Stats from Basketball-Reference

Knicks Injury Report:
Marcus Camby: left Thursday’s game (foot)
Raymond Felton: out (broken right pinky)
Iman Shumpert: out (knee)
Rasheed Wallace: out (stress reaction in foot)

Overview:
Chicago goes for its third win in as many tries against the Knicks this season, as New York tries to avoid dropping both games of a back-to-back.

The Knicks lost to Indiana last night, without their star player. Carmelo Anthony was serving a one-game suspension for waiting outside the Celtics’ team bus for Kevin Garnett. New York, who averages 101.5 points per game, really struggled to score without their starting forward. They shot just 34.8 percent from the field and finished with only 76 points, by far their lowest total of the season (their next lowest scoring effort was 85, against the Bulls on December 8).

The Knicks starters scored just 35 points. Indiana’s bench, who employs the likes of Tyler Hansbrough, Ian Mahinmi and Gerald Green (in a non-Dunk Contest environment), scored 32 points. J.R. Smith scored 25 points off the bench for New York, but it took him 29 shots to do so. Tyson Chandler was the only Knick to shoot at least 50 percent. Chandler had a solid game, scoring 12 points and grabbing 15 boards, but the reigning Defensive Player of the Year was the only Knick starter to have fewer shots taken than points scored. Ronnie Brewer nearly had an 8-trillion, but he ruined it by having a single assist (miss you, Ronnie).

But the Pacers do this to pretty much everyone they play. Indy is second in opponent points per game (89.1) and first in defensive rating (98.5). The Pacers haven’t allowed more than 94 points since December.

The Bulls will be getting a somewhat tired Knicks team that is already pretty old. Jason Kidd played 31 minutes, Tyson Chandler played 38, J.R. Smith played 40 minutes, and Marcus Camby re-aggravated a foot injury in his 20 minutes. Keep in mind Amare Stoudemire is also returning from injury and was told by team doctors to limit his minutes. Anthony will obviously be well-rested, as he hasn’t played since Monday’s loss to the Celtics.

The Bulls held New York to 32.1 percent shooting in their first match-up, and 41.8 in their second go-around. The first game the Knicks didn’t have Carmelo, and they were missing Stoudemire in both. The Knicks will be without Raymond Felton for the first time in the series. Felton averaged 24.0 points per game, but shot 35.3 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from beyond the arc in the two games versus Chicago.

The Knicks are not playing their best basketball of the year right now. They started off smoking hot from the field, but they’ve dropped every month of the season thus far. In November New York shot 41.6 percent from three, in December it fell to 37.1. So far in January, they are shooting 34.9 percent from deep. They have also dropped in overall shooting, steals and points per game.

Those numbers translate to the Knicks being just 4-6 in their last ten games, coming back to earth from their great start and amazing shooting. New York is 4-3 on the second night of back-to-backs, averaging 104 points per game, but giving up 108.3.

The Bulls are having their best shooting month, at 46.4 percent, more than 2 percent better than the next highest month. They are also shooting 48 percent from three, nearly 17 percent better than they did in November. It’s only four games in, and knowing the Bulls’ offense things could change quickly, but these numbers are solid signs of improvement from a team whose offense needs to vastly improve.

The Knicks score a lot of points, and even though the Bulls are 5^th in defensive rating, New York is going to get their points. Brandon Jennings torched the Bulls for 35 points and Milwaukee scored 104, when they average 96.5. The Bulls are going to have to bring a better defensive effort, especially Luol Deng on Anthony, if they want to start their own back-to-back with a win. At least this time it will be Deng on the opposing team’s best scorer, rather than Nate Robinson.

Bad blood: Last time the two teams met, there were four ejections. It started with Carmelo Anthony being ejected in the fourth quarter. I don’t think Honey Nut Cheerios, or any cereal, played a part in this ejection, although you can never be too sure. Knicks coach Mike Woodson followed and then Joakim Noah and Tyson Chandler were later tossed. I nominate Nazr Mohammed to get thrown out this time.

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

Derrick Rose...more awesome every game

Derrick Rose.

Wow.

 Before I start gushing, let me state up front that it concerns me — and I mean a lot — when a starting point guard plays 47 minutes and finishes with 5 turnovers and only 4 assists. Those were Derrick’s final numbers. And you can’t blame the poor shooting of his teammates. As a team, the Bulls hit nearly 58 percent of their field goals.

Of course, that last stat was enhanced by the fact that Rose went 15-for-25 from the field.

Let’s face it: D-Rose flat out caught fire.

And his timing was pretty good. Rose scored a game-high 33 points, but he scored 11 of those points in the third quarter and 12 of them in the fourth. During the third period, those points were critical because it looked like the Trail Blazers were preparing to pull away. The fourth was just a slug fest, and Chicago might have been knocked out minus Rose’s heroics.

Derrick had a few semi-spectacular layups — I really don’t think anybody in the league can keep him from the basket in a one-on-one situation — but he was only 3-for-8 at the rim. Rose actually did his best work from 10-15 feet (3-for-3) and from 16-23 feet (8-for-11).

And to think: people doubted his jump shot.

Rose has worked hard on developing his jumper…and that work has paid off. Last season, Rose shot 47 percent inside 10 feet, 38 percent from 10-15 feet and 43 percent from 16-23 feet. This year, his percentages are 59, 46 and 42. Sure, his long-distance jumpers have held steady, but those are pretty major improvements in the closer regions.

Derrick’s driving ability and the development of his pull-up jumper means that — as long as he isn’t double-teamed or trapped by opposing defenses — he can get his jumper off any time he wants it. And he’s getting more creative. Against Portland, he hit a running bank shot and a leaning floater off a curl.

Not only has he developed a wider range of offensive weapons, Rose really is becoming a clutch player. He’s learned to lay low in the first half and then turn it on in the third and fourth quarters. His development has really been a joy to watch.

Now if he could just improve his floor game a little…

…but now I’m just picking nits. Rose has skills and the willingness to work not only to develop them but to become a leader and clutch player. Man, the Bulls sure got lucky to win the 2008 NBA Draft. I am completely and totally embarrassed to admit I kind of wanted them to take Michael Beasley.

My bad.

And, quite frankly, Rose could have (and probably should have) won the game at the end of regulation. However, his layup went astray thanks to a little uncalled contact from LaMarcus Aldridge. I know referees don’t want to “decide games” and all that, but come on. A foul’s a foul, right?

Anyway, as well as Rose played, the Blazers shut him down in overtime. They trapped Derrick and ran extra guys at him from every angle. Fortunately, Luol Deng picked up the slack by hitting a couple clutch jumpers, a free throw and throwing down a breakaway jam with one second left that finally finished Portland off.

Luol finished with 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a blocked shot. But just as importantly, he played some really tough defense on Brandon Roy. Roy finished with 23 points himself, but he shot only 8-for-19. Deng forced Roy into some very hotly contested jumpers. What more can you ask?

LaMarcus Aldridge — who, as we all know, could have been a Bull had John Paxson not been fixated on Tyrus Thomas — haunted the team that could have drafted him by scoring a season-high 32 points on 15-for-23 shooting. Aldridge pretty much had his way with Taj Gibson and Brad Miller. It wasn’t until Vinny Del Negro sicced Joakim Noah on Aldridge in the fourth quarter that the big man started to struggle.

Asked when the tide turned against him, Aldridge said: “When he [Noah] picked up his intensity. I was kind of fatigued.”

If there was any question how much the Bulls need Noah on the floor, the 27 minutes he logged against Portland answered it. He cooled off Aldridge, scored 8 points, dished out 4 assists and grabbed a co-game-high 11 rebounds. Marcus Camby also had 11 boards, but he played 42 minutes. The most telling stat, however, was Jo’s plus-minus number: +11. Meanwhile, the starting lineup had a net plus-minus score of -8.

I concede that Noah probably shouldn’t be playing on that bum foot. But man, the Bulls need him.

Turnovers:
These almost cost Chicago the game. The Bulls gave up 26 points off 21 turnovers. Andre Miller and Camby (3 steals each) had their hands everywhere, tipping passes and disrupting shots. Chicago actually built a 13-point lead in the second quarter (37-24), but they went on to commit eight turnovers during that period.

The Blazers seemed to run out on every one of them and ended up scoring 12 points of the Bulls’ miscues during that 12-minute stretch. All the turnovers offset Chicago’s 43-29 advantage on the boards.

Hot shooting:
The Bulls won the game thanks to some very hot outside shooting. Chicago went 1-for-6 from downtown but 21-for-33 from 16-23 feet. This was thanks primarily to Rose (8-for-11), Deng (5-for-6) and Kirk Hinrich (5-for-7). The outside shooting was critical to this win…but I don’t think the Bulls can count on that kind of marksmanship every game.

Timeout tally:
1st timeout: Called prior to a jump ball
2nd timeout: Deng turnover
3rd timeout: Rose drew a foul (2-for-2)
4th timeout: Warrick missed jumper
5th timeout: Rose turnover
6th timeout: Couldn’t get ball inbounds
7th timeout: Portland was forced to foul
8th timeout: Gibson turnover
9th timeout: Portland had possession

I’ll focus on the second, fourth and fifth timeouts. After the second timeout, the ball was inbounded and nobody — I mean nobody — was looking for the ball. I have no idea whether it was bad execution or the players were confused by their instructions.

After the fourth timeout, Warrick dribbled the ball for what seemed like forever while Deng worked his way around a couple picks for a curl. When the play didn’t develop, Warrick dribbled his way into the paint and took a forced, off-balance jumper that missed. The ball went out of bounds off the Blazers, but Deng quickly turned the ball back over to Portland. Just an all-around bad possession. Mind you, this came with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter when the Bulls were down 95-92.

After the fifth timeout, the Blazers trapped Rose and nobody came to the ball. Everybody just kind of stood there. Derrick tried to force a pass through Camby’s outstretched arms and, uh, it didn’t work.

Derrick hearts Vinny:
A lot of people think Del Negro won’t be back as Bulls coach next season. Others just hope that’s the case.

Rose is not one of them.

During an appearance on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000, Derrick said: “Oh definitely, if he comes back I’ll be happy. … He’s doing a good job with us, the coaching staff is doing a good job with us. He usually lets me go out there and play and lets me make the best of my mistakes. No matter what, he always tells me I’m doing a good job, and he’s always showing me video. I don’t have anything to complain about.”

I have no idea what impact Rose’s feelings will have on the decision to keep Vinny or let him go…but a vote of confidence from the franchise player can’t hurt Del Negro’s chances.

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

The post Hot hands: Bulls 115, Trail Blazers 111 (OT) appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Let the offseason speculation continue! Now that the woeful Clippers have won the right to destroy yet another promising NBA career, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune is advocating a straight-up trade with The Other L.A. Team: Kirk Hinrich for Marcus Camby. The upside of the trade is that it gets Captain Kirk’s Contract of Doom off the books while Camby’s $7.65 million deal expires next summer.

However, shipping Kirk to the West Coast almost guarantees that the Bulls will have to resign Ben Gordon for big bucks, which is sort of like trading one high-priced, multi-year contract for another. And I’ve already explained why Hinrich has more utility to the team than Gordon. Who would back up Derrick Rose? How would the Bulls hide Gordon on defense? Who would rock the everlasting five o’clock shadow?

As for Camby, he’s just a 34-year-old Tyrus Thomas with somewhat better shot selection. He’s not an inside scorer. He missed 20 games last season with various minor injuries. And it’s also possible he’s permenantly tainted with the Clippers Curse. (For further reading, see “Brand, Elton.”) Oh, and the dude wears sweater vests. In the summer. In Los Angeles. (See above.) That’s just creepy, right?

Bottom line: The trade would make the team worse in the short term but give us more cash in the long run. Personally, I’d rather keep an eye out for trades that will make us better first and use salary dumps as a last resort.

The post Marcus Camby? Again, no thanks appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

Yesterday afternoon, I received an email from fellow TrueHoop Network member Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog informing me that Baron Davis was probable for the Bulls-Clippers game. My heart sank. My heart threatened to hop out of my chest and go watch figure skating instead when, right before tipoff, I realized that Marcus Camby also was going to play. Not exactly Magic and Kareem*, I know, but here’s something I couldn’t help but to have noticed over the years: In many cases (if not most), NBA teams choose home games against bad teams to bring back injured players. Especially stars.

(*It’s kind of sad that the Clips don’t have their own great former guard/center combo I could use for that example.)

And it makes sense, if you think about it. It pumps up the team and the fans, and it lets the returning player (or players) get their feet wet against lesser competition…usually with very good results. I mean, did you see what Orlando’s Mickael Pietrus did to the Pacers the other night?

Davis and Camby were understandably rusty during the first half. But, luckily for L.A.’s Other Team, the Bulls were sloppy (10 turnovers through quarters one and two) and failed to capitalize on a strong first quarter one-two punch from Luol Deng and Derrick Rose (who combined for 21 of the team’s 24 points).

I was nervous and twitchy during those initial 24 minutes. Against my wishes, Vinny Del Negro gave Aaron Gray some daylight in the first half. The big man quickly earned an “And one!” off a nifty jump hook, after which (per usual) the Bulls broadcastng team of Stacey King and Neil Funk tried very hard to talk themselves and their listeners into Gray’s potential. Sadly, the Gray Experiment quickly fell apart and resulted in three quick turnovers: One when Aaron traveled on a post move and two back-to-back as the Chicago guards tried to force the ball into him. So much for that. Gray did finish the game with 9 points but also had more fouls (2) than rebounds (1).

The Bulls completed the first half of action with a 47-44 lead. My palms were sweaty. I figured it was a tease. The Clippers would come out fired up and take control of the game with a big third-quarter run. Right scenario, wrong team. The Bulls outscored the Clips 26-9 in the third stanza and the game was pretty much over. L.A. never got any closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

Several Chicago players had really strong games. That’ll happen when the other team can’t be bothered to play defense. Luol Deng  scored a game-high 23 points (on 10-for-17 shooting) to go along with his 9 rebounds. Derrick Rose added 21 points (9-for-13), 6 assists and (ugh) 5 turnovers. Tyrus Thomas finished with a double-double (16 points, 10 boards) although, typically, he took way too many jumpers (eight of ’em, of which he hit two). Joakim Noah almost had  double-double (10 points, 8 rebounds) plus a game-high 4 blocked shots. Ben Gordon shot only 4-for-12, but he did have a season-high 8 assists.

On the flipside, the Clippers, well, they are who we thought they were. L.A. shot 36 percent as a team and didn’t get much out of their returnees: B-Diddy finished with 3 points on 1-for-10 shooting and The Camby Man had 6 points (1-for-3) and 6 boards. Rookie Eric Gordon led his team with 19 points (6-for-16), 7 assists and a game-high 6 turnovers. Oh, and just like when the teams met in December, Eric fouled Ben on a three-point shot, only with far less drama.

It was the Bulls biggest win of the season, both in terms of final margin (95-75) and its effect on the team psyche. Losing this game might have been like slamming a couple photon torpedoes into their Starship Enterprise. And Vinny Del Negro was suitably relieved afterwards: “I thought our ball movement was the difference. We had a good flow tonight. Winning builds confidence, that’s the bottom line. We just have to build, play smarter, execute better down the stretch. I like our mind-set right now.”

Blowing out bad teams on the road can do wonders for the mind-set of a struggling team. And their coach. But Vinny should probably keep in mind that, coming into the game, the Clippers had lost 16 of 18 games. Now it’s 17 of 19. They have only 10 wins on the year. I’m just saying: Let’s keep things in perspective.

But let’s also enjoy the win.

Extras: Recap, Box Score, Play-By-Play, Shot Chart, Photos. Plus, go read Kevin’s writeup on ClipperBlog!

The post We love L.A.! appeared first on Bulls By The Horns.

John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: “As hard as it might be to believe, the Bulls actually found an opponent struggling more than them. And this time, they took advantage of the soft spot in the schedule to snap a five-game losing streak with a 95-75 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night at Staples Center. That’s not a misprint. The 20-point margin of victory is the Bulls’ biggest of season. ‘We haven’t had a blowout win or a decent lead in a while,’ rookie point guard Derrick Rose said. ‘It feels good just to put it together like that.'”

Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times: “Behind door No. 1: Baron Davis. And there was a surprise guest behind door No. 2: Marcus Camby. Despite those seemingly uplifting developments, the door slammed shut on the Clippers once again with the Bulls manhandling them, 95-75, on Wednesday night at Staples Center. Hitting the snooze button in the third quarter — letting the Bulls go on a 20-6 run — was their undoing. Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said his team ‘laid an egg’ in the third quarter. That’s been a second-half trend, of late. It was the Clippers 17th loss in their last 19 games and third straight after Friday’s win against Oklahoma City. They are 10-35.”

John Nadel of the Associated Press: “By beating the Clippers for the third straight time, after losing 13 of the previous 15 games between the teams, the Bulls avoided their longest losing streak since early in the 2006-07 season. Chicago has won six of its last 19 games.”

Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: “This was the Bulls’ first blowout win since they beat Phoenix by 17 on Nov. 7. With the game well out of reach in the fourth quarter, guard Lindsey Hunter saw his first game action since Jan. 10, but guard Larry Hughes stayed on the bench throughout. Hughes hasn’t played since Jan. 12 and his agent has been given permission to try to facilitate a trade. But Hughes said before the game he’s ready to take the court. ‘If they call my name, I’m going to play,’ he said. ‘I haven’t shut down. There’s still a lot of season left. Mentally, I’m in it. I continue to work out. The only thing I’m not doing right now is playing in the games.'”

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “On the day he learned he would play in the Rookie Challenge and that his jersey ranks as the ninth-highest seller in the league, Derrick Rose also confirmed he would participate in the skills challenge as part of NBA All-Star weekend. ‘I’ve put a lot of thought into it and I’m going to do it,’ Rose said after the Bulls’ shootaround at a local health club. ‘This could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.’ That thought is doubtful, but representative of the genuine humility of Rose, whose next appearance at All-Star weekend could be as part of the big-boys game.”

Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune: “Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro worked for Steve Kerr with the Phoenix Suns, and Kerr believes his former assistant GM has what it takes to survive the team’s recent struggles. ‘Vinny is a really bright guy. Very smart and hard-working,’ Kerr said Wednesday from Phoenix. ‘He’s good with people.’ The Bulls entered Wednesday night’s Clippers game with a five-game losing streak. Being an NBA coach ‘is a very difficult job, unbelievably difficult,’ Kerr said. ‘Even more so when you are new at it and you don’t have [head-coaching] experience. He’s going through what everybody has to go through at the beginning of their career. It’s not easy.'”

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