Chris Paul had hit two jumpers within a minute to put the Clippers up by 14 as halftime approached. Right around that point I had this thought:

At this point I want the Bulls to just get smoked so the starters sit. Related: I have tonight's recap and it would let me go to bed earlier

— Trenton Jocz (@TrentonJocz) November 18, 2014

Six more road games awaited the Bulls, and despite their unblemished record away from home, pouring resources into a game with Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol on the bench in street clothes seemed like a losing proposition. One problem: the game would have to get far, far out of hand for Thibs to agree, so I started rooting for the Clippers to hit shots, to just make it quick. The Clippers announcers mentioned that Paul has focused on being aggressive earlier in the game when the opportunity to put the dagger in presented itself. Six quick points and he was doing just that.

And then Mike Dunleavy hit a jumper.

And then Jimmy Butler hit a three pointer.

And then Joakim Noah completed a three point play.

Still, the lead was six, and that was before Matt Barnes knocked down a three. Nine points, no man’s land:

The Bulls are gonna stay just close enough to play their guys too many minutes aren't they?

— Trenton Jocz (@TrentonJocz) November 18, 2014

Well, Taj Gibson chipped in a couple of buckets and it was down to five. Then, right before the buzzer, Jamal Crawford tried to grab the ball and race upcourt, except he lost the handle, Jimmy grabbed it and Crawford’s effort to atone led to an and-one for Butler.

Halftime: Clippers 50, Bulls 48.

Chicago came out of the break strong, with Kirk Hinrich, yes, Kirk Hinrich hitting two triples in the opening minutes of the half. They seized the lead and a dominant 31-14 third quarter put the game well in hand. The listless Clips made a late run led by Crawford, who had 24 points on 10-17 from the floor, but never really threatened.

This might sound like the typical Thibs Era game, where they Never Give Up and play batten-down-the-hatches, tighten-the-screws defense, except it wasn’t. Mentally, the toughness was there, especially from Jimmy, who played the entire second half and simply refused to allow the team to lose, but the Bulls won this game with precise offensive execution as opposed to mucking it up.

Everyone save for Doug McDermott had their moments:

Noah submitted an 11 point, 16 rebound, six assist performance, looking more comfortable back to manning the middle with Gasol out.

Every time Chicago needed a bucket, Mike Dunleavy supplied it. His 19 points and seven rebounds aren’t eye-popping in the box score but he made a lot of big plays and is showing why the calls to start McDermott over him were premature.

Nikola Mirotic overcame some defensive mistakes and battles with the Clippers bigs down low, showcasing an array of offensive skills, long distance shooting, prescient passing and crafty separation moves among them. He could have gotten rattled, but he didn’t implode from the frustration. He’ll learn some valuable lessons from tonight.

Hinrich played much more effectively than he has in other games without Rose, as the talent on the floor allowed Kirk to spot up or keep the ball moving rather than try to create on his own.

Taj Gibson relished the chance at extended minutes, notching 20 points on 9-13 shooting, adding 6 assists (!) and a couple blocks.

Finally, Butler had one of the more astounding 6-17 games a player can have. On defense, he chased Redick around screens to start and guarded Paul a couple times in the fourth quarter. He also drew a critical charge call early in the possession on Crawford as the Clips attempted their late comeback. On offense, he handled the load as the Clippers assortment of underwhelming wings could not contain him and he relentlessly attacked the rim with post-ups and penetration. He tallied eight assists by finding the open big once help came, and got to the line ten times.

Now, the Clippers have been far the Finals contender they were billed as coming into the season, and they certainly contributed to their own demise tonight. Blake Griffin mistakenly thought he was Magic Johnson in transition, Spencer Hawes tried a Kareem sky hook, Matt Barnes airballed a pass and DeAndre Jordan airballed a free throw. But in the past, the Bulls simply haven’t had the talent to go with the effort, and with Mirotic finally here, as well as improvements from Jimmy and Taj, they actually have some options on offense.

The Bulls have a couple days to rest up for Sacramento and stay undefeated on the road. That doesn’t mean it’s a day off though:

Bulls were talking about Tuesday offday when Butler got reminded they have noon film review. "Hip, hip hooray," Butler said.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) November 18, 2014

The post Bulls Recover From Early Deficit To Dominate Clippers 105-89 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Rip Hamilton was the Bulls starting shooting guard.

Jimmy Butler had zero regular season minutes to his name.

Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler and Kenyon Martin were all core rotation players for the Clippers.

Derrick Rose had only missed six games in his NBA career.

That’s how long it’s been since Rose and Chris Paul faced off against each other in a game, when Rose dropped his famed 29 point, 16 assist performance on Paul as a welcome gift in his home debut for the Clips, defending his best-point-guard-alive title belt fresh off of the lockout. Rose has won all five meetings with CP3, with the other four coming when Paul played for the Hornets.

The wait will continue, seeing as Rose is out again. His hamstring injury is apparently no big deal, but this is the start of the circus road trip and the team is on the road for the remainder of the month. No need to push it, so it’ll be more of the ISO KIRK offense. In the long run, it’s a smart decision, but for tonight, Rose’s absence portends bad things for the Bulls. Without him they’re 0-4 against the Clips and it’ll be the first game back in Staples Center against Doc Rivers’ squad since the 121-82 complete demolition that L.A. put on Chicago in the first game after Rose tore his meniscus in Portland.

Chicago doesn’t play again until Thursday, so don’t be surprised to see big minutes again for Butler and Pau Gasol, who’ll be making his return to Staples as a visitor for the first time since leaving L.A., albeit not against the team he left. If the Bulls are to win, it’ll have to be a big game for Jimmy as neither Jamal Crawford nor J.J. Redick has the capability to stop his newfound offensive game, and the more the ball is in his hands, the less it’s in Hinrich’s.

A lot has changed since the last meeting between Rose and Paul as evidenced above, but the core elements are the same: The Bulls are anchored by Rose, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson, Los Angeles by Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, and both are still seeking that elusive championship. The unfortunate wait continues, but this time it’s in a season where the matchup can be legitimately considered a Finals preview.

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The Bulls and Clippers meet in Chicago tonight in a battle between two teams who have suffered through numerous point guard injuries this season. The Bulls’ problems have been covered in detail here and elsewhere, while the Clippers has gone rather unreported of late.

Since losing Chris Paul, the Clippers’ have lost Darren Collison – who returns from a sprained left big toe tonight – and even acquired Hedo Turkoglu to fill in as point forward with predictably bad results.

Los Angeles comes into the game seeking to avoid back-to-back defeats for the first time since losing Paul to a sprained right shoulder having lost 95-91 in Charlotte.

For the Bulls, Carlos Boozer is expected to return from his one-game absence while Kirk Hinrich will likely sit out again nursing a hamstring injury.

With Chris Paul out, the Clippers’ offense has foundered, failing to score 93 points in two of their last three games. Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford, whom Tom Thibodeau singled out for praise on Friday, will take up the brunt of the scoring again, resulting in a pair of key match-ups tonight.

Joakim Noah will seek to extend his career-best 14-game streak of double-doubles, the longest such streak by a Bull since Dennis Rodman racked up 43 consecutive double-doubles in the 1997-98 season. His box score stuffing has been vital to the Bulls since trading Luol Deng, averaging 14.1 points, 15.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.0 blocks per game since the trade.

Scoring is up across the board since the trade, with six players averaging double-digit scoring allowing the Bulls to take the court with a balanced offense to go with their trademark suffocating defense.

Probable Starters

Chicago Bulls

PG: D.J. Augustin: 5th season. 13.0 points per game, 6.1 assists per game.

SG: Jimmy Butler: 3rd season. 12.2 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game.

SF: Mike Dunleavy: 11th season. 11.1 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game.

PF: Carlos Boozer: 11th season. 14.9 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game.

C: Joakim Noah: 6th season. 11.7 points per game, 11.4 rebounds per game.

Los Angeles Clippers

PG: Darren Collison: 4th season. 9.3 points per game, 3.0 assists per game.

SG: J.J. Redick: 7th season. 16.3 points per game, 2.2 rebounds per game.

SF: Matt Barnes: 10th season. 7.1 points per game, 4.2 rebounds per game.

PF: Blake Griffin: 3rd season. 22.6 points per game, 10.0 rebounds per game.

C: DeAndre Jordan: 5th season. 9.6 points per game, 13.6 rebounds per game.

Key Match-up: Blake Griffin/DeAndre Jordan vs Taj Gibson/Joakim Noah

It would be too difficult to pick just one of these frontcourt match-ups, but with Taj Gibson the Bulls de-facto power forward to close out games, either he or Noah will be tasked with handling Blake Griffin. Griffin has scored 51 points to go with 22 rebounds in his last two games against the Bulls, the last of which was a 39-point blowout as the shell-shocked Bulls played their first full game without Derrick Rose. As for the second half of this match-up, DeAndre Jordan has become one of the premier rebounders and shot-blockers in the league this season as he averages as 13.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game – both career highs. Joakim Noah will have his work cut out for him to not only continue his own double-double streak but prevent Jordan from owning the glass. With both teams devoid of their best point guards, this game could be won – and lost – in the trenches.

The post Game 42: Chicago Bulls vs Los Angeles Clippers appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Image from Flickr via LWY

In the words of esteemed philosopher Emmitt Smith, plain and simple, the Bulls got debacled. The 121-82 final score that will show on the tickers of various sports networks is every bit indicative of how bad Chicago got blown out today by the Clippers. Things were good to start (well more passable than good, but it isn’t called “The Passable, The Bad and The Ugly”), quickly turned bad and the entire second half was flat-out ugly. Let’s get this over with:

The Good

-Luol Deng set a season high with 13 free throw attempts, nine of them in the first half. He was aggressive slashing to the basket, and it appears the Bulls will try to establish him in the post going forward. It’s not pretty, but they aren’t exactly flush with alternatives. He had 14 points, five assists in the first half and finished with 22 and six.

-Carlos Boozer started out hot, hitting four jumpers in the first quarter, though he finished 6-13.

-Putting it mildly, Kirk Hinrich is frustrating to watch, but hes at least palatable when he hits a couple shots as he did in the first half, in which he was 3/6 with a couple from midrange and a corner three on an assist from Deng as the Bulls tried to make progress before halftime.

The Bad

-While the Bulls got a couple buckets in transition, they gave it right back on the other end. Hinrich executed with numbers to get Deng a layup only to see Los Angeles push it back down for Chris Paul, who finished with 16 points and 17 assists, to knife his way through a scattered defense and casually nail an open 13-foot jumper.

-Tony Snell has the tools to be a very good defender, but J.J. Redick repeatedly threw both Snell and Mike Dunleavy for a loop on the perimeter. They fell for every fake, leaving Redick with an ocean of space to launch open jumpers.

-The Clippers got any and every look that they wanted. Redick and Jared Dudley were open all game for shots they could hit not only in their sleep, but in a coma, and Paul, Jamal Crawford and Darren Collison had no problem finding driving lanes. All of L.A. starters shot at least 60%, shooting a combined 29-42.

The Ugly

-All five Bulls starters finished with more points than shots, and they still lost by 39.

-After scoring 24 points in the first quarter and 28 in the second, Chicago just scored 30 points after halftime, including a measly nine in the final frame.

-Mike James played.

-He might play more, as Marquis Teague continues to be a train wreck. He just has no plan when he has the ball, and it’s not hard to imagine Thibs turning to James to at least cut down on the facepalm type of plays Teague continues to make. Teague was 0-7 and bricked a three in the second half just about as badly as an NBA player can.

-The Clippers dusted off Antawn Jamison for his first minutes of the year, and after going 0-3 in the first half, he went 4-5 in the second half for 11 points, highlighted by freezing Nazr Mohammed on a perimeter pump-fake before a very nice finish at the rim to avoid other defenders.

Notes

Deng’s first rest of the game came at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter, at which point the Bulls had Snell in Deng’s place with the starters.

Despite their listed positions, Noah/Griffin and Boozer/Jordan were the matchups on both ends of the court

Before things turned really ugly, Chris Paul coaxed a rare in-game smile from Tom Thibodeau. It’s safe to assume that was his last chuckle of the day.

Listening to the Clippers broadcast was a bright spot in a dismal game. They were fair rather than being homers, and if anything were too effusive in their praise of the Bulls. Best line of the broadcast from Ralph Lawler: “How many guys do you know named Nazr?”

The post Game #12 Recap: Bulls at Clippers, Rock Bottom…Maybe appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Image from Flickr via LWY

It’s hard to remember many games going from huge matchups circled on the calendar to feeling rather trivial, yet that is the case for Chicago’s matinee with the Clippers today. It’s been nearly two years since Derrick Rose and Chris Paul squared off, which dates back to a New Year’s Eve clash in which Rose asserted his claim as the game’s top point guard. The defending MVP stole the show in Paul’s home debut as a Clipper, dropping 29 points on just 14 shots, along with 16 assists and 8 rebounds. In the wake of Rose’s torn medial meniscus however, the wait to see the consensus top point guards in each conference face off continues.

With the Bulls 0-2 thus far on their road trip, the high octane Clippers hardly seem like an ideal opponent for them to right the ship against, but in actuality, might represent an opportunity for Chicago’s anemic offense to find some success. Both Brooklyn and Memphis, two other presumed contenders who have struggled to score as of yet, have torched the Clips on their home floor recently, so if the Bulls are to make progress towards a healthy offense in a post-Rose reality, now is the time, especially with porous defenses in Utah and Detroit awaiting them in their next stops. Even though Rose hadn’t returned to pre-injury form, they’ll need to recalibrate their rotations and some of their offense (though as some of the players have said themselves, they are used to playing without Rose), as well as try to get Marquis Teague playing well enough to survive with him backing up Kirk Hinrich. Also, while Mike Dunleavy is an upgrade over Marco Belinelli, it’s unlikely he shoulders the minutes load Belinelli did at times last year, so as much as Tom Thibodeau resists playing rookies, Tony Snell seems likely to get an opportunity to soak up some minutes off the bench.

Historically, Paul and head coach Doc Rivers both run slow offenses, but in a basketball version of two negatives equaling a positive, the Clippers have really pushed the pace this year. It makes sense for them to run though, as they severely lack backup bigs and their supply of wings runneth over. This presents Chicago with a double-edged sword. On one hand, Taj Gibson should be able to continue his bounce-back season against lineups that feature either Ryan Hollins or Byron Mullens as a token center or ones devoid of a big man at all. On the other hand, the Clippers cache of perimeter shooting leaves the Bulls vulnerable to getting burned in transition and semi-transition as they did against Denver and Portland, and as good as Ty Lawson and Damian Lillard are, they aren’t capable of surgically demolishing defenses the way Paul is at the moment.

A full strength Bulls team would have their hands full with the task of corralling one of the league’s best offenses, let alone with their starting backcourt away from the team tending to serious injuries, but if they’ve shown anything under Thibodeau, it’s that they never back down from a challenge.

Bulls Lineup

Starters: Kirk Hinrich, Mike Dunleavy, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah

Bench: Taj Gibson, Marquis Teague, Nazr Mohammed, Tony Snell

Out: Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler

Clippers Lineup

Starters: Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, Jared Dudley, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan

Bench: Jamal Crawford, Darren Collison, Reggie Bullock, Ryan Hollins and/or Byron Mullens

Out: Matt Barnes

Notes:

-While ascribing win-loss records to players is devoid of any context, for what it’s worth, Derrick Rose is 5-0 lifetime against Chris Paul.

-The Bulls are playing their third game in four days while the Clippers are playing their fourth game in five days. NBA scheduling: it’s faaaaantastic!

-Although such a trade doesn’t make sense for either team, each will get a close look at the exact type of player who could fill a gaping roster hole. Gibson’s dependable defense and ability to hit free throws would give L.A. a nice replacement for DeAndre Jordan in closing out games, while Jamal Crawford would be able to fill Chicago’s glaring weakness of a ballhandling guard who can sustain bench units offensively, yet also play off-ball with the starters.

The post Game #12 Preview: Chicago Bulls at Los Angeles Clippers – The Show Must Go On appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

That said, the Bulls still could have beaten them last night.

But they did not.

Here are four reasons: 17, 17, 22, and 50.

17 as in the number fast break points the Clippers scored.

17 as in the number of turnovers committed by the Bulls.

22 as in how many points the Clippers scored off those turnovers.

50 as in how many points the Clippers scored in the paint.

When playing a superior team, the lesser team has almost no margin for error.

The Bulls could have survived poor shooting nights from Joakim Noah (4-for-9), Luol Deng (3-for-14) and Marco Belinelli (6-for-22) if they’d taken care of the little things.

Getting back in transition.

Protecting the rim.

Taking care of the basketball.

Instead, the Clippers did major damage in transition, even putting on a dunk fest in the second quarter.

They also went 21-for-27 at the rim — a 77.8 percent conversion rate — with Blake Griffin (7-for-9) and DeAndre Jordan (3-for-3) doing most of the damage.

And there were those damn turnovers.

The Bulls were leading 38-37 with 3:44 to go in the first half. Then Deng had a pass stolen and Griffin got a dunk on the other end. On Chicago’s next possession, Belinelli lost the ball and Griffin got another slam. A few possessions later, Noah got stripped and Jordan finished L.A.’s next possession with a putback dunk of his own.

By halftime, the Bulls were down 47-40. That was a critical sequence.

Said Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau: “The end of the second quarter changed the game. We started dancing with the ball. And when you do that, it leads to turnovers, live-ball transition buckets. We shot ourselves in the foot there. And the end of the third was pretty much the same. You can’t do that against good teams.”

The only thing that kept the Bulls in the game was their three-point shooting, which was an uncharacteristic 10-for-20. Of course, after starting 8-for-10 on threes, they finished with a 2-for-10 stretch we like to call “regressing to the mean.”

The Bulls were also challenged offensively. To be frank, L.A.’s length and athleticism killed the Bulls. The Clippers were able to stay close enough to challenge jump shots while laying back far enough to clog the paint and gum up the passing lanes. And, let’s face it, nobody on Chicago’s roster was beating anybody on L.A.’s roster off the dribble.

Last night’s juxtaposition with the Clippers provided a rather grim example of how modest the Bulls’ talents are in terms of team speed and jumping ability.

That made every nearly every offensive possession an ugly, grind-it-out affair, with plenty of misses (the Bulls shot 40.2 percent) and a rather typical reliance on offensive rebounding (the Bulls had 18) just to stay in the game. Carlos Boozer (24 points on 11-for-20 shooting) and Taj Gibson (10 points on 4-for-5 shooting) had it going…but that was it.

As is often the case, the Bulls tried to overcome their offensive deficiencies by passing the rock, but the Clippers seemed to have an arm or hand everywhere and finished with 11 steals.

I admit to obsessing over the turnover problem, but it’s meaningful. The Bulls rank 26th in Pace (90.3 possessions per 48 minutes), 23rd in Effective Field Goal Percentage (46.9) and 28th in Turnover Percentage (14.8). In summary, they’re slow, shoot poorly and lose the ball a lot.

Simply put, the Bulls are not good enough to keep turning the ball over at this rate. The Bulls were absolutely in last night’s game and absolutely could have come away with a win. But they lost 17 possessions and their opponent turned those 17 lost possessions into 22 points.

There is no safety net of Derrick Rose. There is no safety net of the Bench Mob.

Despite their stellar defense, the Bulls can’t possibly hope to be much better than a .500-ish team if they keep turning the ball over at this rate.

Remember: Belinelli drilled a three to pull the Bulls to within 89-87 with under a minute to go. You think the team would like their 5 fourth quarter turnovers back? You think five extra possessions over the final 12 minutes might have made a difference?

ESPNChicago’s Nick Friedell says the Bulls lack firepower and Jon Greenberg agrees.

And although they aren’t wrong, last night’s game was up for grabs. With Thibodeau’s defense, this team can win on any given nights if they limit their mistakes.

Sadly, that’s proving difficult to do.

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

The post Game Recap: Clippers 94, Bulls 89 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Rose never forgot it.

In the 22 games since, Rose had gone 140-for-160 from the line. That’s a conversion rate of 87.5 percent. Quite a difference from his career mark of 79.2 percent or even his in-season average of 82.4 percent.

That’s something people need to understand about Rose: He’s always getting better.

Think about it. He came into the league without a jump shot. Now he has one. Critics said he couldn’t hit the three-pointer. Now he’s connecting 38 percent of his treys. His court vision was questioned. Now he’s 10th in APG (8.2) and 8th in Assist Percentage (40.6). His defense was called out. Now his defense has improved by a wide margin and he currently ranks 10th in Defensive Win Shares. Earlier this season, ESPN’s John Hollinger wrote that his lack of free throw attempts was preventing him from being an elite point guard. Rose went on to average eight foul shots per game in January.

The game matters to him. Being the best matters to him.

So it should come as no surprise that Derrick wanted payback for that earlier loss to The Other L.A. Team.

Said Rose: “They beat us last time. I wanted some revenge. It was because of me that we lost [in December] where I missed the free throw. And that really hurt me. If anything, it made me stronger as a player.”

It sure did.

The game began with a thrilling first quarter duel between Rose and Blake Griffin, who, by the way, is every bit as good as billed. The Clippers are just as lucky to have Griffin as the Bulls are to have Rose.

Fortunately for Chicago, Vinny Del Negro was coaching from the other bench.

Rose cooled off in the second quarter but returned with a (you guessed it) vengeance in the third quarter, scoring 12 points and dishing out three assists as the Bulls outscored the Clippers 27-22 to take an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Chicago defense kicked in, limiting L.A. to 17 points over the final 12 minutes, effectively putting the game out of reach.

It says something that Griffin could have a superhero-like game (32 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists) and the Bulls could soundly beat a Clippers team that had been red-hot at home. It also says something that Rose was getting “M-V-P!” chants on the road in L.A. (Although that probably says more about the historically morbid quality of the Clippers franchise than Rose’s MVP candidacy.)

The Bulls have now won six in a row and are tied (with Miami) for the third-best record in the NBA (behind Boston and San Antonio). And I feel the need to point this out again: Joakim Noah hasn’t played in a month and a half. The Bulls are now 18-6 in his absence. Thanks to the Double Ds: Defense and D-Rose.

Rose finished with a co-game-high 32 points along with a game-best 11 assists. He shot the ball efficiently from three-point range (4-for-8) and overall (11-for-18). He did miss two of his eight free throw attempts, the second of which really upset him despite the fact that the Bulls were up 103-85 with 1:08 left in the game.

I’m okay with Rose expecting perfection, though.

Said Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau: “I think that’s who he is. I think he’s never satisfied. He wants the team to do well. He’s always driving himself to get better. I thought he had great command in this game. I thought the way he started off the game set the tone for us. Very aggressive. Pick and roll, running the team. I thought [he was] aggressive defensively. I thought he did a lot of good things and when he’s going like that, he lifts the whole team.”

Other notables: Carlos Boozer had another double-double (16 points, 10 boards). Taj Gibson (9 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots) and C.J. Watson (9 points, 3-for-4, 2-for-3 on threes, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) provided a lift off the bench.

And how about Luol Deng?

Look, we all know Lu will probably never be an All-Star. But night in, night out, he morphs into whatever the Bulls need him to be. And last night, he had an All-Star level game that, because of the Blake and Derrick Show, went almost unnoticed: 26 points, 9-for-17 from the field, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, 5-for-5 from the line, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and a game-best plus-minus score of +18 in a team-high 39 minutes and 23 seconds of action.

Everything the Bulls do revolves around Rose. Boozer’s inside game keeps the Bulls from being a jumpshot-only team. But although the NBA doesn’t give out an award for it, Deng has been one of the best “Third Guys” in the league this season.

At any rate, it was a nice way to start this current five-game road trip. You know, Rose says he wants to win all five games.

Do you doubt him?

Bonus stat:
From the AP game notes: “The Bulls have held opponents to fewer than 100 points in 13 straight games and 19 of 20. They are 31-6 this season when giving up fewer than 100 and 0-8 when allowing 100 or more in a regulation game.”

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

The post Game 48 Recap: Bulls 106, Clippers 88 appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Stats from Basketball-Reference.com.

Clippers Injury Report:
Eric Gordon: Sprained right wrist / bone chip (questionable)
Chris Kaman: Bone bruise / sprained left ankle (out indefinitely)
Craig Smith: Herniated disc (out indefinitely)

Overview:
Back on December 18, the Bulls played their first game without the injured Joakim Noah, at home against the Clippers.

 They fell on their faces.

The game ended when Rose missed a free throw that would have tied the game with 0.8 seconds left.

In that game, rookie Blake Griffin dominated the Bulls with 29 points and 12 rebounds. And Taj Gibson has plans to contain Griffin tonight.

Said Gibson: “I’m going to try and get the block or take a foul. Like coach Thibodeau says, nothing easy.”

Not much comes easy against the Bulls these days. They still rank 1st in Defensive Rating (99.2).

Unfortunately, the Bulls are merely 10-10 outside of the Windy City. Meanwhile, the Clips have won nine in a row at home, a streak that includes victories over the Heat, Lakers and Nuggets.

The last time the Clippers won 10 straight at home? It was between December 5, 1975 and January 6, 1976. When the frachise was located in Buffalo. And they were called the Braves.

Not only would the Clips like to make team history, they’d like to win their last home game before starting a league-high 11-game road trip.

To win, the Bulls need to contain Griffin, cool of Randy Foye (who’s been scoring 19.0 PPG in the absence of the injured Eric Gordon), and keep the Clippers away from the offensive glass (the one area in which they are an elite team).

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

At the same time, the loss was good for the Bulls because as long as they were able to keep winning while shooting terribly from the line, there would have been no sense of urgency. The manner in which they lost, however, might actually help the team in the long run.

It is true that free-throw shooting is not an easy skill to improve quickly (if at all). It takes time, practice, and good coaching. But above all, it requires dedication by the individual(s), and that is something that, in this context, seems to have been missing from the Bulls this season.

Given that it was Rose – an underachiever at the line himself – who missed the crucial free-throw, it is likely that he will redouble his efforts to improve in that area. And given that he is certainly a leader of the team, and especially by example of his work ethic, perhaps the rest of the players will feel pressure to focus on improving their foul shooting (pun intended) as well.

This is no joke, though, as even with the team (hopefully) back at full strength for the playoffs, any thought of upsetting an elite contender will remain a fantasy unless the Bulls shore up their free-throw shooting.

About the Author:
Tony C. grew up in Evanston, and cut his teeth on the exciting, early ’70’s Walker-Love-Sloan-Van Lier Bulls. As you might expect, he is thrilled with the direction and development of the current team, as the emphasis on determination, defense and chemistry is so reminiscent of that classic, earlier era.

The post Guest Post: The Clippers debacle appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Stats from Basketball-Reference.com.

Overview:
Statistically, the Clippers are awful.

They haven’t won on the road.

They’ve lost eight of their last 10 games.

They have the worst record in the league.

Their owner is heckling his players at home games.

And did I mention that their coach is Vinny Del Negro?

By every indication, the Clippers are a team in complete and utter disarray. But the Bulls should beware the trap game. No, really. I’m being serious.

Check out the Clippers’ last eight games:

Won versus Spurs 90-85
Lost at Denver 109-104
Lost at Portland 100-91
Won versus Kings 98-91
Lost versus Lakers 87-86
Lost versus Grizzlies 84-83
Lost versus Magic 94-85
Lost at Philly 105-91

Sure, their loss to the Sixers was a bad one. But they beat the Spurs, who have the best record in the league. They were only one point and a tough last-second shot by Derek Fisher away from beating the defending champion Lakers. They were also only one point away from beating the Memphis Grizzlies, who are on a four-game winning streak and have been playing really well lately. And they’ve been holding some high-scoring teams below their season averages.

Believe it or not, the Clippers have been playing hard.

It’s not that surprising. For all his faults as a coach — and there are many — Del Negro usually got the Bulls to give a solid effort when he was coaching in Chicago.

Plus, let’s face it, Blake Griffin has been tearing things up. Check out his game log: He has 19 double-doubles in 26 games. He has 13 double-doubles in his last 13 games. What’s more, he already has a season’s worth of highlights and inspired excited basketball fans to coin the term Mosgov’d.

The Clippers are also getting strong play out of Eric Gordon. Gordon currently ranks 10th in PPG (24.1) and 5th in free throw attempts (217). This kid is getting to the line nine times a game and converting 80 percent of his foul shots, which makes up (in part) for his poor three-point shooting (26.7 percent).

However, after those two guys, the Clippers are pretty thin. Chris Kaman, their starting center, is out with a sprained left ankle. Baron Davis (8.3 PPG, 34% FGA, 18% 3P%) is playing so poorly you almost can’t blame Donald Sterling for heckling him. And after that — Eric Bledsoe (7.9 PPG, 44% FGP), Ryan Gomes (7.1 PPG, 38% FPG), Rasual Butler (6.5 PPG, 34% FGP) — it only gets worse.

So I guess that, in theory, there’s no better team to go against in the team’s first Joakim Noah-less game than the Clippers.

Random stats: In four career games versus the Clippers, Derrick Rose has gone 31-for-74 from the field (41 percent). Meanwhile, in his last five games against the Clips, Carlos Boozer has averaged 22.2 PPG on 55 percent shooting (45-for-81) while grabbing 12.4 RPG. Boozington versus Griffin should be quite a battle.

Let’s hope Carlos isn’t Mosgov’d.

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