The Chicago Bulls lost to the Philadelphia 76ers earlier tonight 103 to 95 in overtime.

The reasons the Bulls lost in this game can easily be divided between regulation and overtime. In regulation, the Bulls failed to finish off the 76ers because of a lack of rebounding and some poor defense by Andres Nocioni. In overtime, the Bulls lost because they could not hit a shot.

The Bulls big men were terrible, except for Tyrus Thomas. The Bulls big men allowed Philadelphia to grab 18 offensive rebounds. Drew Gooden was horrible most of the game, but came on strong in the fourth quarter.

Andres Nocioni was terrible. Vinny Del Negro needs to sit Nocioni and keep him on the bench until Nocioni starts putting out effort on the defensive end. Nocioni wasn’t even jumping for rebounds out there in the fourth quarter of a close game.

Still, behind some great defense and dunking from Tyrus Thomas, the Bulls were able to hang on. With the Bulls down 90 to 88, Derrick Rose had one of his layups blocked but Tyrus slammed it in for the put back jam.

Thomas finished the game with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

In overtime, the Bulls never just got there shooting going. Ben Gordon set the tone with poor shooting, missing all of his shots in overtime. Early in the overtime period, Gordon was tripped, what looked like it was probably intentional, by Andre Miller. Gordon than played selfish ball the next few possessions to try to prove a point to Miller. Although Gordon backed off the one on one play and gave the other guys a shot after that, but they never really hit their shots as well.

In regulation, the Bulls backcourt was good. Gordon was solid, scoring 18 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and dishing 4 assists. Derrick Rose was phenomenal scoring wise, scoring 24 points, although he only had 2 assists. Philadelphia’s backcourt did a good job crowding Rose and Gordon, making the game difficult for both. Rose and Gordon were also bothered by the length and athleticism of Philadelphia’s big men on help defense.

Luol Deng looked solid from time to time, scoring 11 points on 4-11 shooting.

The Bulls were killed by a solid three man attack by the 76ers. Elton Brand had 22 points and 14 rebounds, Andre Miller had 28 points, and Andre Iguodala had 25 points.

The Bulls also lost as a result of their turnovers. The Bulls had a total of 24 turnovers. Derrick Rose and Drew Gooden had 6 turnovers a piece and Ben Gordon had 4 turnovers.

This was a disappointing loss for the Bulls because it was such a winnable game. The Bulls will have to try to bounce back tomorrow night in Milwaukee.

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Tags: Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Andres Nocioni, Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Drew Gooden, Elton Brand, overtime, Philadelphia 76ers, turnovers, Tyrus Thomas, Vinny Del Negro

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Game Recap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.