Chicago Bulls Thread

[Andrew]

Caught a couple of highlights on Sportscenter (nice dunk by Gordon ), hopefully that will be one of games coming my way for this week. Post is slow because of the Christmas mail at the moment, so glad I decided to subscribe to a season ticket though.

[Andrew]

92-79 loss to the Pistons today...wouldn't have thought they'd fall like that given the lead they had early on but Detroit's resilience is hardly surprising so while it's disappointing it's not unbelieveable. Another nice game by Deng though.

[air gordon]

this grind it out style is already wearing on the bulls. they've look tired on the 2nd leg of back to back games

they had that lead then all of sudden they hit a wall and a lot of their shots were short

rasheed wallace was laughing while on the court after scoring several times on nocioni. i was very surprised no one fouled him hard, especially nocioni. i think in the next game someone's going to give him a little payback.

another woeful game by chandler...i dont think you can draw any positives from this game

up next are the mavs. dirk is always crying because the bulls play him physical

[Andrew]

No luck today, though I see Gordon and Deng had good outings at least in terms of scoring. Hinrich's absence was obviously a bit of a downer...funny that it should come after some rough play from Nowitzki.

[Ruff Ryder]

Those have to be the worst uniforms that I have ever seen.

[Drex]

I second that, they look like our national soccer team

[air gordon]

another stupid nba marketing tool

[Andrew]

Just saw photos on Yahoo. Fine example of retro nights going too far, they looked pretty out of place with Dallas wearing their regular jerseys as well.

[Andrew]

Timely win against the Magic today. With the top 10-12 teams in the East so close together, I don't think the Bulls can afford to fall behind early this year. Especially with talented teams that are struggling at present but could very well shoot up the standings in the next few weeks all so close to breaking the top eight. Nice to see Gordon get the starting nod with Hinrich sidelined, even if he didn't have a great game.

Deng continues to produce off the bench. I'm torn when it comes to starting him or keeping him on the bench. On one hand I do believe in starting your best outfit and starting players worthy of the honour, but he gives the second unit some stability/firepower and it's working out. Same deal with Gordon.

[Andrew]

Phew! Thought it was going to be another blown lead and a double digit loss 6 minutes into the fourth but I was glad to be wrong. Glad to see Deng get the starting nod, though it does mean that all that money is sitting on the bench in Tyson Chandler...but I can't blame Skiles for doing that. Deng's just been playing too well and Chandler...hasn't.

Songaila had a nice performance off the bench. That's the kind of role I think he's best suited for rather than being a starter. I certainly wouldn't mind him having more games like that. Hinrich and Duhon had great outings too. Hopefully Gordon can return soon though.

[Cable]

Does it bug you that you have the last three posts over a span of 3 days Andrew?

[Andrew]

Not really. I'm sure I'll get a reply sooner or later.

[air gordon]

way to keep the thread alive...

i missed yesterday's game vs the wiz

finally- deng is in the starting lineup

it's ironic paxson sent away one medical problem player but paid $63 million to another

up next is miami. i hope the fat man plays

[Andrew]

Signs are that he will. Should be fine as long as he doesn't get back to 100% by then. Well, perhaps not fine but any advantage that they can get...

[Jona]

When Deng is in the starting line-up along with Andrés, who plays what position?

[air gordon]

there are no centers on the bulls team. someone gets called a "center" by default

1 duhon
2 hinrich
3 deng
4 nocioni
5 sweetney

[Andrew]

100-97 loss to Miami, Deng had a chance for the tie but no dice. I don't mind the close losses so much though, at least at this point of the year. Heartbreaking as they can be, if they lose I'd rather it be decided in the waning minutes or at the buzzer than have them get thumped. Especially if it's an opponent who probably shouldn't be thumping them.

Songaila with 19 and 5 off the bench...I'd still rather he stayed there though. If nothing else he seems to be a better scorer when he's coming off the bench and he wasn't doing the team many favours in the starting five.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Funny thing is, the Chicago fans did not boo Riley as they used to do back in the days...

Times are a-changing, indeed...

[air gordon]

100-97 loss to Miami, Deng had a chance for the tie but no dice. I don't mind the close losses so much though, at least at this point of the year. Heartbreaking as they can be, if they lose I'd rather it be decided in the waning minutes or at the buzzer than have them get thumped. Especially if it's an opponent who probably shouldn't be thumping them.

Songaila with 19 and 5 off the bench...I'd still rather he stayed there though. If nothing else he seems to be a better scorer when he's coming off the bench and he wasn't doing the team many favours in the starting five.

this type of loss pisses me off. they should have won this game- missed ft's and stupid turnovers. and Chandler droppped a great pass from Songalia late in the game that lead to Shaq dunk on the break. 4 point swing right there. hinrich made some big shots late but again, missed some key ft's. with this loss, the bulls are playing better on the road instead of home

er Songalia was key today and i don't think he'll be starting anytime soon. when his shot is on, he should be on the court like he was against the heat. the bulls ran exclusively pick-n-roll with hinrich & Songalia down the stretch and it worked

his boxscore may look ok but again chandler was pathetic. wasn't much of a defensive presense- ZO owned him on both ends and tyson busted 3 layup opportunities. he's been diagnosed with exercised induced asthma. WTF- so if he runs he can't breath?? the guy is 22yrs old and already he's had back problems, a hernia, and now asthma

Funny thing is, the Chicago fans did not boo Riley as they used to do back in the days...

the fans don't have anything to boo him for anymore.

[Andrew]

I agree it's frustrating, but the blowouts are demoralising. They also suggest that plenty is wrong rather than a couple of blown opportunities. But hey, I don't particularly like to see a loss in any form. I just think the blowouts are somewhat depressing.

his boxscore may look ok but again chandler was pathetic. wasn't much of a defensive presense- ZO owned him on both ends and tyson busted 3 layup opportunities. he's been diagnosed with exercised induced asthma. WTF- so if he runs he can't breath?? the guy is 22yrs old and already he's had back problems, a hernia, and now asthma

Just one piece of good news about Chandler after the other, isn't it? I noticed he had a good number of rebounds but I really think he should be scoring around 10, 12 a game. As I've said before, the comforting thing about losing Curry in favour of Chandler so far has been that Curry hasn't gone Jermaine O'Neal on everyone and the Knicks aren't tearing up the league. But it's still not great news about Chandler so far this season.

[air gordon]

im glad we can agree losses suck

anyway- the bulls beat the raptors yet again. it's just too bad Jalen Rose didn't have a bigger hand in the defeat. nice of duhon to rediscover his jump shot.

our whooping boy chandler was player a very good game defensively up until he landed on songalia. it's been called a knee sprain- hope it's nothing serious. Tyson already said he'll be ready for friday's game against Detroit

But Chandler, who said he's feeling better with his shortness of breath diagnosed as an asthma-like condition, said he will be ready for the Pistons on Friday.

"I was going for a block," Chandler said. "I didn't see Darius [Songaila] underneath me and came down funny. I banged it and it kind of twisted. I'm fine. I'm starting to feel like my old self. The medication they gave me is really helping me out. I'm starting to feel more lively. … I'm happy, excited."

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com ... -headlines

[beau_boy04]

I'm having a hard deciding who's the best player in their team.

[air gordon]

i say luol deng is the most talented

kinda hard to say who's the best- normally skiles keeps in the guys that are playing the best for that given game

[Andrew]

Somewhat of a contrast between the last couple of games, the worst defeat so far this year at the hands of Detroit followed by the largest margin of victory against Boston.

They'll play Charlotte twice in the next five games which doesn't guarantee two victories but should be safer bets than their other opponents. They'll also face Cleveland twice as well as Memphis on the road.

[air gordon]

lol skiles had a 2hr practice the morning of the boston game...

his player rotations can be maddening. malik allen started in place of sweetney in 2nd half of the pistons game. lol wtf- allen was probably picking the splinters out of his butt when skiles notified him he'd be starting the 2nd half

i'll give skiles credit for maximizing the talent he's given (or not given). 12-11 is pretty decent. good enough for last in the Central lol

Paxson should have gotten another center for this team. the 6'9 and under lineup can only work so many times but when you face the big teams, they're going to get destroyed like they did against detroit. and a legit sized SG on the roster would be nice for a change