Warriors-Bulls Preview

Golden State Warriors Status Check:
Record: 26-15
Division: 4-5
Conference: 13-12
Road Record: 12-9
Last 10 Games: 5-5
Streak: Won 3
Last game: 104-99 win over Oklahoma City
PPG: 100.7 (9^th)
Opponents PPG: 99.4 (21^st)
Offensive Rating: 106.2 (12^th)
Defensive Rating: 104.8 (12^th)
Pace: 93.8 (7^th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .505 (9^th)
Turnover Percentage: .143 (26^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .751 (1^st)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .261 (19^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .207 (14^th)
Opp. eFG%: .480 (9^th)
Opp. TO%: .124 (28^th)
Opp. FT/FGA: .211 (22^nd)
Leading scorer: Stephen Curry (20.9)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Warriors Injury Report:
Andrew Bogut: out (ankle)
Brandon Rush: out (knee)

Overview:
Another hard fought win at home over a team that really shouldn’t be that tough to beat has the Bulls sitting atop the Central Division and in fourth place in the conference. Doing this all without Derrick Rose, and the last two wins without Luol Deng, deserves some credit.

But the Bulls struggles at home are cause for concern. Detroit is 4-15 on the road after falling in the United Center, and the Bulls had to come back from 17 down to get the win.

Chicago will have its hands full with the Warriors, especially the point guard combination of Kirk Hinrich/Nate Robinson as well as Joakim Noah.

Noah will start with the task of trying to stop David Lee. Lee was named an All-Star last night for his 19.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. He also averages 3.7 assists per game.

Only one Warrior made the All-Star team, which means Stephen Curry got snubbed. Curry is the leading scorer on the Warriors averaging 20.9 per contest along with 4.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists. Rajon Rondo has scored season-highs against the Bulls twice this season; Brandon Jennings has scored big as has Raymond Felton. The point being that less talented point guards have torn up the Bulls’ defense.

It’s going to take a team effort to slow down Curry, but it starts with Hinrich and Robinson. We all know Robinson isn’t a great defender, and although Hinrich is thought of as a good stopper, he really isn’t. Kirk and Nate both have defensive ratings of 102, while the Bulls as a whole are at 100.8.

Curry is the third best three-point shooter in the league, hitting on 45.1 percent of his treys (over his last ten games he’s shooting 47.1 percent). Klay Thompson is not too shabby from deep either, as he connects on 38.9 percent of his threes. As a team Golden State shoots 39.0 percent from three, second best in the league (Oklahoma City is shooting 39.1 percent).

The Bulls are 5^th best in the league defending the three, holding opponents to 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. They have also allowed the fewest three pointers made in the league (191). Opponents are shooting 32.7 percent from three against Golden State, second best in the league.

While the Bulls are coming off of a tough win against the 16-26 Pistons, the Warriors topped the West-leading Thunder on Wednesday night.

The Warriors are currently riding a three game winning streak and are just now hitting the end of an extremely tough stretch. Golden State is 5-5 in the month of January, which doesn’t seem very good, but it’s impressive when you look at their opponents. They lost to the Clippers, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Heat and Spurs, all of which are playoff teams. The Warriors have also beaten Clippers (twice), Blazers and Thunder over that stretch.

They took care of Oklahoma City Wednesday in their most recent time out. Curry scored 31 points to go with seven assists and four steals. He didn’t shoot well though, going 11-27 from the field and 3-14 from deep. Lee finished 50 percent from the field and recorded 22 points and 12 boards. Thomspon scored 19 and Carl Landry dropped 20 off the bench.

Although the Warriors aren’t normally good at forcing turnovers (28^th in the league in opponent turnover percentage), they forced Oklahoma City into 19 giveaways, and scored 24 points off of them.

Last season: The Bulls and Warriors played just once last season, in the second game of the year, an eight-point Golden State victory. Monta Ellis, no longer with the team, led the Warriors with 26.

Hamstrung: LuolDeng said his chances of playing against Golden State are “not good.” That means more Jimmy Butler, who is averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in his three games as a starter, and came up huge in the fourth quarter against the Pistons.