New Orleans Hornets Status Check:
Record: 19-34
Division: 4-7
Conference: 10-23
Road Record: 10-19
Last 10 Games: 5-5
Streak: Won 2
Last game: 99-63 win over Portland
PPG: 94.1 (23rd)
Opponents PPG: 97.1 (14th)
Offensive Rating: 105.0 (14th)
Defensive Rating: 108.4 (27th)
Pace: 88.9 (29th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .496 (11th)
Turnover Percentage: .142 (24th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .742 (8th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .274 (14th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .207 (18th)
Opp. eFG%: .511 (27th)
Opp. TO%: .132 (22nd)
Opp. FT/FGA: .207 (18th)
Leading scorer: Ryan Anderson (17.1)
Stats from Basketball-Reference
New Orleans Injury Report:
Eric Gordon: probable (sprained right hand)
Overview:
Unsure if Derrick Rose will return this season, the Bulls sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference after the All-Star Break. They limped into the break with a bunch of injuries, which showed as they went 2-5 over their last seven games (all against playoff teams).
The schedule doesn’t get much easier, as Chicago will play their last 30 games of the season. Before April, the Bulls play Miami twice (both at home), the Pacers twice, the Thunder, Spurs, Jazz, Nuggets, Nets, Warriors and Lakers. That’s a tough stretch even if Chicago was at full health.
The Bulls are getting a point guard back tonight, but it’s not the one many people were expecting by the All-Star Break. Kirk Hinrich will return to the lineup after missing seven games with an elbow infection. Hinrich will go back to the starting line-up, and Nate Robinson will come off the bench again.
Robinson has started 12 games this season, and has come off the bench 40 times. In the games he starts, he is averaging 13.7 points on 41.6 percent shooting in 35.0 minutes. In the games he is a reserve, he averages 11.5 points on 44.8 percent shooting in 20.4 minutes of action.
The Hornets are in last place in the Southwest division, but are on a two-game win streak and are 4-1 in their last five games. They are coming off a blowout win over the Trail Blazers, in which Portland shot 32.4 percent from the field and was out-rebounded 52-35 (15-6 on the offensive glass). Only three players for Portland scored in double-figures and two of their best players combined for nine. Nicolas Batum went 1-10 from the field for three points and LaMarcus Aldridge wasn’t much better, shooting 2-11 and finishing with six points. Everyone on the Trail Blazers recorded a negative plus/minus except Wesley Matthews, who played two minutes and recorded a zero.
Anthony Davis posted a double-double (21 points, eleven boards), Ryan Anderson went 2-5 from deep off the bench for 14 points and Greivis Vasquez overcame his poor shooting (3-8) to tally ten points, eight assists and five rebounds.
Not to take anything away from the Hornets, but it seems like Portland was looking ahead to the All-Star break a little bit, rather than worrying about that one last contest.
The Bulls had their own embarrassing loss to enter the break, falling to Boston in a 71-69 game that lacked offense (and fun). The Celtics shot 36.8 percent, only to be outdone by the Bulls 36.5 percent. The Bulls out-rebounded Boston, 49-39, but turned it over 22 times for 20 points going the other way. The Bulls scored eleven points off 12 Boston turnovers.
Tonight is the last time this season the Bulls will play the Hornets, and Chicago can get revenge for an 89-82 early November loss. Boozer went 1-8 in the loss, as did Kirk Hinrich. Rip Hamilton made two shots, matching Boozington and Kirk by himself, but also missed ten. Those three guys combined for ten points. Luol Deng led the Bulls with 19 points and Nate scored 15 off the bench, but Chicago shot 33.0 percent and finished 3-17 from deep.
The Pelicans, who were missing number one pick Anthony Davis because of a concussion, didn’t shoot well, but did enough to take care of the Bulls. Vasquez scored 18 points; Robin Lopez went 7-10 from the field and posted 16 points and four blocks. Jason Smith hit 4-5 shots and all eight free throws off the bench for New Orleans as he dropped 16 points.
Eric Gordon is also expected to play tonight. Gordon is averaging 16.4 points this season.
Derrick Rose and the Bulls got punched in the mouth by the Clippers.
Back when I was four or five years old, my mom once dragged me to visit my great grandmother on a Friday night. That was the last thing I wanted to do, not because I didn’t love my great grandma, but because Friday night was when CBS aired my favorite television show: The Incredible Hulk. I finally nagged my mom into leaving so I wouldn’t miss Bill Bixby’s first transformation into Lou Ferrigno. No sooner had we pulled into the garage than I jumped out of the car and raced to the living room…where I promptly tripped over our dog and faceplanted directly onto the TV stand.
I ended up making a trip to the emergency room, losing a tooth and missing the entire Hulk episode. My point? Sometimes you go home and fall flat on your face. Just ask the Chicago Bulls.
Ah, those zany Bulls. Just a few short days ago, they made history by becoming the first NBA team to ever win five games in a row against winning teams on a road trip, Derrick Rose was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team, and Charles Barkley gave mad props to Vinny Del Negro and Joakim Noah.
Then the Bulls got thumped by the Los Angeles Clippers in their first game back in the United Center. Talk about a buzz kill.
And ah, those zany Clippers. Last week, they lost back-to-back road games by double digits to the New Jersey Nets (4-42) and Minnesota Timberwolves (11-38) before getting obliterated by the Cavaliers in Cleveland. Let’s face it, The Other L.A. Team was reeling. This game should have been a gimmie for the red-hot Bulls. Or so I thought.
Well, apparently the Bulls thought so too, because they showed up and played like a team that expected the win to be given to them. But this is the NBA. Wins aren’t gift wrapped and handed out, teams have to take them. Well, Vinny didn’t have his team prepared to do that, and the players obviously weren’t ready to face a Clippers squad that was desperate to salvage a little pride after their recent disasters.
The result: Chicago shot 38 percent as a team and gave up 24 points off 20 turnovers. And mind you, the Bulls had a full three days off after beating the Hornets in New Orleans on Friday night, which made their sloppy, disjointed effort even more disappointing.
Nobody played well. Nobody. Derrick Rose went 7-for-20 from the field (including 2-for-12 on jumpers) and finished with just as many turnovers as assists (4 and 4). Luol Deng was 6-for-14 and made some incredibly stupid plays, like overdribbling for 10 seconds and then trying to shoot over Marcus Camby. Kirk Hinrich finished 3-for-9 and appeared to have lost confidence in his shot by the end of the game. Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson played like their feet were hurting. The bench missed 17 of 24 shots.
What happened to that “us against the world” mentality? The Bulls came out flat and, at times, looked intimidated by the Clippers’ 18th ranked defense. Marcus Camby (11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 blocks) was an impenetrable wall. Chris Kaman (21 points, 11 boards) was a bully. And the Chicago players apparently needed a map to locate Eric Goron (a game-high 24 points, including 18 in the first half). Ditto for Rasual Butler (16 points, 6-for-8, 3-for-3 from downtown).
Said Rose: “We were just making bad plays, making bad decisions. It was tough the whole night.”
Added Captain Kirk: “We were doing what it takes to win on the road. Tonight we lacked intensity and got beat for it.”
Concluded Noah: “We didn’t come with the right energy.”
Okay, okay, sure. But that’s al “Captain Obvious” type of stuff. The better question to answer is: Why? Why did they play like that after performing so well on the road? They appeared to be a step slow on defense, and there was waaaaaay too much standing around on offense. The Bulls do not have talented one-on-one players, and yet there were countless possessions that were one-pass-and-shoot, or even no-pass-and-shoot.
Said Vinny: “…our activity was so complacent as far as ball movement.”
No kidding.
Of course, the road trip should have taught us that as Rose goes, so go the Bulls. And Derrick simply didn’t have it last night. Said Rose: “I was definitely off. My rhythm wasn’t there. It seemed all game we were turning it over, making bad decisions.”
It’s a brutal reminder that, as well as the team has played lately, their margin of error is exceedingly slim.
“We’re not a team that can take anyone lightly,” said Vinny. “When your top players don’t play well, it’s hard to beat good teams. It’s hard to beat any team, for that matter.”
Again I say: No kidding.
By the way, By The Horns reader Tony C. disagreed with the props that Barkley (and this blog) gave out to Del Negro and felt that this game was a perfect example of bad coaching: “Case in point: roughly 2:30 to go in the third quarter tonight, VDN calls a timeout. The Bulls come out and immediately turn the ball over. This is absolutely typical – and damning – of Del Negro’s quality as a coach. Timeouts crystalize coaches’ decision making; they are much like chess moves, in that the coach has far more control over that single play than the vast majority of (more spontaneous) plays. The Bulls are typically terrible out of timeouts, underscoring just how bad a tactician VDN is. Oh, and after that timeout, the Bills went from down six or eight to down eighteen in a matter of two minutes. VDN sat and watched the Clippers’ momentum building, rather than calling another timeout to stop the bleeding.”
And so here we are again, question the Bulls, their talent, their desire, and, naturally, their coaching. Maybe we’ll get some answers tonight in Philly.
TrueHoop Network:
Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog: “Chris Kaman appears a lot more comfortable as a jump shooter than as a post practitioner, but you’d never know he’s nursing a bad ankle. He grabs 11 rebounds, dishes out some pretty assists. The Clips are now a .500 team when Kaman suits up. Whether it’s because he’s talented, or because his coach has made him the entry point for the offense, or because he’s a lot more valuable than his defensive replacements, it’s increasingly clear that the Clippers aren’t going to compete without a healthy Kaman.”
Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Advanced Box Score, Play-By-Play, Shot Chart, Photos.