Game #23 Preview, Bulls-Grizzlies: Feel So Good

  
The Opponent 

Even the most cynical Bulls fan needs to take a second to give Thibodeau's Bulls some credit: since the epic collapse against Milwaukee on Nov. 26, the Bulls have gone 7-2, only suffering a Big Ten-esque loss against Indiana and putting up a solid fight against a Clippers team is the Bulls' athletic superior like Usain Bolt is athletically superior to a turtle.

Along the way, the Bulls have picked up nice wins against Philadelphia (x2), the Knicks (albeit 'Melo-less) and the Nets on Saturday night at the UC. The Bulls have not been an attractive team to watch, but even when Rose was around running the show, would you have put the Bulls alongside teams like the Thunder or even the title-winning Mavs vis-a-vis playing "attractive" basketball? I don't think so; it was always more of a singularly consistent ray of exceptionally exciting play than a team-wide characteristic.

The point is, who cares how they win. After the Bulls lost the aforementioned Bucks game --at that point, Chicago had lost four of their last five-- things were not nearly so cheery. The song remains the same with this team. On some nights, they'll manufacture wins against good teams like Brooklyn, and on other nights they'll get out-athleted (e.g. Clippers) or simply put up an aesthetically abominable by (by any standards) clunker like the Pacers B1G-fest.

Anyway, enough about the Bulls. The Memphis Grizzlies come into this contest at 15-6, which would tie them for second in the Eastern Conference with Miami but is good for only fourth place in the West.

Luckily for the Bulls, they appear to be catching the Hollingerized Grizz at the right time. Memphis lost three in a row to Atlanta, Phoenix and Denver before finally getting back on the winning track on Saturday with a 99-86 win at Utah.

Of course, the Grizz have most likely the best frontcourt in the entire NBA, paced by Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay. Gay leads the way with 19.0 ppg, while Gasol pitches in 15.4 and Randolph 17.6.

As far as eFG% goes, Gay is at 45%, Randolph at 51% and Gasol at 50% (and the latter two have managed this with zero treys made between them). The entire stat of eFG% has kind of been completely altered for me due to the existence of Nik Stauskas, but I'm pretty sure an eFG% in the neighborhood of those figures is still pretty good. 

Former Buckeye Mike Conley is no slouch as a fourth option; he's averaging 13.9 ppg and 6.3 assists per game thus far this season. The Grizz are in Chicago's neighborhood with respect to their assist-to-turnover ration; Memphis sits at 1.40 compared to the Bulls' 1.46. Conley has maintained a very nice eFG% of 52%, shooting a freakily similar percentage from in front of and behind the arc (44.4% from 2, 43.6% from 3).

The Grizz are averaging 97.1 ppg (Bulls--93.5) and are giving up the same average as the Bulls on the defensive end (90.0 ppg).

Otherwise, Tony Allen is around for his defense. Backup PG Jerryd Bayless, whom some asked to be signed by Chicago on the heels of the Great Bench Mob Jettisoning,

Points of Concern 
Although the Bulls' advantage in the frontcourt against most teams isn't as strong post-Asik, this Memphis team is definitely one of the teams that can beat the Bulls' frontcourt, straight up. The Grizzlies boast a better offensive rebounding percentage than the Bulls (31.9%) but aren't quite as good as Chicago on the defensive glass (71.9% to Chicago's 73.3%). Regardless, the Grizzlies will give the Bulls arguably their toughest challenge on the glass of any team in the league.

However, for all of the attention that will be given to the frontcourt trimvirate, Mike Conley is a pretty good player. During his one season at Ohio State, he shot just 30% from three; now, he's a pretty real threat from beyond the arc, complementing the rest of his game. He can also get into the lane and hit that little tear drop shot or distribute to one of several Memphis bigs.

Who knows what Kirk Hinrich's status is for tonight, but we all know how lackluster Nate Robinson's defense is. Rookie Marquis Teague came up big late when matched up on Deron Williams, but: a) sample size and b) expecting rookies to do anything consistently well is an exercise in futility. 

What Needs To Happen 

• Tell new Memphis VP of Basketball Operations John Hollinger that a lecture titled "Analytics in Sports: A Terrible Thing By My Calculations" is being held somewhere in Chicago that is not the United Center. Can't have him Inception-ing mind bullets of statistical genius into Lionel Hollins' head throughout the game. 

• Transition D. As always, the Bulls cannot afford to let teams get easy buckets in transition. Conley can hit the three, as mentioned, so Nate/Kirk/Marquis will need to keep up once the Grizzlies have secured a long rebound on the other end. Speaking of three-point, shooting, another statistic of note: the Grizzlies attempt the second fewest number of threes per game. They are second to only, of course, the Bulls. If the Bulls are going to get beat, let's not let it be because of open looks offered Conley and guys like Quincy Pondexter. 

• Salsa piccante, Marco (this has been Italian brought to you by Google). With Rip Hamilton out and Hinrich seemingly injuring a different part of his body every other day, the Bulls have relied on Marco Belinelli to provide some offensive pop. Belinelli is averaging just 22 minutes per game this season, but is averaging 39 per in his last six outings. In that span, he's shot a Korver-esque 43% from three and has averaged 19 ppg. No, he is not Kyle Korver, but his play of late has been pretty encouraging, especially after Thibs used him only sparingly earlier in the season. Belinelli will draw a tough matchup in Tony Allen; he'll need to put up at least 13 or 14 if the Bulls are going to have a shot.

Useless Prediction Time  

•  Evil Boozer shows up in this one. 
• After averaging just 13.4 mpg for a 4-game stretch, Taj Gibson got 25 against Philadelphia; however, he only got 15 against Brooklyn on Saturday. If Boozer's jumper is not falling early, I expect him to have a much shorter leash this game. Gibson should get 20+ minutes. 
• Despite Boozer, Gibson and Noah will do a decent job of neutralizing the Memphis frontcourt, and so I think this game will come down to guard play. Can Belinelli get away from the airtight D of Allen and can Nate Robinson stay in front of Conley? I'm leaning toward no on both accounts. 
• Bulls 81, Grizzlies 93.

Michigan-West Virginia: What More Can I Say

Explicit lyrics (obviously) 

Michigan traveled to play in its second New York borough during this 2012-13 season, this time taking on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the new Barclays Center on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

The Mountaineers beat what seems to be an okay Virginia Tech team last Saturday only to drop a contest against Duquesne on the road, shooting 33.3% from the field and relinquishing a 15-point second half lead in the process.

In any case, WVU was a tournament team last season. Kevin Jones is no longer around, but the Mountaineers still have the ability to challenge you if you're not on. 

For Michigan, this game mirrored the motion of a pendulum that somehow manages to knock you in the head on each end point of its travels. This team is young but plays like it is older. This team is young and plays like it is young. 

Luckily, the sheer gravity of this team's overall talent almost always pulls the pendulum back from the latter. Michigan ambushed the Mountaineers early, jumping out to a huge lead; naturally, Michigan came out firing from beyond the arc, with THJ missing his first attempt and nailing a second to begin the scoring. At the 15:24 mark, Michigan was up 17-4.

Like many other times, Michigan shot the lights out early, starting 4/5 from three. Michigan followed this up by going 0/8 from beyond the arc between the 13:51 and 3:03 marks. Perhaps not coincidentally WVU was able to cut Michigan's lead from 15 down to 5 in that time. The Wolverines led just 34-29 with 3:24 left in the half. 

This has not been uncommon this season. There are times when Michigan falls in love with the trey and their prior levels of success with that strategy. In a sense, Michigan sort of sets itself up to fail in a way after going on these ridiculous shooting runs. Indeed, guys like Hardaway Jr., Burke and Morgan are veterans, but this is still a team that is largely dependent on the whims of freshmen like Stauskas, who finally had a truly rough night. The Canuck went 3-for-9 from the field (2-for-7 from 3), good for an entirely mortal eFG% of 44.4%.

There's not much point in dissecting the struggles of a guy like Stauskas too much. He had good looks, he just happened to miss tonight. It happens. At least one of those missed threes was more than halfway down before rimming out. Such is the life of a shooter.

With that said, although he drew a technical for this antic, it was nice to see him getting a little FIRED UP WOO after hitting that three in front of the WVU bench. Obviously he needs to not that do that anymore, but it was one of those moments where you're going YEAH on the inside while tsk tsking on the outside. 

Otherwise, forgetting about the threes: six turnovers for the Pride of Mississauga is not good. Matt Vogrich did not play at all once again, so it's not as if Stauskas is in any danger, but if you're going to have an off night from the night you simply cannot compound it by being careless with the ball, which needs to be valued like the richest poutine. 

Michigan's 11-point halftime lead quickly became a 17-point lead in about five minutes of second half play. The Wolverines kept a double-digit lead for the next seven or eight, generally continuing to dominate play as Hardaway Jr. and Burke racked up monstrous stat lines. 

Following the tv timeout just past the 8-minute mark (at this same point, Michigan was only up by four against Arkansas last week), eight points from WVU's Terry Henderson powered the 'Eers to an 11-4 run that cut the deficit to eight. 

Yes, Michigan was only up eight, which in this brave new world is supposedly cause for concern.

Like the Pitt, Kansas State, N.C. State and Arkansas games, even when Michigan wasn't shooting the ball well and the opponent began to challenge, as a viewer it never felt as if the outcome was in doubt. 

Michigan being up by four points with eight minutes to go this season is analogous to a Yankee team in the 8th inning with Mariano Rivera ready to enter the game in the ninth. In the past, it felt like what Cubs fan probably feel like when Carlos Marmol is on the mound; a sweaty, tense and often frustrating affair. Sometimes the shots would not fall, and Michigan would slowly cede ground until the game was lost in some brutally discordant fashion. 

Michigan no longer has to "hope" for shots to go in, because they just do. Even when they don't, the Wolverines are no longer bound by the strictures of heroball. 

Maybe Stauskas' off night is skewing my perception of this performance, but it once again seemed as if Michigan wasn't playing all that well. Yet, you look at the box score and Michigan has shot 56% from the field as a team while holding its opponent to just 38.5%. More importantly, they won by 15.

Thus far, this team has demonstrated a strange yet intriguing combination of showtime and inexperienced talent doing what inexperienced talent does. Michigan is 11-0 and I don't believe that anyone will claim that the Wolverines have played their best ball yet.

Think about that: the best is yet to come. I mean, what more can I say?

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. 

Michigan-Western Michigan: It's Good To Be The King

#3 Michigan (8-0) 73, Western Michigan 41 (6-2)

As a freshman in 2007, I went to every single home game during what was John Beilein's first season in Ann Arbor. Michigan went 10-22 that year, including a December loss against Central Michigan at home. That CMU team finished the 2007-08 season with a 14-17 record. It was one of many stultifying losses in a season marked by transition, not unlike the 3-9 2008 football season. 

Fast forward through four entire seasons, and here we are. You might as well be Philip J. Fry, emerging from millennium of cryogenic sleep to find himself in the brave new world that is the 31st century. 

This isn't the Michigan basketball of yesteryear, when turning it over 23 teams against a mediocre Michigan directional school was met with nothing more than resignation. 

Even as Michigan struggled through most of the first half, they held an 8-point lead about 14 minutes into the game. Even when Michigan was sloppy with the ball or when the shots didn't fall, there was never a sense that this MAC team existed in the same plane of competence as Michigan, as was the case with CMU back in 2007. 

---

With THJ shooting just 2-for-7 from the field and Nik Stauskas failing to connect from beyond the arc through over 15 minutes of first half play, Michigan looked to its trusty point guard to navigate it through the mildly choppy waters of the early stages. Burke was on in the first half this time around, unlike the past couple games when Michigan only needed him to facilitate the offense; Burke was 4-for-5 with 10 points and two steals through 16 minutes of play, powering Michigan to a 27-15 lead late in the half. 

After some sloppy play bogged Michigan down early on, the Wolverines settled down and continued to feast on Western's own carelessness throughout most of the half. The Broncos accrued 12 turnovers by the 3:56 mark, five of them Michigan steals (a pair from Burke and Morgan each and one from Stauskas). 

Michigan bled the shot clock on its next possession. Burke meandered around on the right side, and with only three seconds left on the shot clock, tossed it to newly minted contributor Caris LeVert at the top of the key. He rose, fired, and sank a trey to put Michigan up 15. 

On its next possession, Stauskas finally hit his first three of the game to put Michigan up 16. It probably says something that I'm using the word "finally" to describe a sequence during which a freshman hits a three in the first half of a game. 

For Michigan's next trick, THJ penetrated in the lane and found an open Mitch McGary at the basket for an open layup. 

I defy you to find a sequence of possessions such as the aforementioned trio in the entire body of work that was the 2007-08 season. I'm willing to guess that Michigan was not able to pull off an unbroken stretch of cold-blooded competence very many times way back then, against a Michigan directional school or not. 

Despite a relatively forgettable first half, Trey Burke and defense carried Michigan to a 35-21 halftime lead. 

Halftime Stats

--Michigan (1.04 PPP) 

--WMU (0.66 PPP)

 ---

By the 7-minute mark of the second half, Michigan had built up a 27-point lead, 61-34. The Broncos were shooting 31.6% from the field at this point, with Darius Paul the only double-digit scorer (and even he was just 3-for-11 from the field). 

Unlike the Bradley game, there was no hanging around for Michigan's overmatched opponent. It was a masterful half in which Michigan completely suffocated a WMU offense that was already pretty bad in the first half, and the offensive end was a 20-minute Michigan bicep flex. 

Up 70-36 late, Michigan was able to roll out a lineup of Vogrich-Albrecht-LeVert-McLimans-Horford for the home stretch (Corey Person and Eso Akunne came in at around the 2-minute mark).

Michigan blew up the 22-point spread in what ended up being a smashing 32-point victory. In case you just roused yourself from a 5-year nap, no, it is decidedly not 2007. In a vacuum, a win like this is as memorable as a random face on the subway. But, with the memory of 2007 in mind, wins like these are prominent points of divergence, counterpoints to a once fundamental incompetence. 

It is a brave new world indeed.

Michigan-Western Michigan Preview: Rollin'

#3 Michigan (7-0) vs. Western Michigan (6-1) 

Time: 8:30 ET (BTN) 

Place: Crisler Arena Center--Ann Arbor, Mich.

Exposition 
The Wolverines head back to the friendly confines of the Crisler Center after a comfortable road win against a seemingly improved Bradley team. Things were a bit dicey at the end, but such is the way of college basketball games on the road. 

Regardless, Michigan is riding high, particularly off of the efforts of freshman sharpshooter Nik Stauskas. At 8-0 and ranked third in the country, things are prettyyy, prettyyy, prettyyy good. 

The remainder of the nonconference schedule features all three Michigan directional schools, Binghamton, Arkansas and a fairly disappointing West Virginia team. Needless to say, a 14-0 start seems extremely likely for the Wolverines.

The Opponent  
Of course, this is college basketball, where upsets do happen. For all of Michigan's success to date, this is still a very young team; it will be interesting to see how the Wolverines respond when its freshmen finally play like freshmen, all in the same game. 

Western Michigan comes to town tonight, entering the contest with a 6-1 record. The Broncos dropped their season opener at Cornell, who currently sits at 4-5 on the season. 

Otherwise, the Broncos are riding a 6-game winning streak, beating the following stalwarts: Marygrove, Loyola (IL), Maryland-Eastern Shore, South Florida, HP (High Point, not a team of surprisingly nimble Hewlett-Packard employees) and Oakland.  Excluding the game against this so called "Marygrove," the Broncos have compiled an average margin of victory of 7.4 points, which seems like a modest sum even for a MAC team, but that is an impressionistic statement at best. 

Offensively, the Broncos are paced by a triumvirate of double-digit scorers in: 6'7'' senior F Nate Hutcheson (13.7 ppg); 6'8'' freshman F Darius Paul (11.7 ppg), brother of Illinois' Brandon Paul; and 6'4'' senior G Brandon Pokley (11.4 ppg). 

As a team, the Broncos are averaging a fairly middling 68.1 ppg, good for 176th in the country. For the sake of comparison, Bradley currently sits at 68th with 74.9 ppg. 

6'10'' RS Jr. center Shayne Whittington is also pitching in 9.9 ppg and a team high 8.6 rebounds per game. Indeed, he is basically an Ent. 

The Broncos seem to really only go seven deep, with small forward Connar Tava and guards Jared Klein and Austin Richie rounding out the regular rotation.

The Broncos are shooting an okay 37% from beyond the arc. Michigan's opponents have shot just 30.8% from downtown thus far. Hutcheson and Pokley have taken 58% of WMU's treys between them; Hutcheson is shooting just 33% whereas Pokley shoots a sterling 46%. As such, Pokley is clearly the guy to watch on the perimeter. 

The Gameplan  

Although Western Michigan has been relatively successful under head coach Steve Hawkins' tutelage, they are in fact still a MAC team. Especially at home, this is not a team that Michigan should struggle against a la last year's Oakland game. 

WMU does not possess exceptional depth or size, as you might expect. Their two most-used forwards are 6'7'' and 6'8''. Whittington is the only source of worry for Michigan in the front court. Otherwise, it's a medley of guards for this team. If Michigan doesn't go all 2009 Denard "broken plays are very dangerous" on this squad, that would not be good (although probably indicative of nothing save a disappointing singular performance). 

The Broncos do possess a shiny 37% offensive rebounding percentage, but schedule caveats certainly apply.  As long as Michigan cleans up the boards, this should be a pretty comfortable victory. Getting Whittington in foul trouble early would surely be a death knell to WMU's already minuscule chances at an upset. Whittington fouled out in WMU's last game against Oakland, and is averaging 2.71 fouls per game on the season. 

So, go to work, Michigan bigs that now exist because it is 2012 and up is down and down is up.  

Miscellaneous Stats 

• Slow and steady. Pace-wise, Michigan should feel right at home in this one; the Broncos are averaging 64.1 possessions per game, just under Michigan's 67.1 mark. The faint smell of molasses will linger in the Crisler Center air tonight. 

• Charity. WMU has amassed a decent FT rate of 42.5%, good for 74th in the country (Michigan is ranked 255th at 31.3%). Just like any other game, stupid fouls on Michigan's part are one of only a couple things that could keep this game somewhat close. 

• Give and take. Despite the less than difficult schedule, the Broncos have managed an assist to turnover ratio of exactly 1:1 (86 turnovers, 86 assists). Point guard Austin Richie leads the team in assists, but even he is only averaging 4.0 apg, with an assist percentage of 29.4 (140th in the country). Michigan should be able to force the Broncos into some ugly half court sets; again, as long as the Wolverines decline to present WMU with second chance opportunities, I don't see the Broncos consistently generating offense in the half court game.

Ending Thoughts, Predictions, Etc.
There really isn't much to say. This is a MAC team that Michigan should easily handle. At 6'10'', Whittington provides a decent matchup for Michigan's front court, but given Michigan's lockdown effort against Pitt 7-footer Steven Adams, this isn't much of a concern at all.

Michigan should be able to get the bench some significant run about halfway through the second half. The only thing I'm looking for tonight and heading into the rest of the nonconference schedule is how the freshmen, particularly Stauskas, respond when things start not turning up Milhouse all the time, which you have to think is an inevitability. I mean, he can't keep maintain his current eFG% of 75.0% forever, right? Right? The funny thing is, I'm not even sure that that is a rhetorical question.

Score: Michigan 75, Western Michigan 59.

Bloomin' Onions For Everyone

(HT: Michigan Football)

As you already know, Michigan and South Carolina have been tapped to play in the 27th Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. It's like the late '90's/early 2000's all over again. 

 Michigan enters college football's exhibition season postseason with an 8-4 record, having beaten essentially everyone they ostensibly should beat and losing to every team on the schedule worth something (although Saturday's Big Ten championship game makes the Nebraska loss a tad less easier to rationalize away, Denard's injury accounted for or not). 

The Gamecocks, on the other hand, enter with a 10-2 (6-2) record, with their only two losses coming in back-to-back on the road at LSU and Florida. The former was a hard-fought 2-point defeat, but the Florida game was the lone black mark on the 2012 docket for USC (a 33-point defeat against the Gators). 

The Gamecocks handled Georgia with ease back in early October, but just as in 2007, Georgia appears to be a much different team now than they were back then. Regardless, that 35-7 drubbing is impressive. 

Steve Spurrier's squad also boast a solid 10-point victory on the road at Clemson during rivalry week, a win which made Spurrier South Carolina's all-time leader in wins. Click clack indeed. The Gamecock defense held Clemson QB Tajh Boyd to fewer than 200 yards through the air (183 to be exact) and forced Boyd to throw a pair of picks. 

Although many Michigan fans may be breathing a sigh of relief as a result of avoiding Georgia, Florida and LSU, South Carolina will provide a tough test for a Michigan team that has not been able to run the ball with its tailbacks against basically anyone this season. Needless to say, what Michigan does on the offensive line to combat USC's talented front will go a long way toward determining the outcome, assuming the Michigan defense can continue to do what it has done all season post-Alabama. 

As always, I'm sure the Michigan blogosphere will dissect this matchup in painstaking detail in the coming weeks, but, for now, some numbers (NB: it doesn't look like Football Outsiders has updated to include the last two weeks of games): 

• South Carolina ranks 41st in offensive FEI and 6th in defensive FEI. Michigan is  25th and 23rd respectively in those departments. 

• In S&P (a play-by-play metric as opposed to the drive-oriented FEI), USC ranks 45th in offensive S&P+ (to Michigan's 10th) and 8th in defensive S&P+ (to Michigan's 29th). 

• Of course, South Carolina is 5th in the nation in sacks with 40. LET'S HAVE A REAL GOOD TIME. Clowney leads the way with 13, and fellow defensive ends Chaz Sutton, Aldrick Fordham and Devin Taylor have pitched in a combined 12.5 sacks themselves. Godspeed, play-actioning-after-not-really-establishing-a-run-threat-at-all Devin Gardner.

• Despite losing star tailback Marcus Lattimore to yet another extremely unfortunate knee injury in the Tennessee game, the Gamecocks finished the season with comfortable wins against Arkansas, Wofford and Clemson. Against Tennesee, Arkansas and Wofford, QB Connor Shaw completed 68% of his passes (50-82) for 750 yards and six touchdowns to three interceptions, in addition to two touchdown scores on the ground. He did have to sit out the Clemson game after a foot injury suffered against Wofford; backup Dylan Thompson performed admirably, completing 23 of 41 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns to only one interception.
• Shaw might not be Danny Wuerffel, but it appears that Spurrier has finally found an above average option at quarterback in Columbia. Shaw has had an efficient season through the air and is a dangerous runner as well. Although this play was called back on a clipping penalty, this Shaw run against Missouri speaks to his running ability: 

Game #15 Preview, Bulls-Sixers: Grudge

Chicago Bulls (7-7) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (10-6)

The Opponent 

After an encouraging face-saving blowout victory against the Mavs on Wednesday, the Bulls look to manufacture a bit of momentum at home tonight against the 10-6 76ers.  

After somehow dropping one at Cleveland (still without Kyrie Irving) and then another one at home against OKC, the Sixers are riding high, with three straight wins against NBA stalwarts like Phoenix, Dallas and Charlotte. 

Philadelphia sits at 6th in the East right now, a couple of spots ahead of the Bulls; so, this would definitely qualify as a solid early season win. 

The 76ers are paced by a familiar cast of characters: PG Jrue Holiday (18.2 ppg, 9.4 apg), SF Evan Turner (14.3 ppg) and SF Thaddeus Young (14.1 ppg). As far as true big men go, the Bynum-less Sixers are getting a shade over 13 ppg combined from Spencer Hawes and Lavoy Allen. They go about eight deep, with backup PG Royal Ivey and the venerable Kwame Brown averaging 13 and 12 minutes per game respectively. 

After this past season's playoff defeat, this is a team with which the Bulls are fairly familiar. Especially after Evan Turner's BULLETIN BOARD comments back in April, the Bulls should be ready to go for what should be a hotly contested and physical game. 

Unlike Dallas, the 76ers are right in the Bull's neighborhood vis-a-vis team points per game, with them averaging just 93.4 ppg (26th in the league). Unfortunately for the Bulls, Philly does shoot the trey very well, currently sitting at 39% as a team (6th in the league). So, as with almost every other game, stopping the 76ers starts with good shots on the offensive end. Long rebounds for the Bulls could spell doom, as the Bulls' general lack of athleticism is not conducive to transition defense. 

If the Bulls can make this a half court game, this can very easily be the proverbial grind-it-out, Big Ten-esque win that the Bulls are built for.  

Points of Concern 

Jrue Holiday makes it all work for the 76ers, as their top scorer and by far their top distributor. Kirk Hinrich and Nate Robinson will need to orchestrate quality sets on the offensive end and keep Holiday in front on defense or things could get a bit dicey. 

Otherwise, without Bynum, this isn't necessarily a scary team on paper. They are an average rebounding team in almost every respect; while the Bulls are still a top 10 rebounding team themselves, they have shown lapses from time to time, and are definitely an order of magnitude or two inferior to their rebounding prowess of the past couple of years.

What Needs To Happen 

• Evil Boozer. CTL+V. Boozer shot just 42% against the 76ers in the 6-game Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, failing to reach double-digit points in three of those games. In the Bulls' Game 6 series-losing defeat, he went a horrific 1-11 from the field. You would think that Philly is a team that Boozer can comfortably get his shots off against, but attempting to decipher the logic behind his performances is like trying to find meaning in modern art.  With that said, Philly slots in at 10th in the league in blocks per game, which is always a concern for a player like Boozer. 
• Transition D. The 76ers have a hard time scoring in general, but they have scored 100+ in each of their last three victories. The Bulls are still fairly stingy in the half court game, but transition defense, especially on the heels of some aimless offensive sets (due to the real lack of break-you-down-ability), will continue to be of utmost importance. 
• FIND. THE. SHOOTER. Offseason addition Jason Richardson had a big game Friday to push Philly past Charlotte; with Holiday and Turner doing most of the ball-handling/playmaking, the Bulls need to be aware of Richardson, who will sneakily camp out in either corner for open looks when the Bulls' on the ball D fails.

Useless Prediction Time

• The Bulls' bench pitched in 50 of the Bulls' total 101 points on Wednesday. The bench won't be as prolific this time around, but I am looking for Thibs to continue giving the bench some more run. 

• Noah has another big game on the glass; he pitched in a double-double on Wednesday (13 pts, 10 boards). Against another not so great rebounding team, Noah should put up some big numbers once again. 

• The Bulls hold the 76ers to under 100 for the first time since the latter's aforementioned clunker in Cleveland. Pursuant to the 2012-13 Chicago Bulls 100-point Rule...
• Bulls 97, 76ers 94.