Chicago Bulls 98 at Detroit Pistons 104
December 24th, 2008 by Andrew WamboldtThe Chicago Bulls fell to the Detroit Pistons 104 to 98 last night in Detroit.
The Bulls lost in large part because of the referees. The referees chose to call ticky tack or non-existent fouls on the Bulls all night long. One gregarious call was a reach in call on Ben Gordon to give him his fourth foul, where Gordon got caught on a pick, putting Iverson out of his reach, making a reach in foul impossible.
Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, and Andres Nocioni all fouled out.
Ben Gordon had a nice game, finishing with 18 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds. He did have 6 turnovers, but it wasn’t as bad as it looks when you take into account that some were on unfair offensive fouls, and one was on an inbounds pass where Gordon was the inbounder and no one went to go get the ball.
Derrick Rose was solid, finishing with 10 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. Rose was frustrated with foul trouble all night long.
This was a game where Luol Deng should have stepped up with Rose and Gordon in foul trouble, but he didn’t. Deng shot 2-7 and only scored 6 points. If Deng doesn’t begin to turn it around, Paxson might need to look into trading Deng early on in his contract.
Tyrus Thomas, once again, had a good game. Thomas had 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Hopefully this is Thomas starting to put things together. Thomas is a player that makes an impact on the game, so it is good to have him get going. The Bulls will still need to address the center position, and get a defensive anchor there, but the more we play Thomas over Gooden, the better our defense will be.
Larry Hughes and Andres Nocioni also put in good games. Hughes had 19 points and 5 assists and Nocioni added in 18 points.
Rodney Stuckey was completely unstoppable. Stuckey burned the Bulls for 40 points. It didn’t matter if it was Gordon, Hughes, Sefolosha, or Deng guarding him, he was going to score no matter what.
The Bulls held Allen Iverson to only 5 points, but Iverson did his damage to the Bulls in concert with the referees.
With the loss, the Bulls fall to 13-15 on the season. If this is as good as the Pistons are with great help from the referees, than no team should fear them in the playoffs.
Similar Posts:
- Chicago Bulls 91 at Detroit Pistons 88
- Chicago Bulls 107 vs. Detroit Pistons 102
- Portland Trail Blazers 109 at Chicago Bulls 95
- Chicago Bulls 108 at Boston Celtics 126
- 2009-2010 Season: Chicago Bulls 92 vs. Detroit Pistons 85
Tags: Allen Iverson, Andres Nocioni, Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Detroit Pistons, invisible man, Larry Hughes, Luol Deng, Pistons, poor officiating, referees, Rodney Stuckey, Tyrus Thomas
