Game No. 81 Recap, Bulls-Magic: Magic Cures What Ails You

Chicago Bulls 102, Orlando Magic 84

The Bulls entered tonight having squandered any momentum that win against New York could have possibly generated; since then, the Bulls have lost two straight, putting them a game behind Atlanta with two games to go. A Chicago loss and an Atlanta win tomorrow night would seal the Bulls' playoff seed at the 6 spot, meaning a tough first round opponent in the Indiana Pacers.

As such, a game like tonight's, against a quite frankly horrid Orlando Magic squad, was one that a team with even a modicum of hope for any sort of playoff run should win. Jacque Vaughn's Magic team entered tonight with a 20-60 record, second to last in the Eastern Conference and the second worst mark in the entire league (they're only one game better than last place Charlotte).

Fortunately for the Bulls, both Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson made their return, albeit from the bench and under a minutes cap.

Orlando jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, but a Hinrich trey from the straight away and a beautiful backdoor dish from Carlos Boozer to Jimmy Butler allowed the Bulls to pull within two; on the next possession, Boozer faced up and hit his patented jumper to tie it at 9 four and a half minutes in.

The Bulls' defense was far from lockdown in the opening quarter, but the Bulls were able to capitalize on some easy buckets in transition situations and off of turnovers. Chicago entered the game tied for second to last in the league in points per game (93.1), but the Magic weren't far ahead, ranked 24th with 94.3 ppg. Of course, this is the NBA, where games aren't won or lost in the first quarter, or even the second or third.

Nonetheless, the Magic finished the first quarter with a shooting percentage of 47.6%; to the Bulls' credit, however, that number was hovering around 55% with just a few minutes left in the first quarter, so the defense tightened up a little bit. Chicago took a two point deficit into the second quarter, but, on the bright side, Noah and Gibson entered the game late in the second, logging their first minutes in some time.

Unfortunately, Noah picked up three quick fouls in just 4-5 minutes of play, with his third coming just over two minutes into the second quarter. A couple of minutes later, Rip Hamilton also picked up his third, putting the Bulls in an awkward situation very early in the game.

Upon an Orlando 24-second violation, Neil Funk mused that sometimes "you just have to wonder what Orlando is doing." An appropriate comment given that particular possession, and yet, the Bulls were still down four.

The offense was much harder to come by early in the second, as both teams combined for just nine points in the second frame's first five minutes. A 5-0 Bulls run gave them a 29-28 lead just past the halfway point in the second.

The Bulls offense start to hum down the stretch in the second, with four buckets from Boozer and Luol Deng from within 10 feet (three of them layups) and two more treys from Hinrich. Deng added another three for good measure, and a foul on a Jimmy Butler alley-oop dunk attempt sent the Bulls into the break up 49-37. Despite a shaky first 18 minutes or so, strong halves from Boozer (12 pts), Deng (14 pts) and Hinrich (3-for-3 from three) gave the Bulls a sizable cushion as the first half drew to a close.

Game 17 Recap: Buon Lavoro*

(HT: Erik Daniel Drost)

Bulls (9-8) 95, Cavaliers (4-15) 85

The Bulls traveled to face the Irving- and Waiters-less 4-14 Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time this season, the first time coming in an early season 115-86 blowout. Coming off of a brutal loss against divisional rival Indiana, this was another game that the Bulls could not afford to lose (not that any team can "afford" to lose, ever). 

Luckily, the Bulls quickly jumped out to a 10-4 lead. If Anderson Varejao pivots were awarded a point per move, the game would have been tied, but, alas, that is not how basketball works. 

Kirk Hinrich even hit a three to start the game for the Bulls, which seems like finding the golden ticket this season except not really, as Hinrich has apparently hit a trey in each of the last six games. 

Also of note: the Bulls assisted each of their fix six baskets. Also per Jeff Mangurten (a veritable fountain of statistical knowledge): the Cavs are not so good at preventing teams from manufacturing offense. 

Marco Belinelli executed his best MJ impression, posting up the mouse in the house formerly known as Daniel Gibson for a breezy fadeaway jumper. On the next possession, Hinrich got all the way to the heart of the lane in transition and spun the ball around his back while still in motion. Of course, he fumbled it as the ball circled back around to his left hand, but the fact that he even attempted it let you know that this was going to be another game that can't even be synonymously dubbed a "contest" or "tilt," because those words imply some level of resistance from the opposition. 

Other than Anderson Varejao, who has been having an excellent season thus far, the Cavs offered absolutely nothing of note in the first quarter that would indicate this would be a game for very long. By the end of the first quarter, the Bulls had amassed a 27-11 lead, assisting 11 of their 12 baskets and forcing 7 Cleveland turnovers. 

From the very beginning, this game had all of the atmospheric accoutrements of a March Madness game pitting a 2- and a 15-seed against each other. One team is completely overmatched, and there is an impending sense that this moderately sizable lead will balloon rapidly, paving the way for the sad, slow final walk to the bench for the fallen team's seniors. 

Wait, right, I'm talking about the Bulls. When Marco Belinelli is shooting 5-for-7 for 12 points against you, and it's not even halftime, you can go ahead and cue the Rooster Cogburn "I can't do nothin' for you son" line.

With all of that said, the Bulls somehow only entered the half up 45-35. After shooting around 67% in the first quarter, they were at a still good but not transcendent 49% heading into the break. I guess this is my punishment for thinking of analogies to capture how bad Cleveland is at the game of basketball.

Halftime Stats

Cavaliers: Team PPP--0.77

• Varejao: 2-6, 9 rebounds, 5 points
  
• Jeremy Pargo: 0-5, 0 points
  
• Donald Sloan:3-6, 10 points

Bulls: Team PPP--0.99

• Belinelli: 5-9, 12 points
  
• Noah: 2-4, 8 rebounds (3 ORB), 4 points
• Boozer:3-7, 5 rebounds, 6 points

*Thank you, google. 

Game 4 Recap: Back on Track

Bulls (3-1) 99, Magic (2-1) 93

Due to a prior engagement, I had to miss quarter 2-4 live yesterday, so today's recap will primarily be a lightning round/box score set of observations as I attempt to slog through the game on my DVR. The Magic took their first loss this season, but still continue to impress despite a young, injured, Dwight Howard-less roster and a new head coach. I'm not sure that we can count them as a "gimme" win going forward.

BULLets, Sponsored by "I See What You Did There, Inc.": 

• The century mark. Hey, look, the Bulls held a team under 100 and won. Let's just go ahead and discard the NOLA game and make this an ironclad Rule of Chicago Basketball in 2012-13. 

• I don't need no stinkin' surgery. Luol Deng pitched in 23 points on 9/16 shooting and was a crucial part in the Bulls' 15-2 second half run. 

• Other shocker: shooting well generally translates to a win. Once again, the Bulls didn't shoot too many threes (2/6 on the night, with Kirk finally hitting one...he actually even hit another, going 2/2 on the night) and they didn't even have an exceptional day on the offensive glass (the Bulls only rebound 20% of their misses). However, the Bulls did keep the Magic off the offensive boards, as Vaughn's young squad was only able to reel in 22% of its misses on the offensive end. 

• Minuses. FWIW, as I'm still making my way through the game, but Hinrich, Mohammed and Belinelli were a combined -18 in their combined total of 41 minutes of play (Hinrich accounts for 26 of those minutes). 

• Manufacturing. The Bulls managed a combined 56 points off of turnovers, fast breaks and points in the paint. As one would expect, the Bulls will need to continue to make hay here as long as Rose is out, because half court offense will continue to be a dicey proposition. 

• D up. Again, need to make my way through the tape but 28 points for Arron Afflalo means that something went terribly, terribly wrong. On the bright side, Afflalo was -4 on the night, somehow, so clearly he probably didn't have a great night on the defensive end, either (at least, that is one explanation one can infer from a box score alone). 

• Boozer shooting tracker. As I've said numerous times already in this short season, the Bulls' fate on a given night will often, sadly, rest on the shooting performance of one Carlos Boozer. Boozer went 6/18 on the night, taking his four-game shooting percentage to 44%. This would be pretty bad for a typical big man, but for a jump shooter like Boozer I suppose we can simply call this mediocre or below average. 

• SHOOTER: FOUND. The Bulls kept their opponent's primary 3-point gunner in check again (after holding Ryan Anderson to a horrid shooting night on Saturday). Redick went 2/6 from beyond the arc on Tuesday night. 

• Glen Davis. After tearing up the opposition to date, the Bulls held Davis to 16 points on 7/22 shooting, i.e. the most misses he's ever had in a single game in his career. Job: done.