The Chicago Bulls fell to the depleted Indiana Pacers this morning 98 to 91 in Indianapolis.

The Bulls lost this game for two clear reasons.  Kirk Hinrich and the rebounding and defense of our big men.

Kirk Hinrich was terrible.  He scored 3 points on 1-7 shooting, and played horrific defense.  Hinrich gave up two straight baskets to Ford late in the fourth, putting the Bulls down 5 with 1:23 left in the game, a deficit they would never be able to overcome.  This is one of those head scratching coaching moves by Del Negro that makes you question whether he should be a head coach or not.  Hinrich should not have played 22 minutes in tonights game, and should not have been out there late in the fourth.

The big men’s defense and rebounding was not that great tonight. They allowed Indiana too many second chance attempts, and gave up too many points to Indiana’s big men.  Troy Murphy had a monster 27 point and 14 rebound game.  He was taking advantage of the Bulls switching on a lot of screens.

The Bulls big men actually were solid overall.  They just lapsed on some plays allowing Indiana to score to easily.  Thomas had 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  He did pretty well outside of his rebounding today.  Joakim Noah had 5 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  Him and Deng both left too many points at the free throw line.

Ben Gordon was by far the Bulls best player again today.  He had 28 points in the game.  22 of those 28 points were in the first half.  Early in the third quarter, Del Negro benched Derrick Rose for Kirk Hinrich, and then Hinrich proceeded to freeze Gordon out of the offense, knocking Gordon off his shot for the rest of the game.

Derrick Rose had a mediocre game.  He only had 3 points on 1-9 shooting, but he also had 8 assists to only 1 turnover, and his defense was much better than Kirk Hinrich’s.

The Pacers guards were outstanding.  Jarrett Jack started the game off hot, scoring 12 points in the first half while abusing Ben Gordon.  But then Gordon figured Jack out in the second half, and held Jack to only 16 points on the game.  T.J. Ford mercilessly abused Kirk Hinrich for 19 points in the game.

All of the new Bulls looked pretty good.  Brad Miller had 6 points and 10 rebounds, and blocked on his first defensive play of the game.  His jumpshot was off tonight, but you can already see that Miller brings a different passing dimension to the Bulls.  While Noah and Thomas can make good interior passes, they don’t move the ball out to the perimeter very well.  Miller sees the perimeter players, and moves the ball out to them well.

John Salmons was good, scoring 12 points on 4-8 shooting.  He gives the Bulls another legitimate three point threat and spaces the floor.  It would be nice to see him get more minutes at the expense of Kirk Hinrich.

Tim Thomas only played 7 minutes, but was solid in them, scoring 5 points on 2-4 shooting. His three point ability makes the Bulls really versatile at the four spot now.

Marquis Daniels had 16 points for the Pacers, and Luol Deng had 13 points and 8 rebounds in the game.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 25-31 on the season, and fall a 1.0 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.  The Bucks play later today.

Special Comment: Kirk the Cancer

One of the great things about the trades the Bulls made last Wednesday and Thursday was that they rid the team of a lot of on court cancers.  These are guys who may be okay in the locker room, but who are detrimental to winning team basketball on the court.  That is, Andres Nocioni, who plays no defense and just chucks up a lot of bad shots.  Drew Gooden, who does the same, and Larry Hughes, who also does the same thing.  Unfortunately, John Paxson has left one of these players on the team, and he goes by the name Kirk Hinrich.

Hinrich is a completely different type of on court cancer than Nocioni, Hughes, and Gooden were.  He is a much more dangerous breed of cancer, as he plays the point guard spot, and controls the entire flow of the offense.  What exactly is Hinrich’s problem?  He only cares about himself.

What Kirk Hinrich did today was the single most shameful act done by a Chicago Bull all season.  For some reason, two minutes into the third quarter, Del Negro decided to sub Kirk Hinrich in for Derrick Rose.  Once in the game, Hinrich froze Gordon out of the offense.  Ben Gordon, who had 22 points in the first half on 9-11 shooting, did not take a single shot in his original 5 minute, 21 second stint in the third quarter.

This is not the first time this has happened, it’s been going on all year.  Why does Kirk Hinrich choose not to pass to the Bulls leading scorer?  Because for Kirk Hinrich, the only thing that matters is Kirk Hinrich.

Yes Kirk Hinrich, all Chicago Bulls fans know that you wrote down that you wanted to be the starting point guard of the Chicago Bulls when you were younger.  But those days are over, Derrick Rose will be the starting point guard of the Bulls until you retire.  What we are seeing is a selfish Kirk Hinrich trying to keep his spot on the Bulls by making his competition, Ben Gordon look worse.

If the Bulls choose to keep Ben Gordon, which they would be insane not to at this point, then that means the end of Kirk Hinrich in Chicago.  Hinrich feels threatened by this, and continually freezes Gordon out of the offense.  What needs to happen going forward?  Kirk Hinrich needs to get over himself.

Chicago Bulls basketball isn’t about watching Kirk Hinrich dribble around in circles, until the seconds are waning down on the shotclock.  Chicago Bulls basketball isn’t about watching Kirk Hinrich take an inopportune jumpshot because he feels it would be a good idea.  Chicago Bulls basketball isn’t about watching Kirk Hinrich not pass to his teammate, even though that is what the offense calls for, just because Hinrich is in competition for minutes with that player.

Kirk Hinrich, everytime you ignore Ben Gordon and don’t pass him the ball, when that is what the offense calls for or he is wide open, you are disgracing the Chicago Bulls uniform. There is something you have yet to realize, and that is that Ben Gordon puts on a Chicago Bulls uniform too.  He is your teammate.  It would be wise for you to start treating him like he’s your teammate when you two are out on the court together.

John Salmons, Brad Miller, and Tim Thomas, who have only been Gordon’s teammates for a few days pass him the ball more than you do.  Ben Gordon had a better chance at receiving a pass from Larry Hughes, a symbol of selfish basketball, than he does from you.

Kirk Hinrich, for the sake of the team and the respect of Chicago Bulls fans everyhwere, start playing team basketball.

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Tags: Ben Gordon, Brad Miller, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Jarrett Jack, Joakim Noah, John Salmons, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Marquis Daniels, T.J. Ford, Tim Thomas, Troy Murphy, Tyrus Thomas, Vinny Del Negro

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Commentary, 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.