by ChiFan23 on Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:17 am
Record: 14-18 (5-3 since last update)
Latest News
Ben Wallace won his second consecutive East Player of the Month Award (November & December). This is suprising really because he's dropped off since last month. He's averaging 18.5 pts / 16 boards / 2.5 blocks which I suppose is great.
Luol Deng continues to shine on the court. Lately he's been instrumental in taking over games as an inside scorer, outside scorer, and team assists leader. Ben Wallace doesn't score without the help of Luol Deng. What's been real suprising is how Luol has been hitting tres with ease. Pau, Thomas, and Wallace opened those up as I use them to work inside, which causes Dengs defender to come up and help which I then pop the ball back out where Deng follows with an outside bucket. He's been my most consistent performer.
Tyrus Thomas won East Rookie of the Month for December. He's very effective coming off the bench and usually helps bring the game closer or put the game out of reach. He's been improving in his post defense as well as at the free throw line.
Pau Gasol slumped but he's returning to form. His free throws have dropped off from 72% to 68% which means that I cannot trust him at the line anymore.
Ben Gordon suffered a small injury but came back just fine. He's back to leading the team in scoring and has resumed his usual streakiness. I do have to admit though that he cannot be trusted with the game on the line. In the loss to Pheonix, he had a chance to send the game into OT with a small jumper but instead he put the ball on the front of the rim. We lost that game 100-98. I should have just let Deng handle that duty since he was on fire anyways.
During Gordon's downtime, I had the chance to see more of Daniel Gibson. He's been very consistent at passing the ball, is second on the team in free throw percentage (Danny Fortson leads), and has continued to show his usefulness by taking over for Gordon when he needs a good breather.
Danny Fortson has been seeing more and more playing time lately. During the Pheonix game, Wallace was finally injured which pushed Fortson out onto the court. Scored 7 points, five of those from the free throw line, 1 block, 2 assists, and 7 rebounds.
Latest Schedule Results:
Chicago 93 . New York 77
One of my better team performances. Tyrus Thomas lit the Knicks up in 13 minutes of floor time with 22 points, team leader. Pau Gasol knocked down 10 shots, none from the free throw and grabbed 7 boards. Ben Gordon finished with 12 and 7 assists while Deng went 8 of 13 for 19 pts, 4 boards, 3 assists. Knicks continued to show their individuality with Curry scoring 25 and 15 boards. Steve Francis lead the game in scoring with 33, 20 of those coming off the help of Stephon Marbury.
Charlotte 65 . Chicago 87
The Bulls set a season low for points allowed in a quarter when the Bobcats only managed 8 points in the second quarter as the Bulls finished the half on top 43-31. Pau Gasol was awarded Game MVP when he finished with 24 and 18 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block while turning the ball over zero times and commiting no fouls. The suprise of this game was Daniel Gibson has he finished with 14 and 7 assists. Eight of his points came from the free throw line. Ben Wallace ended with 19 and 17 boards. Emeka Okeafor was a non-factor as he found himself in foul trouble early and only played 10 minutes scoring 3 points, 1 board, and 1 steal. He fouled out in the third quarter.
Chicago 83 . Minnesota 74
I was looking to make Garnett become a non-factor but of course that failed. Instead, I had to rely on Wallace and Thomas to do damage on the inside. It apparently worked because I left victoriously but it was an ugly game. Daniel Gibson continues to impress as he finished with 9 and 8 assists. Ben Gordon, coming off injury, finished with 5 in 14 minutes of action. Wallace ended with 23 and 12 boards, 2 blocks. Kevin Garnett finished with 23 and 16, 2 steals, 2 blocks.
Miami 104 . Chicago 59
Embarrassment all over the court. Dwayne Wade dominated with 42 points as Ben Gordon, fully healthy was unable to do anything and was missing all over finishing 5 of 22 for 12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists. Shaq Diesel scored 27 of his own with 14 boards. Meanwhile, Ben Wallace was crap scoring 8, 4 boards, and 5 personals. Luol Deng was our only glimmer of hope as he scored 17, grabbed 7 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block.
Chicago 84 . Toronto 98
We entered this game setting out to make up for our last meeting where Ben Gordon missed an easy jumper at the buzzer to lose the game 98-97. Instead, it appears that we were still feeling the effects of the embarrassing performance versus Miami the night before. Chris Bosh, Bonzi Wells, and TJ Ford owned our defense. Wells and Ford finished with 29 each while Bosh ended with 17 and 10 boards. Gordon, Deng, and Gasol tried to do everything they could but the lack of effort from everyone else was enough to do the Bulls in as they fell for the second time to the Raptors.
Cleveland 70 . Chicago 72
In a suprising move, considering this is a rivalry matchup, division game, conference opponent, Mike Brown chose to sit LeBron James. In our previous matchup the Cavaliers won by 49 points in a 124-75 blowout. In that matchup, Gasol was wearing a Grizzlie uniform too. Anyways, heading into the game our objective was to make sure that Ilgauskas did not control my inside game. We worked to get Ilgauskas to the outside rather than letting him stay inside and I firmly believe that we won because of that gameplan. In our previous matchup, Ilgauskas finished with 11 points, 19 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 5 BLOCKS!! This time Ilgauskas finished with 11 points, 8 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 5 BLOCKS!! The only real difference was his inability to get inside to grab the rebounds which set up second chance points for my guys. Without LeBron James, I was able to set my attention to only one guy and it payed off. Larry Hughes still lit me up with 35 points but it was not enough to put a notch in the W column for the Cavaliers who currently sit on top of the Power Rankings and lead the league in win percentage. Luol Deng stole show with 7 points, 14 boards, 3 assists, and 1 steal.
Pheonix 100 . Chicago 98
This was a suprising game as the Bulls actually led the Suns for a little while but as usual it was the Suns who stole the show. Amare Stoudamire and Steve Nash were the main attractions. Amare ended with 28 points, 17 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks. Nash closed with 36 points, 2 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal. Gordon finished with 27 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 steal. Deng closed at 25 points, 3 boards, 7 assists, 1 block. As the seconds ticked away, Gordon was given the chance to send the game into OT but instead game up with a brick. This was his second chance to either tie or make the game winning shot and his second time to brick.
Chicago 106 . New Jersey 98
It was apparent the second we started this game just where the Nets weakness was at as Ben Wallace managed to finish with a season, possibly career-high (not sure of this one) 37 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. It was so easy to score inside in this game. Gasol finished with 16 points and 10 boards. Luol Deng continued his light show with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists. Ben Gordon hit 17 points, 3 rebounds, 10 assists. At the end of the game, the Bulls finished with 36 assists. Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson was not enough fire power for the Nets as they really lacked that inside presence.