By and large, I don’t particularly enjoy preseason games. Ultimately, they’re meaningless, especially when they come against a lottery team that last season ranked 19th in Defensive Rating (109.2) and 26th in PPG Allowed (106.2). Of course, the Bulls ranked 18th in Defensive Rating (108.7) and 20th in PPG Allowed (102.5), so maybe I shouldn’t […]
Tag Archives | Indiana Pacers
Put down by the Pacers
In my preview post, I stated that the outlook for this game was grim, mostly because the Bulls are a bad road team (now 12-27) and they most likely would be — and in fact were — without John Salmons, who was averaging 21.3 PPG on 50 percent shooting this month before he strained his […]
Bulls-Pacers Preview
The Basics: Chicago (36-39) at Indiana (31-43). The Bulls are only 12-27 at home while the Pacers are 21-14 at home…which includes wins over the Cavaliers, Celtics, Lakers and Magic. In other words: Uh oh. Advanced stuff: Chicago ranks 18th in Offensive Efficiency (104.7 points per 100 possessions) while the Pacers rank 20th (104.4). The […]
Sneaking past the Pacers
I’ve been making noise about how the Bulls are a vastly improved team at home, but they aren’t so good that they should try to coast through games against inferior opponents. And yet that’s exactly what they did on a rare Saturday afternoon matchup with the Indiana Pacers. Despite falling behind by 14 points in the first […]
Fresh ink: February 23, 2009
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star: “T.J. Ford darted between two Chicago Bulls players, scooped up the loose ball with two hands and beat everybody down the court with only one thing on his mind in the final minute Sunday. The Indiana Pacers point guard sized things up and threw down a one-handed dunk. He […]
Another one that got away
When a team has to work new players into the rotation, it usually helps to do it against an inferior opponent, particularly if that opponent is going through hard times. And so the Bulls’ matchup against the Pacers should have been the perfect opportunity to mix Brad Miller, John Salmons and Tim Thomas into Vinny Del […]