Update: Kirk Hinrich (elbow) and Joakim Noah (plantar fasciitis) and Carlos Boozer (hamstring) are all out again tonight. Hinrich is expected to be out at least a week with this injury. Taj Gibson, Luol Deng, Jimmy Butler, Rip Hamilton and Nate Robinson are starting for the Bulls, which means extended minutes for Gibson, Deng and Butler (Nazr Mohammed continues to fall in Tom Thibodeau’s eyes).
Atlanta Hawks Status Check: Record: 29-16
Division: 9-3
Conference: 17-11
Home Record: 16-7
Last 10 Games: 5-5
Streak: Won 1
Last game: 93-92 win over Toronto
PPG: 96.7 (14th)
Opponents PPG: 96.0 (9th)
Offensive Rating: 104.3 (16th)
Defensive Rating: 103.5 (9th)
Pace: 91.4 (16th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .515 (5th)
Turnover Percentage: .145 (28th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .731 (17th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .233 (26th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .165 (28th)
Opp. eFG%: .491 (13th)
Opp. TO%: .147 (5th)
Opp. FT/FGA: .187 (6th)
Leading scorer: Josh Smith (16.8)
Atlanta Injury Report:
Anthony Morrow: out (strained hip/sore back)
Zaza Pachulia: questionable (sore Achilles)
Lou Williams: out (torn ACL)
Overview:
Chicago lost their first game of a five game road trip, but that isn’t the bad news. They may have lost Joakim Noah for an extended period of time with plantar fasciitis. The last time Noah dealt with this injury, it was in his other foot, and it kept him out for 18 games. The fact that Noah has been through this before could help his return, but it’s still too early to know.
“I know it’s hard to come back from,” Noah said. “But I’m on it a lot earlier than I was last time and I think the difference was that last time I just tried to keep fighting through it and keep fighting through it. And I’m just trying to be smart about it, because I just know that if I would have kept playing on it, even just today, I would probably have been out for a lot longer. I’m just trying to be smart.”
Being smart is the key. There is no reason to rush Noah back. If we are being honest, there is no reason he was playing nearly 39 minutes a night to begin with, but that’s a different story. Right now, Noah is the most important Bull. Chicago needs to take the same care with Noah as it is with Derrick Rose. If that means Noah misses 15 to 20 games, then so be it. It’s just unfortunate that the Bulls don’t have a Turkish center as Noah’s backup that just so happens to be an elite rebounder and elite defender. I mean, that would be really hard to find and if a team does have something like that, they probably wouldn’t just give it up.
Not only was Noah out, but Kirk Hinrich, Carlos Boozer and obviously Derrick Rose were missing as well. The Bulls put in a great effort, even led going into the fourth quarter, but eventually—and not surprisingly—ran out of gas down the stretch. Taj Gibson (16 points, nine rebounds) played the entire game and Luol Deng (18 points) sat for just four seconds, when he went out with an injury.
Four guys—Gibson, Deng, Jimmy Butler and Nate Robinson—played more than 40 minutes.
Tom Thibodeau will surely say the Bulls have “more than enough to win with.” But that “more than enough” he is referring to keeps shrinking. Gibson and Deng playing 48 minutes in a game is a bad idea. The fact that the game also happens to be the first night of a back-to-back makes it worse.
It’s clear Thibs doesn’t trust many of the guys on this team. Nazr Mohammed started but played only eight minutes, Marquis Teague played just seven minutes, while Daequan Cook and Vladimir Radmanovic didn’t see the floor. It’s understandable that the guys at the end of the bench aren’t Thibodeau’s top choices, but he has to play them at this point. One of these days, he is going to have to realize that what’s causing these injuries are the high minutes. Deng has, knock on wood, stayed relatively healthy even with the extra load for the past three seasons. But as a center, Noah breaking down was more likely to happen.
Right now, the Bulls have ten healthy bodies. All of those bodies need to get in the game. Rip Hamilton needs to play more than 17 minutes like he did on Friday night. The minutes need to be spread out, and if Tom Thibodeau doesn’t understand that, he needs to be told. Killing Deng and Taj isn’t the answer to these injuries, it’s the start of more injuries.
The Bulls got crushed the last time they met Atlanta on the second night of a back-to-back, falling 92-75. Chicago got revenge the next time, holding the Hawks to 58 points in a 39-point shellacking.
While the few healthy Bulls were logging big minutes, the Hawks were resting, as they’ve been doing for some time now.
Atlanta hasn’t played since a Wednesday night win over the Raptors. Al Horford scored 22 points on 15 shots and also grabbed ten boards, Josh Smith posted 20 points and eleven rebounds and Kyle Korver hit 5-9 three pointers. Korver is averaging 18.4 points over his last five games, while shooting 59.0 percent from deep.
The Bulls had an uphill battle to begin with, playing a rested team on the second night of a back-to-back. Chicago is 4-6 playing on no rest, and that is when they were a much healthier team.
As for who is playing tonight, that’s still up in the air. Noah shouldn’t play; he needs to rest. Hinrich was sent back to Chicago, which doesn’t bode well for him playing tonight. Boozer said he is still stiff. No matter what the Bulls have, they’re going to give it their all. It’s just my hope that the minutes are spread out, because this situation is already bad, it shouldn’t be made worse.
Atlanta Injury Report:
Anthony Morrow: questionable (strained hip/sore back)
Overview:
Last year, even if the Bulls weren’t playing well in a particular game, you still felt like that had a good chance to win. Whether that was through effort, hustle or sheer will, they always seemed to be in the game. But that isn’t the case this year. Right from the start, they didn’t have it going against the Suns, and they never looked right. Last season, I think they would have fought, kept it close, and even if they did lose—which they rarely did at home—they would have gone down scratching and clawing. And this was even in the games they were missing Derrick Rose.
That clearly didn’t happen last time out against Phoenix. And I’m not saying that they Bulls didn’t try or give the same effort they did last year, because I don’t think that’s the problem. But they had something last year that is definitely missing from this year’s team. Maybe it was the always reliable bench, which could fill in for the starters. Maybe it was just having Rose around for most of the games, knowing he could single-handedly carry them on offense.
I don’t think it’s as simple as talent, because there were numerous times, when the Bulls were dealing with injuries last year, in which they won games when they were out-matched. Everybody has bad games, I get that, but these are so bad, so ugly, that it seems something has to be wrong. The Suns had lost 12 in a row on the road and the Bulls got blown out. The Bobcats had lost 18 straight overall.
I’m not sure what it is, and neither are the Bulls. “We’re going on the road and beating some of the best teams, then coming home against lower-echelon teams and not competing,” Joakim Noah said. “If we all knew what the problem was, we’d do something about it.”
Tom Thibodeau seems to think he pinpointed it though. “We have to play with more intensity, more of an edge,” Thibs said. “We are not doing that. We have to correct it.”
Whatever it may be, the Bulls need to figure it out or find what they are missing, because these home losses—many of which are to subpar teams—aren’t acceptable and aren’t going to give the Bulls much of a shot in the playoffs…if they make it there.
Chicago has looked good against the better teams they have played lately, with wins over the Heat and Knicks. But both of those victories were on the road, where the Bulls are 10-5. Tonight they take on the Hawks in the United Center, an arena Chicago has stumbled to a 10-10 record in. That .500 home record is tied for sixth worse in the NBA. Behind teams like Phoenix, Toronto and Minnesota and tied with Sacramento and Detroit.
Atlanta is slumping right now, going 1-5 over their last six games. The Hawks are just 9-9 on the road this year, and are coming off of a double-digit loss at Washington. Jeff Teague’s 19 points and Al Horford’s double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) weren’t enough to overcome the Hawks’ poor shooting and the big rebounding margin. Atlanta shot 38.5 percent from the field and was out-rebounded 51-38, including 12-6 on the offensive glass.
Josh Smith and company are just 4-6 over their last ten, very similar to the Bulls’ 5-5 record. Atlanta has lost to some bad teams as well, falling to Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland and its most recent loss in Washington.
The Bulls got blown out the first time these squads met in December. Chicago didn’t score more than 21 in a quarter, Luol Deng was the Bulls’ high-scorer with eleven points and they were out-rebounded by 14. On the other side of it, Horford went 9-12 for 20 points and ten rebounds and Atlanta’s starters shot 53.5 percent from the field.
It’s weakness against weakness in this one apparently, as the Bulls have lost two straight at home, and Atlanta is coming into the United Center with four straight road losses. If there is one thing Chicago likes to do at home, other than take a nice bath with candles lit, it’s end other teams’ streaks. The Suns had fallen 12 straight times on the road, the Bobcats had lost 18 straight overall and now Atlanta could end its much shorter four-game road skid. But the Bulls also like to play up to its opponents, as they have showed against New York (three times) and Miami. Something is going to snap. I just hope it’s not Nate Robinson’s spine on Tom Thibdeau’s knee.
Hawks Injury Report:
Devin Harris: missed Friday’s game (sprained ankle)
Overview:
The Bulls played some of their best defense for three quarters and Kirk Hinrich finally remembered that the ball was supposed to go in the basket, as the Bulls handed the Knicks their second loss of the season in Madison Square Garden.
It wasn’t close for nearly the entire game. New York brought it to single digits late in the fourth, and ultimately lost by just four, but the Bulls dominated for the first 36 minutes. The Knicks scored 61 points on 33 percent shooting through the first three quarters. That is great effort. In the fourth though, New York scored 45 points on 60.7 percent shooting. Chicago let a 25 point lead slip into a four-point victory.
The Knicks scored 45 in the fourth after scoring just 38 in the second and third quarters combined.
The Bulls still did a solid job though. They held New York to 30.8 percent from three. The Knicks were shooting 40.4 percent from deep coming into the game. Great defense in the first three quarters turned into apathy in the fourth, but luckily for the Bulls they had enough of a cushion to get the win.
Hinrich finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. That was by far his best game this season. The last time Hinrich finished with at least 16, nine and eight was in 2006 against Minnesota when he recorded 30 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.
Luol Deng escaped a scare with an injury, and finished with 29 points and 15 rebounds. Noah put in another good game, with 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists before getting tossed.
Carmelo Anthony (35 points) and J.R. Smith (26) were leading the way for the Knicks before both had early exits. Smith fouled out in the fourth and Anthony got tossed a little bit later for picking up a second technical. Raymond Felton picked up the slack after those two were reserved to watching, scoring 14 points in the final frame on 6-9 shooting. Chris Copeland also scored ten in the fourth quarter.
As always the bad news was big minutes. The Bulls entered the fourth quarter leading by 22 points, but that didn’t mean Thibs was going to give his starters a rest.
Joakim Noah got ejected from the game just so he could get a breather (I made that up, but it could be true). Jo played “only” 41 minutes by taking himself out of the game with more than four minutes left. Deng played 42 and Marco Belinelli played 45.
Atlanta is coming off a 19-point loss to the struggling Sixers (Philly had lost five straight going into that game). Al Horford went 2-10 from the field for seven points and the Hawks shot 39.2 percent as a team, while allowing Philly to shoot 51.2 percent. They were outscored 40-24 in the paint and 20-11 on fast break points.
The Hawks just didn’t have it last night. Their 80 points was their second lowest total of the season. But they will be a lot more rested than the Bulls. Only one Atlanta player played more than 28 minutes (Horford played 36).
The Bulls are 4-2 on the second night of a back-to-back. The Hawks are 4-1 with no rest.
More stats: Bulls did a great job getting to the line. They went 28-33 from the line (84.8 percent). Belinelli was 11-12 from the charity stripe and Noah was 7-8.
Under the circumstances — no Joakim Noah, playing on the road against a great home team — the Bulls were pretty darn good through three quarters. And during that opening stretch, Derrick Rose gave us one of the great highlights of this season…or any other for that matter.
Freaking amazing, right?
Anyway, the Bulls played really well for three quarters and even entered the fourth with a 70-64 lead. Then they were outscored 27-11 in the final 12 minutes.
Offensive fail.
Credit the Hawks defense, and some truly shoddy play calling and execution, for the Bulls collapse. For your viewing displeasure, here’s a list of Chicago’s fourth-quarter possessions. Read ‘em and weep.
Kirk Hinrich turnover (pass stolen by Josh Smith)
Devin Brown missed 17-footer
John Salmons missed layup
Taj Gibson turnover (traveling)
Taj Gibson missed 20-footer
Offensive rebound
Salmons missed 14-footer
Salmons made jumper (Brad Miller assists)
Miller missed three-pointer
Salmons missed three-pointer
Luol Deng missed three-pointer
Rose missed 19-footer
Deng made 17-footer
Rose made 18-footer
Hinrich missed 8-footer
Rose made layup
Rose missed three-pointer
Hinrich missed 21-footer
Offensive rebound
Deng missed jumper
Deng missed jumper
Rose drew a fouls (1-for-2)
So…the Bulls went 4-for-18 (mostly on long jump shots), committed a couple turnovers and made only one trip to the line (with 24 seconds left in the game). Ugly.
Chicago also gave up five offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, including two possessions in which the Hawks snared two offensive boards in the same sequence. After those five offensive boards, Atlanta got a layup by Joe Johnson (Hawks 76, Bulls 72), a putback by Josh Smith (Hawks 78, Bulls 72), and a three-point dagger by Mike Bibby with 2:10 left (Hawks 86, Bulls 78).
Those were three critical possessions. Man, the Bulls sure could have used Joakim Noah. They also could have used Rose’s jump shot, which was MIA most of the night. Derrick finished 6-for-9 at the rim and 3-for-12 away from it. His shot looked flat all night.
Even without Noah, the Bulls did a pretty good job of shutting down Atlanta’s fast break (12 points) and protecting the rim (where the Hawks were only 16-for-28). But Chicago’s defensive rotations weren’t as crisp as they could have been, and Atlanta burned the Bulls from long range (8-for-18 from downtown). Although, in all fairness, the Hawks hit some tough shots, especially when they ripped off an 8-0 run to start the final period.
And Josh Smith (18 points, 14 boards, 10 assists) played out of his mind.
Meanwhile, with Miller starting at center, the Bulls got almost nothing out of their bench (8 points, 4-for-14). Big Brad played 40 minutes but finished with only 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 turnovers. And Miller didn’t score in the second half. Meanwhile, Tyrus Thomas earned only 16 minutes and had 4 points, 4 boards, 2 steals and 2 turnovers. I really thought that, with Noah out, Thomas would play 20+ minutes.
Another factor in Chicago’s offensive woes is that they throw bad passes. The Bulls aren’t selfish, and the players genuinely try to hit open teammates, but there are way to many passes that end up at someone’s feet, at their waist, up by their shoulder, a foot to their left, a foot to their right, so on and so forth.
A good pass has to lead into a player’s natural shooting motion. When a player has to collect the ball and then redirect it into their shooting motion, they not only lose a critical split second during which the defense can react, they usually won’t be able to fire it up in rhythm. The Bulls are a bad shooting team this season despite having guys (like Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons) who have hit a pretty decent percentage of their field goal attempts in the past. And Devin Brown — who went 0-for-3 from the field in seven minutes off the bench — had to reach down to his knees for one pass. And yes, that pass led to a missed jumper.
It just seems like the Bulls would benefit from some work on their passing. Because when players are already struggling to find their shots, bad passes only makes things worse.
Let’s hope we see some better passes tonight against the Heat.
Timeout Tally:
This continues my effort to track the Bulls’ performance coming out of a timeout.
1st timeout: Rose missed a 21-foot jumper
2nd timeout: Miller hit a short jumper
3rd timeout: Deng missed a 20-footer
4th timeout: Miller commited a turnover
5th timeout: Gibson missed a 20-foot jump shot
6th timeout: Deng drilled a 17-footer (Rose with the assist)
7th timeout: Rose missed a long three-pointer
Summary: Out of seven timeouts, the Bulls went 2-for-6 and committed a turnover. Five of their six shot attempts were from deep. It’s worth noting that Derrick’s three-point attempt happened with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter when the Bulls were making a desperate comeback attempt. However, even discounting that shot, the Bulls ended up with several empty possessions after their timeouts.