In the end, the Bulls, again, showed that they simply don’t have enough talent to win. They were without Luol Deng who sat with his sore Achilles tendon and Kirk Hinrich who sat with a sore back. Although given how bad Hinrich’s been so far this year, his absence may have actually been a benefit to the Bulls. DJ Augustin had a decent outting with 15 points on 10 shots in 36 minutes of time along with 5 assists. He committed 5 turnovers, which is not great, but it’s much better production than I’d have expected from Hinrich. Oh, and Jimmy Butler got hurt again, which totally stinks. Butler rolled his ankle in the first half and did not return.

The Bulls continued to shoot poorly, converting on just 37.7% of their attempts. This game could have been much worse, but the Bulls had a 39 to 14 advantage in free throws attempted, as they seemed to benefit from just about every close call for much of the game.

Outside of Augustin playing relatively well, the only other bright spot for the Bulls was, unsurprisingly, Joakim Noah. The big man dropped in 23 points on 17 shots, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished 3 assists, and snagged 2 steals and a block in just 29 minutes of action. He was kind of everywhere. It didn’t matter.

The rest of the Bulls were pretty terrible and they just don’t seem to know what they want to accomplish on offense. I’m not sure different offensive sets would work better, but it might be worth it to run even more of the offense through the bigs, as the guard play, aside from Augustin tonight, has just been so very bad.

Credit should go to the Thunder as well, obviously. Kevin Durant is just insanely great. He was 65% from the field tonight and 80% (4-5) from 3 . He scored 32 points, wrangled 9 boards, and added 6 assists, 3 steals, a block with just 1 turnover in 33 minutes of playing time. So yeah, KD did KD stuff. Similarly, the Bulls let Russell Westbrook be Russell Westbrook. The explosive point guard scored 20 points on just 12 shots and dished 10 assists in just 28 minutes. Reggie  Jackson continued his strong play on the season dropping in an efficient 18 points to go with 5 assists off the bench.

The Thunder are just blitzing the league right now and the Bulls are a sinking ship with parts falling off- due to injuries- so this result was pretty expected, even if it doesn’t really make it sting less.

The post Game 25 Recap: Thunder 107, Bulls 95 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Oklahoma City Injury Report:
None

Overview:
The Bulls bounced back from an ugly loss against the Heat with a win over the NBA’s worst team. But it’s back to the top of the standings for the Bulls, as they face the second place team in the West. Oklahoma City is just 1-3 in their last four games, but they’ve won 24 of 28 games at home this year.

Four straight solid defensive performances for the Bulls come at the right time, as they now need to try and slow down the best offense in the league. Oklahoma City is first in offensive rating, at 112.7 and first in points per game (106.7). They’re led by Kevin Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer (28.9) and Russell Westbrook, the league’s seventh highest scorer (22.9).

The Bulls haven’t allowed more than 87 points in their last four games, and that includes a game against Miami and the scoring robot that is LeBron James. The Thunder though, have scored more than 100 points in 14 of their last 18 games. They scored 119 against Houston and then exploded for 127 in their most recent time out.

Westbrook dropped 37 points on 22 shots, to go with seven rebounds and nine assists, in that 127-111 win over Minnesota that snapped the Thunder’s three game skid. Durant recorded 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. KD’s numbers have fallen over his last ten games, as he’s averaging 25.8 points (fallen for Duran’t high standards), but he is hitting 48.5 percent of his threes. Kevin Martin, as usual, scored an efficient 19 points off the pine and although Serge Ibaka didn’t score much (six points) he grabbed seven boards and blocked three shots. Actually, Thabo Seflosha was the only Thunder starter to not grab seven rebounds–he brought in six.

As a team Oklahoma City hit 9-14 from deep (64.3 percent). The Thunder have five guys that are playing significant minutes that have hit better than 42 percent of their threes over the last ten games (Durant, Westbrook, Martin, Ibaka and Seflosha). Oklahoma City is tops in the league in three point percentage, shooting 39.2 percent on the year. The Bulls have given up the second fewest threes to opponents, and are third when it comes to opponent percentage from beyond the arc (33.6). The three point line is going to be key for the Bulls, because Chicago has no chance if they get into a shootout with the Thunder.

The Bulls finally reached 100 points in their win over Charlotte, the first time they reached the century mark since February 4. It was truly a team effort, with eight different players scoring in double figures. Taj Gibson led the way, scoring 17 points on 8-11 shooting. As a team, Chicago shot 50.6 percent while holding the Bobcats to 33.3 percent. The most spectacular stat was that the Bulls had 37 assists on 42 made field goals. Everyone who played more than six minutes recorded at least one assist. Joakim Noah was again the dime-dropper, with Kirk Hinrich out, dishing eight assists.

Ball movement will obviously help against the Thunder, but this game is going to be drastically different from the victory over Charlotte. Oklahoma City is eighth in defensive rating (103.5) and, as discussed earlier, first in offensive rating. Charlotte is 28th in offensive rating and 29th in defensive rating.

The Thunder have given up 113.0 points per game over their last four contests, with three of those ending as defeats.

Luol Deng scored his third highest total of the season in November against the Thunder, dropping 27 points in a losing effort (his two highest totals have come against the Knicks). Rip Hamilton scored 20 points in that game, also tied for his third highest total of the season. At this point, Rip scoring 20 is the equivalent of finding a four leaf clover. Hamilton hasn’t scored 20 points since mid-January.

Chicago actually had the lead going into the fourth quarter of that November match-up, before being outscored 31-19 in the final quarter. Durant scored 24 points to lead Oklahoma City and Ibaka dropped 21.

The Bulls are again down to their third point guard. Kirk Hinrich will once again be out with his elbow injury. He has played just once in February, while missing nine games. Kirk playing is like finding all of the four leaf clovers.

That means it will fall on Nate Robinson and Marquis Teague to try and stop Westbrook. God help us all (but mostly, help them).

The post Bulls-Thunder Preview appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

It’s a reasonable conclusion to come to, especially after watching Kevin Durant (24 points, 11-for-19, 4 rebounds) rip off 8 critical points in the final 3:16, a scoring spree that included two exceptionally high-degree-of-difficulty jump shots in the final minute .

Meanwhile, minus their superstar scorer/playmaker, the Bulls’ crunch time possessions (final five minutes) went as follows. Successful plays are in bold.

4:54: Taj Gibson turnover
4:37: Kirk Hinrich missed 21-footer
4:16: Richard Hamilton 2-for-2 from the line
3:46: Luol Deng missed three-pointer
3:31: Kirk Hinrich missed 23-footer
3:30: Joakim Noah offensive rebound and missed tip shot
2:55: Noah missed hook shot (blocked by Serge Ibaka)
2:51: Hamilton made 22-footer
2:18: Noah missed 18-footer
1:47: Deng turnover
1:08: Hamilton missed 19-footer
0:35: Gibson made 20-footer
0:15: Noah made layup
0:03: Vladimir Radmanovic missed three-pointer
0:01: Richard Hamilton missed 17-footer

In case you didn’t notice, Chicago’s clutch plays included an awful lot of long jumpers. Oklahoma City’s defense forced them outside. Two attempts to get a closer look ended in a blocked shot (when Noah attempted a hook with 2:55 to go) and a turnover (when Deng drove awkwardly into traffic and got the ball stripped by Thabo Sefolosha with 1:47 on the clock).

And, yeah, Noah made a layup with 15 seconds left, but that was one of those end-of-game concession baskets.

To me, Chicago’s end-of-game scoring issues were epitomized by this play: With 2:18 left and the score tied 87-87, Noah launched a baseline jumper from 18 feet.

Was Noah open? Yes.

Was that really the shot the Bulls wanted from that possession? Probably not.

Don’t get me wrong. Noah can hit that shot. But it’s not his shot.

Look, I know that Durant hit some really tough clutch shots, but it’s also true that the Bulls 1) weren’t drawing fouls and 2) couldn’t get anything going toward the basket in the final five minutes. And the former was largely due to the latter.

OKC’s defense and the absence of Rose both played a part in that. But it’s not wholly (and simply) an issue of “the Bulls didn’t have a finisher.”

In fact, there were two factors in this loss much bigger than Durant and Rose.

The first factor was turnovers. The Bulls lost the ball 21 times for a total of 20 points going the other way.

Of course, the Thunder had 22 turnovers that were converted into 19 points for the Bulls, so some people might say that category was a wash. But I say that, when playing a superior team, the lesser team absolutely must take care of the basketball because there is almost no margin for error.

Said Noah: “We turned the ball over too much. It was a frustrating loss. We really had a chance to win this game. They’re obviously very talented, but a couple of our shots down the stretch just went in and out. Overall, I felt we played hard, but those turnovers definitely haunted us.”

Did they ever.

The other factor was, frankly, poor bench play. Let’s look at Chicago’s plus-minus numbers:

Bulls starters:
Richard Hamilton: +9
Joakim Noah: +5
Carlos Boozer: +4
Kirk Hinrich: +3
Luol Deng: -2

Bulls bench:
Marco Belinelli: -18
Taj Gibson: -12
Nate Robinson: -9
Nazr Mohammed: -5
Vladimir Radmanovic: -4
Jimmy Butler: -1

Now let’s look at Oklahoma City’s plus-minus stats:

Thunder starters:
Kendrick Perkins: -14
Russell Westbrook: -4
Kevin Durant: -3
Serge Ibaka: -2
Thabo Sefolosha: +13

Thunder bench:
Nick Collison: +15
Eric Maynor: +10
Kevin Martin: +10
Hasheem Thabeet: +5

Despite his clutch performance, the Thunder were outscored when Durant was on the floor. Ditto for Westbrook (16 points, 12 assists, 2 reboundss) and Serge Ibaka (21 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks). And of course Kendrick Perkins (5 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 0 points) was dreadful.

Meanwhile, the Bulls starting unit — minus Deng — were all on the plus side of the ledger. Even Boozer, who shot poorly (3-for-9), committed 5 turnovers, and had several defensive slips.

The fact remains that, in terms of plus-minus, Chicago’s starters outperformed their Oklahoma City counterparts (the exceptions being Deng and Sefolosha), while OKC’s bench vastly outperformed the Bulls’ reserves in terms of points (29-14), rebounds (11-5) and plus-minus (+40 to -49).

So, Durant’s greatness aside, the Bulls could have won this game had they taken better car of the ball and/or gotten a little better production out of their bench.

Or, heck, done a better job putting some D on OKC’s reserves. Martin (15 points, 3-for-5 from the field, 1-for-1 on threes, 8-for-9 from the line) and Maynor (10 points, 2-for-4, 1-for-1 on threes, 5-for-5 from the line) had incredibly efficient scoring nights, with True Shooting Percentages of 83.7 and 80.6, respectively.

That said, I suppose you could list defense as a factor two, considering the Thunder finished with an Offensive Rating of 101.5 and an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 52.7, both higher than the Bulls’ opponent season averages of 96.4 and 46.9.

Or maybe it’s a combination of all these things: The clutchness of Durant, the absence of Rose, turnovers, lack of bench production and defense.

But on the bright side, despite the several things that didn’t go their way, the Bulls stood up to one of the league’s elite teams and nearly beat them without Rose.

Said Deng: “No one has to change the way they play. We just got to keep playing. … We’re right there in the game. We got to have a better fourth. That’s what we normally do, and that’s what we got to get back to.”

Bulls Player of the Game:
It was very clearly Deng, who had game-highs in minutes (42) and points (27), in addition to good shooting (11-for-21 overall, 3-for-6 on threes, 2-for-2 from the line).

Bulls goat of the game:
Marco Belinelli played six minutes. The Bulls were outscored by 18 points during those six minutes. And although that’s obviously not all on Belinelli, I’m already coming to associate his presence on the floor with bad things happening for the Bulls. He’s like the anti-Kyle Korver.

Good sign:
Hinrich had a reasonably strong game (12 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds) and helped harass Westbrook into a 7-for-22 shooting night. What’s more, Captain Kirk drew fouls on two aggressive drives in which the refs should have called continuation but didn’t.

Bad sign:
Deng sprained his left thumb during the fourth quarter.

More key stats:
Yes, there are plenty of key stats above. Here are two more: The Bulls were outscored 31-19 in the fourth quarter and 46-34 in the paint.

Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Advanced Box Score, Play-by-Play, Shot Chart.

The post Game Recap: Thunder 97, Bulls 91 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Orlando was previously undefeated, and had scored 115 and 102 points in its first two games. So the Bulls strong defense is another thing that hasn’t changed. The Magic were the first team to score more than 90 against Chicago in this young season, but the Bulls offense did just enough to finish the job. Defense has always been the focus since Tom Thibodeau took over as coach, but it’s going to be more important this season than it has; at least until Derrick Rose returns (if he does come back this year).

But tonight will be a real test for the Bulls, as the defending Western Conference champs visit the United Center.

This will be the first look that Chicago gets at the Thunder with Kevin Martin. The two teams played in late October in the preseason, but that was before the James Harden deal went down (imagine having too many prolific scorers). And actually the Bulls were all over Harden in that game, limiting him to 13 points on 2-17 shooting. Serge Ibaka picked up the scoring though, dropping 24 (10-17 from the field). Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook did not play, so it may not the best representation of tonight’s game.

Kevin Martin, who replaced James Harden, is averaging 19.3 points per game.

Oklahoma City is coming off a win over Toronto, in which it got relatively quiet games from its two stars. Westbrook scored 19 points on 5-12 shooting and Durant added 15 points on 4-11 from the field. New-guy Kevin Martin scored 15 off the bench.

When you think of the Thunder, you usually think high scoring, with Durant, Westbrook and now Martin. But they are only 13^th so far in offensive rating (104.3). They finished second last season in that category. They’ve picked it up on defense though. Right now they are 5^th in defensive rating (98.2), after finishing eleventh a season ago. The Bulls are first in defensive rating (95.3) thus far, but haven’t really been tested with a high-scoring offensive opponent yet.

The Thunder are, by far, the toughest test the Bulls have had in the early going. And that is specifically true for Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng. Westbrook and Durant are both averaging 20.8 points per game.

Hinrich has done well on the defensive side of the ball. Isaiah Thomas (3-8 from the field), Kyrie Irving (6-15) and Greivis Vasquez (6-18) all struggled against him (E’Twaun Moore did go 7-13 against Kirk on Tuesday). Kyrie will be the only guy close to Westbrook’s talent that he has faced, but Russ creates so many unique challenges. Hinrich is shooting just 33.3 percent from the field, so continued solid defense is important.

The same can be said of Deng. Although Deng is shooting 44.2 percent from the field, that would still be the third worst field goal percentage of his career. It is an improvement over last season’s 41.2 percent, though, which was the lowest of his eight full seasons. He is putting in a career best defensive rating of 98.

In their careers, Durant has averaged 25.7 points on 47.5 percent shooting and 7.0 rebounds against Lu. Deng scored just eight points (30.8 percent shooting) the last time the Bulls and Thunder met in April, while KD recorded a double-double with 26 points (68.8 percent) and ten boards.

That game was an unpleasant loss for the Bulls. Without Derrick Rose, they shot just 33.3 percent from the field in a 14 point loss. Kevin Durant’s offensive rating in that game was an absurd 142. A much better defensive effort will be expected, and needed for this one to stay competitive.

Early season stat that could be concerning: Something that really worries me is the Bulls three point shooting. It was obviously going to take a hit with Kyle Korver leaving. But the Bulls really don’t have anybody that can hit a big three now. Deng is 1-11 from deep this year, Marco Belinelli, the guy who was supposed to help “replace” Korver, is 3-8. Rip Hamilton is 0-3 and Nate Robinson is 4-11. Even Joakim Noah is 0-1 (and hopefully he never takes another three again, even if it is for Big Macs).

Obviously four games is very early, but 1-11 from Lu is dreadful. He shot 36.7 percent from three last season. It’s impossible to know if something is wrong, but it is fair to ask if the wrist is bothering him more this season, after a shortened year and then playing in the Olympics. I can guarantee it isn’t helping.

And now the ESPN comments section “Comment of the Night” from erivera723:“Mr Snuggles believes Bulls will win.” Well if Mr. Snuggles says it, it must be true. Congrats Bulls.

The post Thunder-Bulls Preview appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

On a night when Derrick Rose (3-for-13) and Joakim Noah (3-for-8) apparently lost motor control in their shooting hands, Boozer picked up the slack and then some, scoring 29 points on 13-for-21 from the field to go along with 12 rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Look out, NBA. Chicago has a legitimate second scoring threat.

There was a time — like a few games ago — when a 3-for-13 shooting night for Rose against a good team like the Thunder (14-8) probably would have been a disaster. Like drinking a jar of peanut butter in the desert. Or something.

Last night, Rose didn’t have it…but he was able to lean on somebody else’s offense for a change. He was able to say, “Here’s the ball, big fella. Go to work.”

Man, it must have been a relief.

I guess Derrick had more help during his rookie season when Ben Gordon was still playing Bomber Man for the Bulls. But this is different. Back in the Gordon era, Little Ben liked to have the ball in his hands. By contrast, Rose and Boozer can play off of each other. Rose wasn’t running pick and rolls with Gordon, wasn’t finding him around the basket for easy layups.

Said Rose: “[Boozer] makes the game easy, where I just got to pass it to him. He’s going to find a way to score or get fouled. And that’s what we need right now on this team — where somebody in the post or someone down low that can really score, and that’s him.”

Right now? That’s what the Bulls have needed for years.

By the way, I’m not saying that Noah and Luol Deng haven’t been pitching in points. They have. But let’s face it, Noah isn’t a true scorer and Deng — although my appreciation of his contributions is no secret around here — really is more of a third banana sort of player.

Admittedly, Deng sometimes struggled when forced to masquerade as The Second Guy. But he thrives in the “third scorer” role. Look how efficient he played last night: 19 points, 9-for-16 shooting, 8 rebounds (4 offensive), 4 assists. And with both Rose and Boozer pulling defenders away from him, he was able to do damage around the basket, hitting six of his eight layup attempts.

As for Noah, he obviously didn’t shoot the ball well, and he was limited to 21 minutes due to foul trouble, but he still ripped down 12 rebounds (6 offensive) and dished out six assists. And Rose finished with a game-high 9 assists. By comparison, the Thunder had 13 assists as a team.

Chicago dominated the paint, owning a 52-39 advantage on the boards and outscoring Oklahoma City 58-32 in the paint. In all, the Bulls converted on 20 of their 30 layup attempts and went 3-for-3 on dunks.

Like I said, this is why the Bulls brought in Boozer.

Look, the offense is still a work in progress. They aren’t “there” just yet. But you can see little differences. With all due respect to Taj Gibson — and I love the kid — he simply isn’t the offensive threat Boozer is. Basketball is a game of inches and split-seconds. The extra attention defenders have to pay Boozer means an extra half-inch or an extra millisecond here and there for his teammates. His very presence creates opportunities for the other Bulls.

Said Boozer: “The more easy buckets you get, it opens it up for everybody. Our whole mind set is to get as many easy buckets in transition, get layups, because once you get layups they start crowding the paint and it opens it up for our jump-shooters.”

You know, it’s funny. Sports fans in general, and NBA fan in particular, get a sort of perverse pleasure when things go wrong. (I should know. I founded Basketbawful.) When Boozer broke his hand, some people were quick to say, “I knew this was going to happen. Boozer is made of stained glass.” And when Carlos (and the rest of the team) struggled against the Magic and Celtics in Boozer’s first two games back, others jumped on the dog pile saying, “This is what you get with Carlos Boozer.”

You know what else you get? 20+ point games, 10+ rebound games, high-percentage shooting, inside-outside play, a proven player who demands respect from opposing defenses. You also get somebody who can reduce the burden on D-Rose, who’s probably spent the last couple seasons thinking, “If I don’t score 20+ points tonight, we won’t win.”

I should also give a gold star to Chicago’s defense, which held the Thunder to 35 percent shooting. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both went 7-for-18. James Harden was 3-for-12. Jeff Green shot 1-for-9. If it wasn’t for Nenad Krstic (18 points on 8-for-12 shooting), the Bulls might have won in a blowout.

Of course, the Thunder were playing the second night of back-to-back games. And I should also note that Durant — who led his team in scoring with 29 points — played only three minutes in the third quarter…during which the Bulls outscored the Thunder 29-18 to take command of the game. That was the only quarter Oklahoma City failed to score 20+ points. Coincidence? Probably not.

Said Thunder coach Scott Brooks: “We weren’t playing well and I tried to make adjustments, trying to create some more energy. [Sitting Durant] was my decision. I don’t know if it worked or not, but it was important that we figure out how to play better.”

Uhm, yeah, it didn’t work, Scott. But I’m okay with it.

As for the Bulls, things are starting to click. They are. And there’s every reason to suspect they’ll continue to click.

Said Boozer: “We’re getting better and better every day. It’s going to be exciting where we are 20 to 30 games from now.”

It sure is.

Quote of the Night:
Noah: “Boozington is doing his thing. And I feel like the scary thing is, we’re not even near where we need to be. His skill is undeniable. He’s a beast in the post and he’s been playing that pick and roll for a long time. He’s strong as an ox. He’s making us a lot better. He can pass. He always makes the right play. It’s never anything really forced out there. When we get our defense straightened out all together as a team, we have a chance to do something good.”

Almost Quote of the Night:
Boozer: “I’m not really satisfied. I have a long way to go. I’m still trying to get my legs back and my timing back. And I feel like I’m getting there every day with our offense, with our defensive sets and being in a good rythym. But I’m not satisfied, I’m hungry. I want more out of this. I’m not where I’m going to be at.”

TrueHoop Network:
Royce Young of the Daily Thunder: “I’m not an NBA coach and I don’t think I could win 50 games in that role. So I don’t question Scott Brooks much. But it’s hard not to wonder why Kevin Durant and Jeff Green only played two minutes and 46 seconds in the third quarter. When the two checked out, Oklahoma City was down 60-54. The Thunder weren’t playing well, but they were in the game. What was hurting OKC was the lack of any offensive rhythm. So when Durant and Green went to the bench with over nine minutes left in the third, it was curious. But you were thinking, ‘OK, quick blow here and they’re coming back.’ Instead, they sat the remainder of the quarter.”

ESPNChicago:
Nick Friedell: “Did you ever think you would see a game where Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah would combine to go 6-for-21 from the field with 17 points, and the Bulls would win convincingly? Welcome to life with Carlos Boozer, Chicago.”

Bonus video:
You know the kid is great when, in the midst of a 3-for-13 shooting night, he knocks down a 40-foot buzzer beater.

Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Play-By-Play, Shot Chart, Photos.

The post Game 19 Recap: Bulls 99, Thunder 90 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

“The Bulls must contain Kevin Durant as best they can (good luck, Luol), while keeping KD and his teammates off the free throw line. It’s also imperative that they take care of the ball and crash the defensive glass. Outside of Durant, the Thunder rely on points off turnovers and second-chance points to generate offense.”

How did that turn out for the Bullies?

Well, Durant (30 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals) was not contained. And the Thunder definitely weren’t kept off the line, as they went a nearly unthinkable 38-for-47 from the charity stripe (including 11-for-13 for Durant). The Bulls gave up only 9 offensive boards, but they surrendered 18 points off 15 turnovers.

Defense was a problem.

That may seem hard to believe considering the fact that Chicago held Oklahoma City to 41 percent shooting, including 22 percent (4-for-18) from downtown. But the Thunder — thanks in no small part to their astronomical free throw total — finished the game with an Offensive Rating of 107.2 points per 100 possessions.

Compare that to Chicago’s O-Rating of 96.1 and you can see that offense was a problem as well. It wasn’t that much of a problem through the first three quarters. The game was tied at 82-82 after three and it sure seemed as if the Bulls were in position to steal a game on the road.

Then things fell apart.

Derrick Rose and crew were outscored 24-13 in the final 12 minutes as the offense devolved so badly I half-wondered if Vinny Del Negro was patrolling the sidelines in a Tom Thibodeau costume. When the Bulls weren’t turning the ball over or bailing out with long jump shots, they were missing chippies or having the ball swatted away by an aggressive Oklahoma City defense that finished with 10 blocked shots and 11 steals.

The Bulls looked intimidated. They also looked out of gas.

The latter was certainly true of Rose. He finished with a team-high 28 points to go along with 6 assists and 4 rebounds, but he went 4-for-16 in the second half and scored only 4 points in the final 21 minutes. Derrick tried to take over in the fourth, but he was running on empty. It didn’t help that Rose was hampered by foul trouble, which got him out of rhythm. But still.

Joakim Noah (18 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks) and Taj Gibson (16 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals) both had strong games, but they don’t really generate offense in a pinch. Deng (13 points, 5-for-13, 2 rebounds, 4 turnovers) was eaten alive by Durant and looked every bit like the third or fourth option everybody says he is. Meanwhile, the reserves went 7-for-20, including 0-for-4 from downtown.

And did I mention that the Bulls missed nine foul shots?

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. Chicago won the rebounding batte 50-44 (including 15-9 on the offensive glass) and outscored Oklahoma City 50-40 in the paint. The latter number is telling when you consider the fact that the Thunder led the league in blocked shots last season.

But the Bulls collapsed in the fourth and the offense ran like something out of the infamous VDN playbook.

Said Thibodeau: “You can’t have blown sets in the fourth quarter. I think that’s where you have to be at your best. You have to be able to execute under pressure, and we’ll do better. We have to do better.”

This game was a prime example of why the Bulls need Carlos Boozer back as soon as possible. Simply put, without a second legitimate scoring option, there’s too much pressure on Rose to do everything. That’s a lot to ask against a really good defensive team like the Thunder, even for somebody as good as Rose.

Durant didn’t do it alone. Russell Westbrook (28 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists) lit things up, going 8-for-15 from the field and 12-for-13 at the line. Oklahoma City had a one-two punch on offense. The Bulls — in the fourth quarter anyway — had one swing and a miss. Lots of misses actually.

Look, the Thunder are a good team that was playing at home in a season opener and Chicago was a team missing its second-best scorer. The loss makes sense.

It also makes me think that this opening stretch without Boozer could get messy.

Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Play-By-Play, Shot Chart, Photos.

The post Game one: Thunder 106, Bulls 95 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

So let’s consider last season.

During the 2009-10 campaign, the Thunder (27-14 at home) played the Bulls (17-24 on the road) twice, winning 98-85 at the United Center on January 4 and losing 96-86 in Oklahoma City on January 27.

In 2008-09, the Thunder won 23 games. In 2009-10, they won 50 games. For those of you who enjoy simple math, that’s a 27-game improvement, tops in the NBA last year. For the sake of comparison, the Memphis Grizzlies came in second with a 16-game improvement.

The Thunder did it with a stingy defense (1st in total blocked shots, 4th in Opponents Effective Field Goal Percentage, 7th in Opponents Turnover Percentage, 9th in Defensive Rating) and Kevin Durant’s offense (a league-best 30.1 PPG).

At 21 years and197 days old, Durant became the youngest scoring champion in NBA history. Not surprisingly, he finished second (to LeBron James) in MVP voting. A distant second, but still. The kid is amazing. Although he didn’t do it alone.

When KD missed, his teammates were there to clean up the mess, as the Thunder ranked 3rd in Offensive Rebound Percentage. The Thunder also drew fouls, ranking 2nd in Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt and 3rd in Total Free Throw Attempts.

Durant was a major component of those foul shooting numbers. Last season, KD made 751 free throws. History lesson: That’s the sixth-highest total in NBA history and the most since Michael Jordan hit 833 in 1986-87. The only other players to convert more freebies than Durant were Oscar Robertson (800 in 1963-64), Adrian Dantley (813 in 1983-84), Wilt Chamberlain (835 in 1961-62) and Jerry West (840 in 1965-66).

That’s some pretty rare company.

Assuming things remain relatively constant, the Bulls must contain Kevin Durant as best they can (good luck, Luol), while keeping KD and his teammates off the free throw line. It’s also imperative that they take care of the ball and crash the defensive glass. Outside of Durant, the Thunder rely on points off turnovers andsecond-chance points to generate offense.

The Bulls can’t afford to give up garbage points. They need to make the Thunder earn everything. After all, the Thunder ranked only 20th in Effective Field Goal Percentage last season.

Note: All stats came from ESPN Stats and Information and Basketball-Reference.com.

The post Bulls-Thunder game preview appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Unstoppable.

Said Derrick Rose: “I don’t think anybody in the league or anywhere else would have thought that we would be sitting here 4-0 after that.”

No kidding.

I sure didn’t. In fact, especially after their defeat in L.A., I was almost certain the Bulls were going to go 0-7 on this trip. I’ll admit. I left them for dead. But here they are, one of the hottest teams in the league. Suddenly. Out of nowhere. Or so it seems.

What happened?

Said Joakim Noah: “It all starts with Derrick Rose. He’s just playing huge for us, making the right decisions, staying aggressive offensively. When your point guard is playing like that, it usually leads to good things.”

With all due respect to Rose, and to Noah’s assessment, that statement is only half-right. The Bulls’ success actually starts with their defense…which currently ranks 7th in the league in terms of Defensive Efficiency. With the exception of the Phoenix Suns, most good teams are built around a foundation of solid (if not spectacular) defense. Chicago’s offense was destined to struggle at the start of this season, what with the loss of leading scorer Ben Gordon and injuries to Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas. But by building a solid defensive unit, Vinny Del Negro set the Bulls up for success once the offense came around.

That’s where Noah’s comments about Rose come in. The coaches might not have voted him onto the All-Star team — we’ll find out tonight — but Rose has blossomed into a superstar right before our eyes. He has gotten better every single month this season, and Rose has averaged 26.3 points while shooting just under 60 percent from the field in these four road wins. He was unstoppable once again last night, finishing with a team-high 26 points on 13-for-23 shooting to go along with a co-game-high 7 assists.

Rose delivered the knockout punch by scoring 10 of his points in the fourth quarter as the Bulls — whose defense held a pretty good Thunder team to 37 percent shooting on its home turf — pulled away for a double-digit win that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicates. And check out these sick fouth-quarter moves (Hat Tip to Docksquad Sports):

And did I mention Oklahoma City ranks 5th in Defensive Efficiency? Tell me Rose isn’t an All-Star. No, really. Just try it. But be warned: you’re going to look as silly as Thabo Sefolosha did when Derrick crossed him over.

Remember: The Bulls started the season 10-17. Since then, they’ve won 12 of the last 17 games, including six of the last eight. And this four-game road winning streak seems to be the counterpoint to Chicago’s epic failures against the Nets and Kings, the latter of which was the infamous game in which the Bulls choked up a 35-point lead at home.

Said Noah: “I remember last month, it was almost like a disaster. In just a matter of a month, I think that it’s all about confidence. Winning basketball games on the road builds confidence.”

It sure does.

Again, some credit really must be given to Del Negro for establishing solid defensive principles and making minor adjustments thoughout the season while enduring questions about his future (or lack thereof) in the Windy City. He settled on a starting lineup. The players now know and understand their roles. After using Hinrich against the likes of Steve Nash and Tony Parker during this current streak, Del Negro unleashed Captain Kirk on Russell Westbrook, which allowed Rose to concentrate on dishing to his teammates and setting the nets on fire. I don’t understand why Vinny hasn’t gotten a few more pats on the back lately. I guess it’s hard to fight perception.

While I’m handing out credit, I should give some to Luol Deng (17 points, 4 rebounds), who played excellent defense on Kevin Durant. Sure, Durant still finished with a game-high 28 points, but he was only 7-for-19, and 12 of his points came in the fourth quarter after his team had fallen behind by double-digits. At one point, Durant — the league’s third-leading scorer at 29.3 PPG — went ice code during a stretch in whcih his team missed 16 straight shots.

Credit should also go to Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas, who combined for 27 points and 9 boards off the bench. By contast, Oklahoma City’s reserves contributed only 14 points on 6-for-24 shooting. Then there was Taj Gibson with a game-high 15 rebounds, Noah with a double-double (13 points, 11 boards), and Hinrich with 8 boards, 6 assists and his defense on Westbrook (who finished with only 10 points and committed 4 turnovers). The Bulls are playing together. Everybody is contributing.

Isn’t this kind of how we expected the team to play all season?

Said Noah: “When you can’t win games because you’re not talented enough to win games, that’s one thing. But that’s what was frustrating about the whole thing was we were better than that, and we’re proving that.”

They certainly are.

Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Advanced Box Score, Play-By-Play, Shot Chart, Photos.

The post .500 again: Bulls 96, Thunder 86 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

In his Rookie Challenge preview, David Thorpe said: “If Rose didn’t have to fly in after his Thursday night game, I’d expect him to dominate much of the action with his dribble-attack game. Or his improved midrange game. Plus his acrobatic finishes at the rim. But since he plays so many minutes for the Bulls, and this game is essentially a back-to-back for him, there’s a chance he’ll chill and let his teammates do the fun stuff.”

Thorpe was right on the money. Rose played fewer minutes than any Rookie starter (20:34). He had a team-high 7 assists — and only Rodney Stuckey of the Sophomore team had more (with 9) — but scored only 4 points on 1-for-5 shooting. He never looked to force the action or assert himself on offense. (Defense isn’t played in the Rookie Challenge, unless by accident.) Most of the time, he was content to bring the ball up and pass it off as soon as he reached the three-point arc.

According to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, Rose didn’t sleep overnight and got only three hours of sleep on his 6 a.m. flight. So sure, he was tired. But fellow rook Michael Beasley was in pretty much the same boat, having played (and played big) in the Heat’s Thursday night win over the Bulls in Chicago. Beasley, however, scored a Rookie team-high 29 on 11-for-22 shooting. In fact, only Kevin Durant of the Sophomore team put up more points (a rookie-sophomore record 46 on 17-for-25).

Of course, Thorpe predicted that too: “Beasley might be thrilled at the chance to show off his offensive game without being in D-Wade’s shadow. Although on the Heat he’s just another guy, he’s a very respected talent on this team.” That dude must have a time machine or something.

Overall, the Rookie Challenge is pretty meaningless, so I don’t want to make too much out of Rose’s performance. But the one thing that often worries me about Derrick is his “quiet leader” mentality. He doesn’t always have the hard edge/killer instinct that you typically see in the all-time greats. Despite the limited sleep and general lack of importance in the game, I would have liked to see him assert himself against his closest peers and rookie rivals like Beasley.

Bonus quotage: Here’s what Rose had to say about the game: “It was fun. The crowd got me into it even though I wasn’t really producing. Just being a part of it was amazing. I just want to have fun and watch how players react to certain things. Watch LeBron [James] — he’s my favorite player — and see how he acts toward fans and media. I never thought I’d be here. You think about playing in the NBA, but you never think about playing in the All-Star Game. For me to have this opportunity, it’s a blessing. Hopefully, one day I can be playing with the big boys.”

Extras: Recap, Box Score, TrueHoop Live Blog, Hollinger Rookie Grades, Hollinger Sophomore Grades. And here are the game highlights:

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