Chicago Bulls 113 at Milwaukee Bucks 104
February 18th, 2009 by Andrew WamboldtThe Chicago Bulls defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 113 to 104 in a battle for the Eighth playoff seed. The Bulls entered the game 2.5 games behind the Bucks for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference and left the Bradley Center trailing just 1.5 games.
The Bulls only had four players on their bench tonight: Lindsey Hunter, Aaron Gray, Thabo Sefolosha, and Kirk Hinrich. The small bench was a result of the Bulls trading Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, and Michael Ruffin earlier in the day.
Kirk Hinrich played great in what might be his last game as a Chicago Bull. Kirk Hinrich had 31 points on 8-14 shooting, also going 5-8 from three point range. Hinrich really was the guy leading the Bulls to victory tonight, having a nice fourth quarter scoring the basketball. Hinrich also had 4 steals in the game.
The referees swallowed their whistles a lot tonight. A no call when Hinrich was hit by Charlie Villanueva when driving to the basket caused Hinrich to become heated. Hinrich used his anger positively, going on a scoring barrage just after this.
If Kirk Hinrich leaves the Bulls tomorrow, he was able to sneak in one last milestone. On his first three of the night, Kirk Hinrich passed up Scottie Pippen on the Bulls all time career three point list. Kirk Hinrich, who is at 669 three pointers as a Bull is now all alone at second, only behind Ben Gordon, who has 716 three pointers as a Bull.
Hinrich’s backcourt mates, Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon added in 18 points each. Rose had 9 assists to go along with his 18 points. Rose was really sloppy with the ball tonight, committing 7 turnovers.
Ben Gordon had his 18 points on just 6-15, making his offensive effort just mediocre efficiency wise. He had some nice moves to set up his shots, he just wasn’t hitting a lot of them tonight.
Luol Deng added in 21 points on 9-17 shooting. Deng started off the game strong, scoring 16 points in the first half, but really cooled off in the second half. The problem with Deng is a chucker. Like Nocioni, who was just traded, Deng puts a shot up nearly every time he touches the ball. Deng isn’t an offensive artisan like Ben Gordon, who works hard to get good looks to score the basketball. Deng instead just takes whatever shots he can get. When they’re going in, all is good. When they’re not, Deng looks like a scrub. This lack of good shot selection is the reason for Deng’s low true shooting percentage this season.
Richard Jefferson scored 32 points in just 28 minutes tonight. Deng and Sefolosha really weren’t doing that great of a job guarding Jefferson. The Bulls were probably at their best defensively at the three spot when they went to the three guard line up and Hinrich guarded Jefferson.
Charlie Villanueva scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Villanueva made a lot of body contact with Bulls players tonight, but the referees just let a lot of that slide. Some would complain about the officiating, but that is good physical basketball.
The Bulls front court was solid tonight. Joakim Noah had 4 points 9 rebounds and 1 block. Tyrus Thomas had 8 points 4 rebounds 2 blocks and 2 steals. Nothing special tonight, but they played good interior defense.
Ramon Sessions added in 12 points for the Bucks.
Both Vinny Del Negro and Scott Skiles were hit with technicals tonight.
This is the Bulls final game before the trade deadline, which is tomorrow at 2 PM CT.
With this win, the Chicago Bulls improve to 24-30 on the season.
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Tags: Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Milwaukee BUcks, Ramon Sessions, Richard Jefferson, Scott Skiles, Scottie Pippen, technical foul, Tyrus Thomas, Vinny Del Negro
