Nets-Bulls Preview

New Jersey Nets Status Check:
Record: 8-17
Division: 2-3
Conference: 6-12
Home Record: 3-7
Last 10 Games: 4-6
Streak: Lost 2
Last game: 99-92 loss to the Knicks
PPG: 92.7 (21st)
Opponents PPG: 99.2 (25th)
Offensive Rating: 104.0 (14th)
Defensive Rating: 111.3 (30th)
Pace: 88.8 (28th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .481 (16th)
Turnover Percentage: .150 (23rd)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .707 (27th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .291 (6th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .210 (13th)
Opp. eFG%: .529 (30th)
Opp. TO%:  .140 (17th)
Opp. FT/FGA: .223 (18th)
Leading scorer: Deron Williams (20.2)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Nets Injury Report:
Marshon Brooks: out indefinitely
Damion James: out for season
Brook Lopez: out 4-6 weeks
Anthony Morrow: will miss tonight’s game against Chicago (personal)
Mehmet Okur: will miss at least one week (back spasms)
DeShawn Stevenson: will miss at least two weeks (sore right knee)

Overview:
Chicago has a pretty easy schedule this week, starting with the Nets tonight. The Bulls will play New Jersey, New Orleans and Charlotte between now and Friday. Even though all of these games are on the road, they have a day in between each…and they aren’t against very good teams.

Just two weeks ago the Bulls beat the Nets 110-95 in the United Center. The oft-injured Rip Hamilton, who won’t play tonight, scored 22 points to go along with ten assists. Derrick Rose scored 22 points, had five rebounds and eight assists. Joakim Noah went for 16 points and ten rebounds, while Carlos Boozer scored 14 points on 6-9 shooting.

For the Nets, Jordan Farmar scored 22 points on 7-9 shooting coming off the bench. Deron Williams and Anthony Morrow both scored 14 points on 7-14 shooting. Williams had ten assists as well.

The Bulls were clicking on all levels. They shot 57.3 percent from the field, had eleven more rebounds and ten more assists than the Nets.

It will be a little different for the Bulls tonight. Rip Hamilton will probably be out, while Luol Deng will be back in the line-up.

Chicago looked really good in their first game back with Deng, beating Milwaukee Saturday night. Rose had another great game, scoring 26 points and dishing 13 assists. Deng looked good, scoring 21 points (9-19 from the field) and tied for a game-high with nine rebounds. Deng did miss some easy lay-ups, but it is just positive that he can play through the pain. Noah narrowly missed another double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

Kyle Korver was extremely hot off the bench going 4-8 from three and 7-13 from the field to finish with 18 points. He also added six rebounds and three assists.

The Nets are coming off of a loss to the Knicks on Saturday. Williams scored 21 points to go with eleven assists, Kris Humphries scored 20 and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Farmar went for 19 off the bench. The Nets were out-rebounded by nine though, and got destroyed by Jeremy Lin. Lin recorded 25 points, five rebounds and seven assists as well as gaining a ton of new fans and blowing up Twitter.

New Jersey has won just three games at home this season. Those wins were against Golden State, Charlotte and Detroit.

The return of Keith Bogans: The Bulls will see Keith Bogans tonight, but thankfully he will be in a Nets jersey. If you can’t find him, he is probably standing like a statue behind the three point line. That’s where he’s always been.

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