Nate Robinson hit a three at the 4:41 mark in the fourth quarter. In what was many quintessential "this is what happens when Derrick Rose is absent" games, the Bulls did not score again until there were 7 seconds left in the game, just over four and a half minutes of being shut out on offense in the most important portion of the game.
Since that defeat in Houston, the Rockets have rattled off a nice stretch of play, going 9-5 and picking up wins against the Knicks (twice), Memphis and the Lakers (if that means anything right now). In any case, the Rockets are definitely trending upward.
PF Patrick Patterson, who really hurt the Bulls last time around (20 pts, 8 rebounds), continues to be out with a foot injury; Marcus Morris (8.9 ppg) takes his place in the starting lineup. As always, the brunt of the offensive burden will fall on James Harden (25.6 ppg, 22.9 PER) and Chandler Parsons (14.7 ppg). Parsons can get up and down the floor, so if Deng is still looking as banged up as he did Saturday night against Atlanta, he might be able to have a game against the Bulls tonight.
Likewise, Belinelli on Harden is another frightening matchup, albeit for different reasons. On the bright side, these are the numbers from last year when Belinelli and Harden were on the floor at the same time (with Belinelli in New Orleans, obviously):
Small sample size, so who knows. Like the Knicks game, I imagine we'll get liberal amounts of Jimmy Butler in this one. Carmelo Anthony and James Harden are different players, obviously, but Butler has proven himself equal to the challenge.
Otherwise, our old friend Omer Asik is busy averaging 10.6 ppg, which is kind of irritating after everyone spent his stint in Chicago bemoaning his lack of any sort of offensive ability. Thanks, Omer!
"you're welcome"
Also, the Rockets have this guy named Jeremy Lin, who you may have heard of; it has been a somewhat up and down season offensively for the former Knick, but he has been playing very weel of late. The month of November has seen a pretty sizable uptick in all the relevant numbers: 13.5 ppg, up from 10.2 in October; 48% from the field, up from 35%; and 35% from 3, up from 26%.
Lin was 2-for-9 for 4 points the last time around, with five turnovers to just three assists; the Bulls' guards will need to duplicate this sort of defensive performance if the Bulls are going to keep pace.
Points of Concern
As always, James Harden provides an offensive threat that is often impossible to defend. The odds of Belinelli being able to hang with Harden with any sort of consistency are not good, which means that the Bulls will have to go with Butler, who doesn't provide much offense himself. Managing this spot in the lineup is kind of like plugging a hole in a dam; another leak will always spring up.
As a team, the Rockets lead the league in points per game (105.4 per). Luckily, they're second to last in points allowed (103.4 per), making them pretty much the complete antithesis of the Bulls. Regardless, a potent offensive attack against this Bulls team, one that can go silent for stretches of four or five minutes at a time, is a little worrisome.
Asik, as we know, is a staunch presence in the middle, and even blocked Joakim Noah dunk attempts twice the last time around. Noah and the rest of the frontcourt will need to finish around the basket against the Turkish Tower.
What Needs To Happen
The Bulls didn't really do anything egregious the last time around other than completely faltering offensively in the last five minutes of the first contest in Houston. Other than that, the Bulls had held Lin in check, took care of the ball relatively well and didn't let Houston shoot an exceptional percentage.
In short, shut down the Lin pick and roll game again with Morris/Asik. Don't let the Rockets get into transition; as always, this means good shots and fewer long rebounds on the offensive end. If this becomes the proverbial track meet, the Bulls will be like that one sad guy trailing in the back of an Olympic 100-meter run.
Useless Prediction Time
Jeremy Lin once again struggles from the field against the Bulls.
The Bulls rebounded 28% of their misses last time against Houston, with Patterson out this time around, I expect that number to go up to about 33-35%.
Jimmy Butler is averaging over 2 minutes per game more than his season average in his last ten games. He logged 30 minutes against Houston the first time around, and I'd imagine that he'll get close to or exceed that number tonight.
Playing at home, the Bulls do just enough to pick off a rising Houston team (I have nothing to based this feeling off of save holiday cheer). Bulls 96, Rockets 94.
Sidenote: for those interested, I am on Twitter, where I say things and post links and such when I write things here (or read neat things elsewhere). So, there you go. Follow if you want to or don't WHATEVER.
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After notching a win in Phoenix, the first stop on the circus trip, the Bulls have been reeling of late, getting destroyed in the Staples Center against the Clippers and then failing down the stretch at the Rose Garden in Portland. In order to avoid falling below .500 for the first time this season, the Bulls needed to get a win in Houston, something that should ostensibly be a difficult thing to do if you ignore Houston's record for a moment. On a note topical to Big Ten fans, Kelvin Sampson was the head coach for the Rockets this game, filling in for Kevin McHale (absent for family reasons).
As Bulls fans know, the Rockets also acquired former Bull Omer Asik after the Bulls decided to let him walk in restricted free agency. Of course, after his time in Chicago where his lack of offensive ability was a liability, he's averaged 10.0 ppg thus far this season in Houston. Naturally.
Even so, the Rockets entered the game at just 4-7 after grabbing a pair of wins to start the season. Still, the Rockets came into this one 10th in the league in points per game, always a disconcerting stat to see coming into the game, especially for a Bulls offense for which scoring points is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone at times.
After starting the season near the top of the PER rankings, Harden has cooled down quite a bit (he entered this game at #50). After scoring 37 and 45 against the Pistons and Hawks to start the season, Harden has only score 30 or more once since then (he scored exactly 30 against New Orleans last Wednesday). The Rockets have some other nice options --namely the second-year player out of Florida, Chandler Parsons-- but without Harden having a big game, the Rockets' chances of winning go down by a not insignificant percentage (as demonstrated by their slide since games uno y dos).
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With Deng checking Harden early, the latter had a bit of a difficult time getting his offensive game going. Unfortunately, Rip Hamilton was no match for Chandler Parsons, who was running all over the place undeterred. Parsons started off the game going 3-5 for 7 points within the first five or six minutes. Of course, you can imagine what would happen if Rip was forced to switched onto Harden if he couldn't even handle Parsons; actually, we saw just that, as Harden drove to the basket for an easy score later in the quarter, just as if Rip wasn't even there.
On the other end, Deng and Hinrich started the game a combined 4-4, which they needed to as Rip was mired in a horrific 1-6 start from the field.
Otherwise, it was not a notable quarter in any way except for one meeting at the basket between Mssrs. Noah and Asik, resulting in an Asik block of Noah's dunk attempt (aw hamburgers). I guess Hinrich notching five assists in the first quarter also somewhat notable. Anyway, the Bulls went in to the second quarter up 22-20, i.e. on a pace for holding the Rockets to well under their season average in points. If only they could just stop the games at this junctures where people are inclined to mention things that are "on pace" to be good.
Alas, things fall apart. The Bulls' 2-point lead turned into a 7-point deficit in less than two minutes of 2nd quarter play. Of course, as we all know, this is the NBA, where any lead is not safe at basically any point in the game, let alone the 2nd quarter. Still, it's disheartening to see the Bulls go on those rough stretches with the reserves in the game after years past, when the bench often carried the Bulls to victory when the starters weren't on.
However, the Bulls battled back, with two straight basket from Gibson giving the Bulls a 33-30 lead. It was an encouraging series for Taj, who has for whatever reason not been the same player the he was last year. The Bulls will continue to need points from the hard work of guys like Gibson, as they continue to languish away as one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league; the Bulls were 0-5 from beyond the arc in about 1.5 quarters of play.
Luckily for the Bulls, Jeremy Lin wasn't on either. He was 1-5 from the field as of the 6-minute mark of the 2nd quarter. After missing a three and then a put back attempt, he also managed to get beat on a nice backdoor pass from Noah to Robinson on the ensuing possession. Robinson beat him off the dribble on the next possession to set himself up to hit a 15-footer from the left side. This isn't exactly news, but guards with any sort of quickness to their game can have great success against Lin on the offensive end of the floor. In fact, the story of the 2nd quarter was essentially Robinson taking it to Lin, on both ends of the floor (Robinson even managed a block on a Lin attempt at the basket in transition).
For the second time in the game, Noah was able to initiate the ol' finger guns, hitting a jumper from the top after Asik failed to challenge him. The Bulls were up 39-31, only about five minutes after being down seven.
The Bulls managed to keep the lead going into the half, but a couple nothing-you-can-do-about-that plays from Harden cut the Bulls lead down to 46-42 heading into the intermission.
Hello, Internet. I am Fouad Egbaria, a Michigan grad ('11) and recent graduate of the MSJ program at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. This is a blog that attempts to analyze the highs and lows of Michigan football and basketball; I'm just trying to capture the spirit of the thing. I will also write about general Big Ten news, as well as Chicago professional sports (from time to time).
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