Chicago Bulls 65, Miami Heat 88--Heat lead series 3-1
On the heels of another dramatic contest ultimately ending in a loss--albeit much closer than the disaster that was Game Two--the Bulls limped into Game Four needing a win; otherwise, Game Five would likely be nothing more than a prolonged death knell for this 2012-13 season.
Unfortunately for the Bulls, Miami jumped out to an early 13-4 lead, as the Bulls started off ice cold, going 2-for-13 from the field. Luol Deng was deemed "active" for the game, the latest stretch of what it means for one to be "active." If Deng could be described as "active," in spite of all the news of his post-spinal tap complications, then those of us who are otherwise healthy are superheroes, according to the relativistic continuum of NBA player health designations.
And yet, despite a first quarter in which the Bulls shot 27% and the Heat shot 59%, they somehow managed to enter the second frame down just 21-15. As we have come to know very well this season, the Bulls have turned the execution of the "awful quarter that ends with being down by only that much" into an art form, insofar as such a thing can be considered art.
Marco Belinelli was called for his third foul early in the second, meaning that Rip Hamilton would enter the game for the first time since his three-minute showing in Game Six against Brooklyn. Whether he was in the "dog house" or not, it has gotten to the point that Hamilton entering the game is just one more sign of the dire times for the Bulls, personnel-wise.
Following a nice extra pass from Nate Robinson on the wing, Hamilton hit an open trey from up top, and on the following possession, Taj Gibson went up strong at the basket, completing a traditional three-point play. In short order, the Bulls had cut the lead, which had ballooned to 13, to seven, and the United Center crowd exhibited its first sign of life.
This ephemeral momentum was quickly snuffed out, as LeBron returned from a brief trip to the bench to send home a theatrical thunderdunk after a Bulls turnover.
Luckily, the Heat were not particularly careful with the ball, committing eight turnovers with several minutes still remaining in the first half. On the other hand, the Bulls were not able to capitalize, and continued to remain down by 7-12 points. Excluding their 6-for-6 mark from the line, the Bulls had produced just 21 points through 21 minutes of play. A point a minute is good if you're Fielding Yost, but isn't necessarily a sustainable basketball strategy (unless you happen to play in the Big Ten).
It was not a well-played half for either team, but a poorly played half for the Bulls is a far different concept than the same from the Heat. As such, the Bulls took an 11-point deficit into the second half. Chicago shot just 27%, scoring at a clip of just 0.79 points per possession.
Chicago Bulls 93, Miami Heat 86--Bulls leads series 1-0 (!)
After improbably pulling off a Game Seven victory in Brooklyn Saturday night, the Bulls enter the Eastern Conference Semifinal round playing with house money. With Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng both out again, in addition to Derrick Rose's continued absence, expectations are not exactly what they were the last time these two teams squared off in the playoffs.
Nonetheless, the Bulls have played the Heat close, even without Derrick Rose, having split four regular season meetings this season. Of course, the playoffs are a different animal, especially with the Heat being well-rested after easily dispatching the Milwaukee Bucks in four, and the Bulls grinding their way through seven trying games against Brooklyn. With this in mind, an enveloping fog of unease pervaded upon the lead-up to Game One, and rightfully so; there are no moral victories in sports, but if the Bulls managed to keep the first game of this series close, then maybe the vague notion of a competitive series could become a reality.
The Bulls gained possession on the opening tip, but neither squad was able to get on the scoreboard in their respective opening trips on the offensive end, starting a combined 0-for-5 from the field. A nice move to the rim from Noah put the Bulls on the board first, however, at the 10:15 mark. Jimmy Butler extended the lead to 4-0 from the line after drawing a blocking call just outside of the restricted area.
Neither team was exceptionally sharp in the opening minutes, but given each team's opening round, this was perhaps not unexpected. The Heat continued to misfire from the field, starting the game 0-for-7 from the field as the Bulls built an early 8-2 lead.
Despite the auspicious start, Nate Robinson began this one 0-for-4 from the field with some questionable feeds to Chicago's big men; this would have to change if the Bulls were going to make this any sort of game. On the bright side, it was a quiet, low usage quarter for Lebron James, who was 1-for-2 from the field for two points well into the first frame. James seemed content to facilitate in the early stages, but Jimmy Butler was also doing his part in forcing that decision-making.
Norris Cole countered a quintessentially Nate spin move into a banked jumper with a buzzer-beating floater of his own, and the Bulls took a 21-15 lead into the second quarter.
I wasn't able to take notes during the first half of this one, so I'll just go ahead and skip right to the second half (this is the NBA after all, so that's probably a fair thing to do every time).
Nonetheless, the Bulls, again with Kirk Hinrich, have up a whopping 60 first half points, with Deron Williams scoring 14 on 5-for-9 from the field. For all of the criticism Hinrich took throughout the system--some warranted, but most of it not--it's pretty well obvious by this point that the Bulls were going to have a rough go of it without him on the defensive end. Every defensive set begins with on-the-ball defense, and when you don't have your most effective player executing that role, the rest of the defense will struggle.
The Bulls took a 60-54 deficit into the second half, which reminded me of the Michigan-Kansas game for the simple fact that it felt as if the Brooklyn lead could and probably should have been much greater than it was.
To make matters worse, the Bulls were also without the services of Luol Deng, so it was encouraging to see them drop 54 in the first half. Still, the second half would be a struggle to keep up and continue to find enough production to stay with the Nets.
Nate Robinson buried a trey to open the second half, cutting the lead to three, but the Nets quickly built it back up to eight in the ensuing minutes.
Later in transition, Robinson attacked the rim and dished to an open Marco Belinelli in the corner, who nailed the three to cut the Nets lead to 69-68. Luckily for the Bulls, it wasn't an exceptionally well-played quarter for either team, but Chicago made enough plays on the defensive end to keep the game from getting away from them before the final frame.
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.
So, here we are again. Despite the Knicks' somewhat surprising season (I actually had a feeling they'd be pretty good, but not this good), they've struggled against the Bulls, dropping a game in both Chicago (Dec. 8) and more recently in New York (Dec. 21). In case you forgot, this happened the last time these two teams met:
Good times. People were forced to go on timeout and many bad words were said. This just about sums up the New York perspective of this particular game:
The Bulls ambushed the Knicks with a 14-2 start and continued to lay it on as the game went on. Only at the end, after all Noah, Chandler, Anthony and head coach Mike Woodson did the Knicks mount a comeback of sorts that made the final score look much closer than the game actually was.
Chicago's aggressive defense frustrated the Knicks' potent attack, which, based on following several Knicks folks on Twitter, does not seem to be an uncommon approach for teams looking to beat the Knicks this season.
Anyway, things are a little different this time. Raymond Felton, who had been struggling mightily with his shot anyway, is out with an injury. Marcus Camby seems to have re-aggravated his plantar fascia injury last night in Indiana. This does not resonate as a huge blow on paper, but it does put a dent in New York's frontcourt, which often struggles when Tyson Chandler isn't around to patrol the floor and/or shooting laser beams out of his eyes.
Also of note, Rasheed Wallace is still out, so no change there. Speaking of Sheed, read this.
Since their 15-5 start, the Knicks have been thoroughly mediocre of late: they've gone 8-7 in their last 15 and come into tonight with a two-game losing streak (on the heels of a two-game winning streak featuring a thumping of San Antonio and a high-scoring W in Orlando).
The Knicks took a tough loss against the similarly physical Boston Celtics, which you probably know about solely because of the post-game come-at-me-bro between Carmelo and Kevin Garnett. Last night, the Knicks got thoroughly Big Ten'd by the Pacers, an 81-76 defeat in which Carmelo was a DNP due to a one-game suspension stemming from the aforementioned incident.
Combined with the fact that tonight is the back end of a back-to-back for the Knicks, New York's less than stellar performance this week should at least allow for a solid shot at another win in Madison Square Garden for the Bulls. The Bulls didn't exactly look impressive themselves on Wednesday against Milwaukee, faltering in the fourth quarter after a big early lead (history, it repeats itself) en route to a 104-96 defeat.
"Luckily," this game is not being played at the United Center. The Bulls have thrived on the road this season, having picked up big wins at MSG and against Miami more recently. Can they do it again? It comes down to this:
J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony combined for 55 points the last time these two teams met, but on a mediocre 19/45 from the field (42%). High volume, low efficiency. This is the formula, but it is easier said than done. Luol Deng and Jimmy Butler did a masterful job containing and frustrating Melo last time; Melo will likely look to come out shooting coming off of his suspension, so they will need to bring a similar effort.
Simply put, the Bulls starters need to get close to matching their shooting efficiency from the last meeting. Even Kirk Hinrich had an incredible performance, shooting 6/8 (4/5 from 3!) en route to a 16-point night and yet another underwhelming showing for Felton.
Transition, transition, transition. The Knicks' transition game losing a bit of zip with Jason Kidd running the show, but everyone knows that he is still capable of Jamie Moyer-ing his way to some nifty assists on the break. As always, the following chain applies: good shots=fewer long rebounds=fewer transition opportunities for the oppoent=fewer soul-crushing Steve Novak corner threes, terrifying J.R. Smith thunderdunks, etc.. The Bulls got demolished in transition Wednesday night, so you can be sure this was a point of emphasis in practice yesterday for Tom Thibodeau.
Prediction? The odds are against the Bulls shooting the lights out like they did last time, and the odds are also against Carmelo Anthony being as relatively inefficient as he was on Dec. 21. In any case, with both teams coming off of ugly losses (for vastly different reasons), I think the energy will be high on both sides. With the Knicks' resurgence, this rivalry has easily vaulted into first place for me as a Bulls fan. Nothing will ever bring back the sheer intensity and venom of the 1990s, but that doesn't mean this still can't be a great rivalry. Unfortunately, I have a hard time picturing the Bulls reprising their first performance in MSG. The scoring will be much lower this time, and I'm envisioning the standard script: a tough game throughout marred by a lack of big plays down the stretch by the Bulls. Bulls 92, Knicks 99.
With Michigan's football season having recently ended, it's pretty much going to be all basketball around here (Michigan and Bulls) unless something important and football-related occurs. On that note, there will probably be some "final word" type pieces to officially close the voluminous and complicated legacies of Michigan's senior class...yes, Denard. Obviously.
Chicago Bulls (17-13) @ Miami Heat (22-8)
The Opponent
Anywho, it's been a few games but here I am again. Since I last talked about the Bulls/wrote a preview piece for the Indiana game that was then cancelled, the Bulls picked up an ugly win against Washington, an ugly loss against Charlotte and what should've been a much more convincing looking win on the box score against Orlando.
The Bulls head to Miami tonight to take on the 22-8 Miami Heat, currently a game ahead of New York and first in the Eastern Conference. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season; during last year's shortened campaign, the Bulls went 2-2 against the Heat.
The Heat come in with a two game winning streak,both, strangely, overtime victories against Orlando and Dallas. So, maybe they'll be all tired out come tipoff tonight? Let's hope so.
In any case, despite the season that Carmelo Anthony is having and Kevin Durant being Kevin Durant, LeBron James still leads the league with a hilarious PER of 30.23. Speaking of LeBron, I read this post on The Basketball Jones and thought it to be mostly true:
It would appear that a little more than nine seasons into his
microscopically analyzed professional career, LeBron James has reached a
place few great professional athletes, especially in the NBA, ever
dream of reaching: Being boring. Kobe Bryant has managed to play twice
as long without EVER being boring for an entire month. Even in the few
drama-free moments of his pro hoops tenure, the lack of news was
newsworthy enough that people never went in ignorance of it. But without
a title to chase, a troublesome teammate or coach to battle, or a facet
of his game particularly thriving or lacking, there’s just no drama
left in LeBron. He’s so boring now that he can’t stop listening to Wiz Khalifa.
Pretty much. Perhaps I don't have my finger on the pulse of the NBA zeitgeist, but it would seem that, after winning that championship, the concept of LeBron James has been relieved of any sort of controversy. Now, he's just a guy averaging 26.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg and 7.1 apg. Indeed, LeBron is just quietly going about his business practically unnoticed, eviscerating defenses and probably dunking on your face.
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are doing their things as well, averaging 20.6 and 18.0 ppg, respectively. Offseason addition Ray Allen provides the Heat with a fourth double digit averaging scorer (11.6 ppg) while continuing his ways as a frustratingly automatic 3-point shooter (46%).
The rest of the team also reads as a list of "dudes you already know." Shane Battier is still around filling the Bruce Bowen role (i.e. defense and threes); Battier is shooting a nice 42% from three. Even Rashard Lewis, who was sort of just an overpaid albatross in Orlando in the two years after their run to the NBA Finals, is hitting 47% from three, albeit in fewer minutes than anything he's averaged since right around Y2K. Udonis Haslem is not a high usage guy at all but does what he needs to do for an undersized Miami frontcourt.
Point guards Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers are spark plug sorts that can do some damage on nights when Wade or Bosh aren't on. I should stop talking personnel...this is Miami. You know who they are.
Points of Concern
Uh, need it be said? The Bulls had trouble with the Heat in the 2011 playoffs because they only had one star (Rose) to Miami's triumvirate. Well, Derrick Rose isn't walking through that door (but hey, Rip Hamilton is).
Playing on the road isn't so much a concern to me because of: a) Miami's moribund at best home crowd and b) the Bulls handled the Knicks at MSG not too long ago. What does worry me is the fact that the Heat can push the tempo with LeBron and Chalmers, and I don't think the Bulls have the athleticism to keep up. As the minutes continue to pile up for guys like Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, you can hear those hinges getting creakier and creakier.
Three-point D is also a worry, as LeBron, Battier, Lewis and Allen all shoot it very well. The Bulls are 6th in the league in 3-point percentage defense, if that is a statistic that means something to you.
Miscellaneous Stats
This is replacing the "What Needs To Happen" heading because I found that it often just reiterated what was said in the previous section. Anyway:
Points. The Heat are fourth in the league in points per game, averaging 103.6 per contest.
Rebounding. If the Bulls can close the massive talent gap somehow, it's by winning the battle on the board a la Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals against Miami. Given the Heat's lack of traditional frontcourt options, they're second to last in the league in rebounding. They're rebounding just 21.3% of their misses their season (to Chicago's 28.8%). The Bulls are no longer the truly elite rebounding lords that they once were, but they are still good enough to be a serious asset.
Useless Prediction Time
Even in victory, the Bulls have looked a little shaky of late. Unfortunately, it seems that the win in New York didn't really give them that much momentum at all, but maybe I'm being a little too demanding.
This feels odd to even think about writing, but Carlos Boozer will need to bring a performance similar to the season-high 31-point game he had against Orlando on Wednesday if the Bulls have any hope of keeping up. Last year's numbers are naturally not encouraging, as the Heat blocked more shots (obviously) and were +13.3 per 48 minutes as opposed to just +5.9 in last year's four matchups.
I don't know that there's really a matchup on the floor that the Bulls win outright. I like Noah on Bosh, but it's sort of hard to compare the two because their games are so different. This is where the Bulls' bench would have made up the difference in the past, but, alas.
Anyway, LeBron is just too good and the Heat have too much firepower for a Bulls team that seems to be on the verge of being compressed into little disk-like things by the intense gravity of Thibodeau's minute meting SOP.
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).
Last night's performance in Memphis was one that makes players and fans alike eager for the playing of the next game. Fortunately, that next game was just 24 hours away. The Celtics, not exactly at their championship form of four years ago, visited the United Center for the second time this season; things went a little differently this time.
Play in the first quarter did not feature the most imposing defense, which in a way was a nice change of pace after last night's abomination of a game. The Bulls managed 6 layups through 7 or 8 minutes of play. Belinelli even passed up an open three to take it to the rim, where his shot was goaltended. The Celtics weren't exactly playing vigilant defense, but it was encouraging to see the Bulls picking up some easy buckets in the early stages of the game.
The later stages of the first eventually turned into a Luol Deng free throw-palooza; Deng attempted --and made-- 8 free throws in the first quarter alone. That is certainly one way to get your offense.
After scoring 71 against Memphis, the Bulls dropped 28 in the first quarter alone, albeit largely on the back of free throws and layups. There was still room for serious concern about what would happen once the Bulls had to start hitting jump shots.
In an M. Night Shyamalan-esque twist of a coaching maneuver, Thibodeau opted to start the second quarter with both Nate Robinson and Marquis Teague out on the floor. During this 4-minute stint, Teague pitched in 2 assists and a block (0-for-1 from the field, though). I'll take that. While this analogy doesn't work since the Bulls don't have a Trey Burke at the point, but if Teague can be the Bulls' Spike Albrecht, I'd be just fine with that.
The Bulls went into a Boston timeout with a 40-29 lead almost halfway through the second quarter.It almost felt as if the Bulls had decided to save all of their offense for the back end of the back-to-back. Well, guys, I'm not sure that's how this works.
Nonetheless, it was a tremendous half of basketball. The Bulls went into the break up 55-48; if you're keeping track, that means they had more points at the half than they did through three quarters in Memphis. Okay, that's enough "remember how bad the Memphis game was?" points.
The Bulls began the dread circus trip in Phoenix tonight. They started last year's shortened season with a 4-game run out west, going 3-1, including a thrilling opening win at the Staples Center against the Lakers. Later on, the Bulls embarked on a fairly ridiculous stretch of nine straight road games, albeit all against Eastern Conference squads (save Memphis).
Thibodeau's Bulls maintained a sterling 24-9 record on the road last season, only two games worse than their home mark. They went 6-3 during that stretch, with Rose playing less than 24 minutes against New Jersey and NOLA and not playing at all against Charlotte and Boston (a loss).
Of course, the Bulls only had one road contest to their name thus far, a thumping of Cleveland in the second game of the season. So, this upcoming stretch, beginning with tonight's game, will serve as a decent litmus test for just how much ADVERSITY this Rose-less team can handle.
I unfortunately had to miss most of the first half, so we'll just start with the usual halftime numbers.
Halftime stats (Bulls 57, Suns 51)
Bulls:
Team: Points per possession-->0.83
Boozer: 8/12 16 points
Deng: 3/5, 8 points
Suns:
Team: PPP-->0.96
Scola: 8/13, 16 points
Dragic: 4/5, 10 points, 3 assists, 3 turnovers
---
First of all, it seems like there was maybe 12 people at this game. I guess that's what happens when you're playing a mediocre team and you don't have Derrick Rose. I would urge the people of Phoenix to give Nate Robinson a chance next time around.
After a couple of minutes, a Boozer 17-footer bounced high off the room and came back through the cylinder for two. It was apparently that kind of night for Boozer, who was 9/14 on the night. Shortly afterward, Joakim Noah intercepted a bad Michael Beasley pass and went coast-to-coast with it for the dunk, putting the Bulls up nine.
A Noah layup, a Deng and 1, a Deng trey and Nate-assisted Boozer two propelled the Bulls to a 79-61 lead late in the third, and my concerns regarding the Bulls' chances against teams with somewhat of a pulse (i.e. not Cleveland) on the road abated almost completely.
Of note, watching Michael Beasley turn it over, jack up horrible threes and generally be a minus player reminds me how there was actually a robust Rose-Beasley debate back before the 2008 NBA Draft. It's a good thing I am not an NBA scout.
The Bulls played solid defense in the third overall after giving up 51 through the first two quarters (a lot, for the Bulls at least). Luis Scola dropped 16 points in the first half but didn't pick up his first second half bucket until the very end of the third. Scola missed two jumpers and had another blocked by Luol Deng before finally getting back on the score sheet with eight seconds left in the third.
P.J. tucker and Scola scores in the paint to start the third brought the Bulls lead back down to 10. However, after a helter skelter Bulls possession that saw Taj Gibson saving the ball from entering the back court, Deng hit a ridiculous off-balanced shot as the shot clock expired. However, with the Suns going on a 17-9 run since the apex of the Bulls' lead (back when it was 79-61), the Bulls were not yet in the clear.
A Shannon Brow jumper cut the lead to only five, which might as well be a deficit in the NBA. Even Captain Kirk unraveled a bit, getting after an official who called an offensive foul/didn't call a Telfair handcheck foul on the perimeter. After a couple put back opportunities, the Suns had a chance to the cut the lead to two (or one) on the next possession but weren't able to connect, a possibly pivotal moment in the game. The Bulls nursed a now 5-point lead heading into the second half of the fourth quarter, having seen their once seemingly unassailable lead, well, decidedly assailed. With only eight 4th quarter points through 7:20 of play, the Bulls lead was on the brink of extinction; they lead by just one coming out of a timeout with the ball. The Bulls turned to a bread and butter set, with Hamilton curling for a FT line jumper. Unfortunately, he missed, but Goran Dragic missed a solid look at a corner three at the other end. Noah then hit an uncontested 17-footer, but a Telfair trey tied the game up, 93 all, with just under three minutes to go. The two teams traded buckets again, with a nice shot fake into a layup for Nate and a jumper from Scola, who had started to find his offensive game a bit after a quiet third quarter. Luckily, the Suns fouled, sending the Bulls into the penalty on their next possession (the Bulls only had one team foul at this point). Nate, however, was only able to sink 1 of 2 at the line. Even so, this came up big on the next possession, where a Phoenix loose ball foul sent Hamilton to the line, where he sank both. Hinrich went to the line as well and split a pair, putting the Bulls up 99-95. A ridiculous continuation call on a Shannon Brown drive on Gibson, however, brought the lead back to only 1. It was Boozer's chance to shine here. He spotted up for a 16-18 footer on the baseline, for a bucket that would have given the Bulls some much needed confidence going into the next defensive possession. Despite going 11-16 until that point, Boozer missed. Phoenix had the ball down 1 with 26 seconds to go. Once again, Brown went after Gibson, only this time he missed. Rip hit the front end but missed the second on his ensuing trip to the line. Of course, the Suns' P.J. Tucker grabbed a loose ball in the paint at the other end and scored to tie the game at 100 all. The Bulls came out with Boozer, Noah, Deng, Hamilton and Nate Robinson. Rip curled around a baseline screen from Boozer, settled, and badly missed his attempt to end the game. Overtime it is. Scola fouled out and Deng hit a key jumper to give the Bulls a 2-point cushion. Boozer then smartly went after Beasley, drawing a foul and converting both shots from the line. Beasley then delivered a bit of an elbow to Deng's face on the other end, correctly called an offensive foul (NB: in the game of basketball, you are not allowed to elbow people in the face). The Suns continued to flail away on the offensive end without Scola (and with Goran Dragic surprisingly uninvolved in the proceedings). Beasley, of all people, came alive near the end, pitching in a jumper and an and 1 to bring the Bulls lead down to 4. Always up to the challenge, Noah hit an 18-footer after Gortat seemed reluctant to come out and guard him near the top of the key. Initiate finger gunz. Game Blouses.
BULLets, Sponsored by "I See What You Did There, Inc."
Adventures in Carlos Boozer shooting. Given the type of bigs the Suns have, it's not that surprising that Boozer was able to have his best night by far since the Cleveland game.
Taj Gibson. With Boozer and Noah both having good to very good nights on the offensive end, Gibson logged a mere 16 minutes in regulation time. With four points and two boards, it was another relatively quiet night for Mr. Gibson (although he did manage two blocks).
Et tu, rebounding? The Bulls had a somewhat weak night on the defensive glass, with the Suns grabbing just under 40% of their misses when I last checked about a minute into the overtime period. There's no doubt that this game would not have reached OT if the Bulls were able to clean up on the glass like they normally do.
Goran Dragic? Apparently he scored 12 --which all must have been scored before I started watching-- but he seemed to have no role down the stretch whatsoever, which seems a curious thing to me. Telfair was a key player in the Suns' comeback, but you would think the Suns would want to involve one of their most talented offensive players in key late game situations. You can't see this, but I'm currently shrugging.
Rippin' the nets. Rip scored 11 points during regulation play, but a pair of jumpers in OT, the second after an ORB, were by far his biggest points of the game and maybe even the season thus far.
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.
The Bulls return to the friendly confines of the United Center after a trip to Cleveland for a game that might have been the biggest rout of this NBA season thus far. The Bulls out-hustled, out-ran, and out-shot a bad Cavaliers team en route to a 29-point victory, taking the Bulls to 2-0.
The Opponent
On Saturday night, the Bulls take another decidedly mediocre to bad opponent in the New Orleans Hornets, who have actually acquitted themselves somewhat well thus far. The Hornets lost by four at home against San Antonio to start the season but then pulled out a thrilling 2-point win against the Jazz last night. Greivis Vasquez hit a layup with 1.3 seconds to go after Utah's Paul Millsap hit a trey to tie it on the previous possession.
Unfortunately for NOLA, #1 overall pick Anthony Davis went out with a mild concussion in the first half of last night's game, and he is not traveling with the team to Chicago.
Before Davis' injury, NOLA rolled out this starting lineup: SF Al-Farouq Aminu, PG Greivis Vasquez, C Robin Lopez, SG Austin Rivers, and, of course, Davis. With Davis out, former Orlando sharp-shooter Ryan Anderson or the 7'0'' Jason Smith will slide into the lineup at the 4.
Davis boasted a lofty 26.3 PER rating in his less than 1.5 games, and the dropoff after him is not insignificant. (Vasquez comes in second at 17.9).
Small sample size and all, but other than Anderson, the Hornets do not shoot the three particularly well. Anderson is 43% from outside, and he'll probably hit a few tonight as well, whether in transition or on the rare Bulls defensive breakdown (they happen, just not often). Otherwise, nobody else seems to shoot it well, but, then again, Anderson has taken close to half of NOLA's trey do date.
Despite the loss of Davis, the Hornets still boast another solid inside presence in Robin Lopez, acquired from Phoenix via trade. During his four seasons in Phoenix, Lopez was never much of a scoring threat, never averaging double digit points a single time. However, through two games he's averaging 13.5, in addition to 8 boards per (3 of the offensive variety). Again, small sample size caveats apply, but maybe this is the year that Lopez becomes a more well-rounded player on the offensive end.
Of course, the Hornets are still without the services of Eric Gordon, who is out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury.
Maryland product Greivis Vasquez--who NOLA acquired from Memphis to fill the backup spot behind Gordon--has also had a nice start to his 2012-13 season, dropping a total of 23 dimes through just two games. He is a more than capable distributor, so the Bulls will want to avoid letting Vasquez operate in transition. One way of doing this is by doing what they did last night in Cleveland: forcing turnovers/long rebounds and going on the break themselves for some easy scores.
Points of Concern
With both Davis and Gordon out, the Hornets don't offer much that should put a serious score into the Bulls, even without Rose. However, as mentioned, the Bulls will need to make sure that Vasquez doesn't do his thing in the transition game.
Additionally, Ryan Anderson is always a concern for any team from beyond the arc. He scored 15 of his 19 points last night from downtown, and even the Bulls will leave a guy open on the perimeter from time to time (note: if that guy is Luke Walton, then by all means LEAVE HIM OPEN).
If this were any other team, Robin Lopez doing work on the offensive glass would be a concern; luckily, this is the Bulls we're talking about here.
The rookie shooting guard from Duke, Austin Rivers, has gotten off to a horrific 1-13 start from the field through two games. This isn't so much of a concern as it is me hoping that this isn't the game that Rivers finds his shot.
What Needs To Happen
DO. YOUR. JOB. Pretty simple. If the Bulls do all of the things that the Bulls typically do on defense and the offensive glass, I have a hard time imagining the Hornets cracking 90 points.
Find the shooter. The only way I see the Hornets hanging around late into the fourth quarter is if Anderson catches fire, as he is wont to do. Whoever is on him (Deng?) will need to make sure to go over screens and generally give him the business, without fouling of course.
Dives and cuts. With NOLA lacking Davis' presence in the paint, the Bulls should be able to make hay on hard cuts and dives from whoever the second post player is. Noah made a nice cut through the heart of the paint for a score against Cleveland when Boozer occupied the right block. That will likely be there again. Lopez can swat some shots, but he is not Davis.
Useless Prediction Time
Captain Kirk hits some threes: he goes 2/3 on the day.
Vasquez does not get into double digit assist territory...seven sounds right.
Ryan Anderson starts off hot from 3 but tails off as the game goes on.
The Bulls went into Cleveland and came away with about as good of a performance as one could possibly ask for. The Bulls were up 60-35 at the half, scoring about as many points in the paint as the Cavs had points, period.
The pace was frenetic early on, with Cleveland turnovers and long rebounds turning the Bulls into the Nash era Suns. Hinrich, for all the sarcastic comments that the Internet will lob his way, is actually pretty good at running the break. The Bulls rode this early wave of transition basketball, which yielded two Boozer dunks, to a comfortable lead that they never relinquished.
The Bulls were active defensively, as usual, and the Cavs were left to throwing up horrible shots from outside, often leading to long rebounds and the running of the Bulls. The Bulls jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game, and although the Cavs kept it sort of close for a little while after hitting some shots early on, the game was a blowout for most of the first half.
Boozer was once again in top form, although this is something we've all seen before re: Boozer's performances against bad teams. With that said, the Bulls have played two games, and Boozer has performed admirably in both.
Most importantly, with Kirk Hinrich playing un-ironically tough, gritty defense on Kyrie Irving, the Cavs offense was about as effective as Michigan's is when Denard can't find daylight. I was a bit skeptical, but Kirk had a stellar game on D, as Irving was forced to pound the rock far more often he would ordinarily need to on his way to a decent shot. A gold star for Mr. Hinrich.
In perhaps the most amusing developments of the game, Luke Walton was matched up on Taj Gibson for a period of time, and it was truly like watching a big brother toy with a little brother in a game of driveway basketball. Walton had no way of getting around Gibson to front and when Gibson went on the move, Walton simply could not keep up. This lead to easy buckets and trips to the FT line for the newly extended Gibson. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that Walton is still in the league, let alone logging non-garbage time minutes. But, then again, I'm just a guy.
It was 60-35 at the half. The Bulls were simply dominant on both ends through two quarters, and the goal of the second half was simply to not pull a Grizzlies during their DERPocalyptic Game 1 performance against the Clippers in April.
However, after letting up a bit near the end of their game against Sacramento on Wednesday, seeing the Bulls completely and utterly crush an opponent from start to finish was an encouraging sight. With another contest against a bad team coming tomorrow night at the United Center against New Orleans, the Bulls should be looking at a nice and tidy 3-0 start to this Rose-less campaign.
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Another humorous moment: an attempted alley oop from Boozer to Nate Robinson, who sort of just bumped into Tristan Thompson and then proceeded to look outraged when he didn't get the foul call. Alley oop. Nate Robinson. That happened.
The Masked Man. Rip Hamilton was deservedly maligned last season after being a splashy free agent signing (well, for the Bulls, that is) and spending much of the season injured or on the bench in key situations, when Thibodeau seemed to favor Kyle Korver. However, Hamilton has been stellar thus far. He caught fire late in the third quarter, which I'm pretty sure correlated directly with several minutes of technical difficulty from CSN.
Just to drive the point home further...the Bulls were up 83-56 through three quarters, and they accomplished that with only 5 offensive boards (i.e. rebounding 25% of their misses). That really goes to show you how dominating of a performance this was: they didn't even really need second chance points. Another remarkable thing? It's a few minutes into the fourth quarter as I write this and the Bulls have only attempted six treys.
The Cavs, they are bad. This Cavs team beat the Wizards by 10, so...if this were the EPL, Washington would so be Queens Park Rangers.
Complaints, I guess. If I have to say anything negative it will be extremely quibbling, but: 1) Belinelli displayed a laughable olédefense against Gee in the first half that led to a wide open layup 2) the Bulls seem to struggle at post entry and 3) okay I can't even think of one that isn't "Kirk Hinrich is not Derrick Rose."
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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