The Chicago Bulls Season- Never Say Never

[skateballer]

Daaaaammmn! Nice shot by Luol. BTW, nice win

[H Rock]

Wow, exciting game. And nice dunk by Chandler.

[Yougi]

Nice job Finally a win

[bullsfan009]

Daaaaammmn! Nice shot by Luol. BTW, nice win

thanks skateballer

Wow, exciting game. And nice dunk by Chandler.

and thank you Negative One

Nice job Finally a win

Yes, hopefully there's more to come

[bullsfan009]

Game 5: Chicago Bulls (1-3) @ Phoenix Suns (1-0)

FINAL SCORE: SUNS 107, CHI 90
The high-scoring Suns simply played their style and dominated the Bulls in Phoenix. They shot 52.6% in the game, which they broke wide open in the 2nd quarter by outscoring the Bulls 31-18. They led by 12 at halftime, and 9 after 3 quarters. Bulls coach Scott Skiles decided to try a fast & small lineup of Duhon-Gordon-Hinrich-Nocioni-Deng, and had some success as the Bulls closed the gap to just 3 points early in the 4th quarter. But Phoenix stormed ahead and never looked back- running away with the game and a 17-point win.
Key Players: For the Suns, Raja Bell had a good game with 22 pts and 5 asts. Steve Nash had an off night, but still contributed 14 pts, 5 rebs, and 7 ast to his team. It was Shawn Marion, though, that did the most damage to the Bulls, scoring 29 pts, grabbing 4 rebs, and blocking 3 shots.
For Chicago, Kirk Hinrich and Mike Sweetney both really struggled, each shooting 3-for-15 in the game. Chris Duhon's 19 pts and Luol Deng's 14 pts, 5 rebs, and 3 ast were pretty much the only bright spots on a night when the entire team shot 37.8%.

COACH'S CORNER
Bulls coach Scott Skiles: "We didn't compete like we're capable of tonight, and I'm disappointed. We didn't shoot the ball well on our side, and then we couldn't stop Phoenix on their side. It's easy to see why we lost by 17. It's been a tough start to the season so far, and a lot of that blame I put on myself. Being that we have so many young guys and no real stars on the team, I've got to find the right combination of guys out there who are going to give us the best chance to win, night in and night out."

Suns coach Mike D'Antoni: "I thought we defended our home floor well. Raja had a good game, and I liked Kurt Thomas's hustle on the boards with 13 rebounds. Chicago is a fiesty team, they came all the way back in the start of the 4th, but our guys were shooting the ball too well tonight to give this game up."

HIGHLIGHTS

Mike Sweetney dunks in the lane. Sweets struggled on this night, shooting just 3-for-15.


The Suns' Boris Diaw runs over Luol Deng, and the referee is right on top of the play with the call: offensive foul!

STATS SECTION
BULLS: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/Gm5_CHI.txt
SUNS: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/Gm5_PHO.txt
TEAMS: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/Gm5_TEAMS.txt

BULLS RECORD= 1-4

[skateballer]

Tough loss, but nice recap

[Keo]

Bit of a tough start to the season but hopefully the team can pick it up and make a good run at the Play-Offs. Glad you brought the clips back, btw.

[bullsfan009]

Tough loss, but nice recap

thanks skateballer

Bit of a tough start to the season but hopefully the team can pick it up and make a good run at the Play-Offs. Glad you brought the clips back, btw.

It's still early, I've only played 5 games and there's 24 to go. Thanks for following, Sensation

[H Rock]

That offensive foul you captured. I find it so hard to get charges called for me. It's like, my man gets knocked over, and no offensive foul called. Tough loss, though. It will probably take you a while to adjust to the level of play.

[bullsfan009]

That offensive foul you captured. I find it so hard to get charges called for me. It's like, my man gets knocked over, and no offensive foul called. Tough loss, though. It will probably take you a while to adjust to the level of play.

couple of possibilities- are you outside of the half-circle under the basket when your man is hit? And also, are you holding down the "Take Charge" button? And finally, maybe your sliders are set in a way that makes the refs look the other way from collisions around the rim...

[bullsfan009]

Game #6: Chicago Bulls (1-4) @ Orlando Magic (3-6)

FINAL SCORE: BULLS 111, MAGIC 89 win #2!
The Bulls got off to a fast start on the road in Orlando, leading 34-23 after the first quarter. It was Darius Songaila who had the hot hand, scoring 12 points on 5-7 shooting, including a few long jumpers. The Magic were never able to dig out of that initial hole, trailing by 9 at halftime, and then 15 after 3 quarters, 90-75. Grant Hill had 20 points by the half, but was held to 6 for the rest of the game. His team just gave a lackluster effort at home, and for it they got blown out. The Bulls emptied their bench in the 4th quarter, and cruised to an easy 22 point win.

Key Players: Besides Grant Hill's 26 pts and 4 rebs, only Jameer Nelson and Kelvin Cato had positive impacts for the Magic. Nelson scored 20 pts, including a big 3rd quarter in which he was 6-for-8 shooting, and Cato had 10 rebs and 6 blks.
The Bulls, on the other hand, had an extremely well-rounded effort. Six players scored in double figures, led by Songaila's 19 pts, to go with 12 rebs. And despite a well rounded statline of 13 pts, 6 reb, and 6 ast, Kirk Hinrich continued to really struggle with his shot- 6 for 18 shooting. He's just 12-for-46 in his last 3 games (26.1% ).

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Darius Songaila (19 pts, 12 rebs, 2 ast, 8-for-15 FGs)

COACHES' CORNER
Bulls coach Scott Skiles: "This was a great win for our ballclub. We played very unselfish basketball with getting 30 assists, were aggressive on defense as we forced 18 turnovers, and we shot a great percentage our there. The only thing I'm concerned about is Kirk Hinrich's really poor shooting over the last three games. He's got the ability, he just needs one big game to get his confidence up. He's a tough kid, though, he's just going to keep on battling out there and try to help his team win in the different ways that he can."

Magic coach Brian Hill: "I'm disappointed, obviously, that we were handled on our home floor like that. I'd hoped that we would play with much more emotion and desire, but we were lackluster. Also, only 10 assists in the game to 18 turnovers- that shows that we just weren't playing smart and as a team. We've got to rebound from this quickly, and not let such a bad loss dwell in our heads, because in the NBA, you've always got to be geared up for the next game."

HIGHLIGHTS

The Bulls had fun in the 4th quarter, as the bench got to play with a big lead. Here Jannero Pargo feeds Malik Allen with the alley-oop.


The marquee matchup of the game was Kirk Hinrich vs. Steve Francis. The fans were disappointed to see Francis finish with just 6 pts on 3-for-13 shooting. Kirk was a little better- 13 pts on 6-for-18 FGs. But he also contributed 6 rebs and 6 asts in a 22-point win.


Darius Songaila hits one of his 5 first quarter shots. He led the team with 19 pts and 12 rebs.

STATS SECTION
Bulls Stats: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/pstat001.txt
Magic Stats: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/pstat000.txt
Team Stats: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/gstat000.txt

BULLS' RECORD: 2-4

[Keo]

That's more like it! Very balanced scoring for the Bulls. Nice job holding Francis to 6!

[DREeaZy06]

nice recaps, u finally got that second win and i like your GIFS and ur recaps keep it up

[bullsfan009]

That's more like it! Very balanced scoring for the Bulls. Nice job holding Francis to 6!

thanks Sensation, Hinrich put the lock-down on 'em...now if he could only start to shoot well, I could maybe put some wins together...

nice recaps, u finally got that second win and i like your GIFS and ur recaps keep it up

thanks DREeaZy06, I'm getting better I believe.

[H Rock]

are you outside of the half-circle under the basket when your man is hit?

Yes.

And also, are you holding down the "Take Charge" button?

Quite definitely.

And also, are you holding down the "Take Charge" button?

Hm, I never thought about that.

And no wonder Stever Francis shot 3-13. He took 9 threes...and missed all of them.

By the way, just a suggestion: If you are recapping a close game, then I don't think you should post the result right at the top. That way, as people read the reacap, there's some suspense.

[skateballer]

Yes! Keep up the good work...and recaps

[Yougi]

By the way, just a suggestion: If you are recapping a close game, then I don't think you should post the result right at the top. That way, as people read the reacap, there's some suspense.

That is a good idea... geez!

[bullsfan009]

are you outside of the half-circle under the basket when your man is hit?

Yes.

And also, are you holding down the "Take Charge" button?

Quite definitely.

And also, are you holding down the "Take Charge" button?

Hm, I never thought about that.

hey I didn't know if you were new to the game or what...it must be your sliders, then.

By the way, just a suggestion: If you are recapping a close game, then I don't think you should post the result right at the top. That way, as people read the reacap, there's some suspense.

that's a really good idea, I will try to remember to do that for all my games now- w/the final score coming last. Thanks

Yes! Keep up the good work...and recaps

thanks again skateballer

[mercyless41]

hi bullsfan! ive already started a bulls dynasty. i think u have problems with ur playing. lookin at ur roster... well it looks like a great team (maybe surrealistic for some players) but u cant win. im playin with 04-05 roster patch and im in game 6 too (5-1 record). lookin at the scores it seems u get too many pts. from the other teams. i think u have to improve ur dfense.

what camera did u use to play?
ur team is fast break or half court?
did u use a tall sweep player to dfend or always press the baller?
whats ur team overall rating?

[bullsfan009]

Yes, my defense has been poor. But I've also been getting frustrated with a few aspects of the game, mainly:

instant double-teaming by the CPU whenever you post up...my inside FG % must be like 30%, seriously, because I'm always shooting on 2 guys.
I can't take anybody off the dribble!!! When on on the perimeter, my player always faces the other direction from the basket, because his defender is on him. So if I try a crossover or spin move, I'm performing the moves going towards half-court, not inside to the paint! So the only way I'm getting free to drive is when I get a pick.

Do you have any advice on how to resolve these problems?

And to answer the rest of your questions:
I don't like the normal behind-view, so I use a zoomed-out-to-the max sideline view (I think that's what it's called)...it's more like on TV
I play more a half-court style
I mix it up on defense. Sometimes I patrol the paint with Chandler, other times I'll press the ballhandler with Hinrich or Duhon especially
Where do you find the overall team rating? I'm not sure what mine is...

thanks for trying to help mercyless41

[H Rock]

When will you update? You haven't updated for more than a week.

[bullsfan009]

Sorry for the wait, Negative One and everybody else...

Game 7: Chicago Bulls (2-4) @ New Orleans Hornets (4-5)

The Bulls and Hornets squared off hooked up for a thriller in Oklahoma City. After both teams started off slow with dismal shooting efforts in the first quarter (CHI- 33%, NO- 32%), things heated up in the 2nd. Speedy Claxton came off the bench for the Hornets and took apart the Bulls' defense with his great quickness. He scored 12 points on practically all layups in the period. For the Bulls, Tim Thomas saw his first action of the season, and made a great contribution with scoring and rebouding. His size (6'10") and offensive versatility could land him a big role on the team, if he can hold his own defensively.

So at halftime, it was the Hornets with a 52-45 halftime lead. Both teams came out in the 2nd half simply on fire offensively. The Bulls had 9 assists en route to scoring 31 points in the 3rd, on 54% shooting. And the Hornets were even better with 33 points on 64% FGs. JR Smith and Desmond Mason combined to shoot 9-for-10 .

So the Bulls found themselves down by 9 (85-76), on the road to a hot-shooting team. "We had to step it up defensively," coach Scott Skiles said. And they did. Lightning-fast switching and ball-hawking by Bulls defender stifled the Hornets into a 6-for-23 effort in the 4th- just 26%! The Bulls also completly dominated the glass, with a 16-7 margin in the period. And offensively, Chicago stormed back with 57% shooting, and clutch play from their guards. With the Bulls up 100-98 with 19 seconds left, Kirk Hinrich got the ball and...



KABOOM! He hits the dagger, putting the Bulls up 5. That capped a 5-for-6 4th qtr for Kirk. His backup, Ben Gordon, played alongside him and had 2 big threes as well. So the Bulls pulled out the victory, 103-98.

KEY PLAYERS
Luol Deng (CHI): 15 pts, 6-9 FGs
Ben Gordon (CHI): 15 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast
Kirk Hinrich (CHI): 22 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 8-17 FGs
Tim Thomas (CHI): 8 pts, 11 reb, 3 ast
Desmond Mason (NO): 21 pts, 8 reb, 10-13 FGs
Chris Paul (NO): 11 pts, 3 reb, 8 ast, 5-20 FGs
J.R. Smith (NO): 24 pts, 5 reb
David West (NO): 14 pts, 9 reb

MORE HIGHLIGHTS

Tim Thomas can be an explosive player for the Bulls if he can crack Scott Skiles's lineup.


Desmond Mason rises high for the jam.

STATS SECTION
Game Stats: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/gstat000.txt
Bulls' Stats: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/pstat001.txt
Hornets' Stats: http://bullsfan09.atspace.com/pstat000.txt

BULLS RECORD: 3-4

[skateballer]

Nice win

[KIG1]

o baby! kirk

[H Rock]

The stats for the Hornets are the stats from your last game against Orlando.

But great win, that must have been great when Hinrich hit that three. And I like your new recapping style. Much more suspensful, as I said. And I like how you let the gif do the telling, not just you writing it.