Philadelphia 76ers 104 vs. Chicago Bulls 101

March 13th, 2009 by Andrew Wamboldt

The Chicago Bulls fell to the Philadelphia 76ers tonight 104 to 101 at the United Center.

Ben Gordon hit a clutch three to tie the game at 101. Then Brad Miller fouled Andre Iguodala who made 1 of 2 free throws to give the 76ers a 102 to 101 lead. Rose was then blocked at the rim on a layup. The 76ers then whipped the ball down court to Thaddeus Young who scored on a layup with no one around him. Ben Gordon than dribbled up court, and took a very contested three point shot that rattled off the rim.

Ben Gordon hit another three point shot tonight. He is now just 14 three pointers away from breaking Nick Van Exel’s record for most three pointers by a player in the first five years of their career.

The Bulls just didn’t look good tonight at all. I thought Derrick Rose looked pretty good, finishing with 20 points 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Still, his true shooting percentage wasn’t very high.

Ben Gordon had another tough scoring night, only scoring 9 points on 4-12 shooting. He also had 2 steals. Ben only really had two good looks tonight. One on a midrange jumper in the first quarter, and then on that three point shot he hit late in the fourth quarter. The Bulls need some plays that get Gordon some more good looks at the basket. Other teams don’t have a problem getting their best players good looks, how come the Bulls have this problem? To get said plays, hiring a real NBA coach would probably be a step in the right direction.

John Salmons had a bit of a rough shooting night as well, only scoring 14 points on 5-13 shooting.

Coming into the game, I though Samuel Dalembert would give the Bulls problems (because he always does), and he did just that tonight, having a monster of a game, finishing with 8 points, 19 rebounds, and 4 blocks.

I thought a lot of Dalembert’s big game just came by weak play from Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas. Brad Miller had 14 points and 7 rebounds, but he was really terrible tonight. He gave up a lot of rebounds because he doesn’t jump for them, and he is always out of place defensively and commits bad fouls to compensate for his poor defense.

Tyrus Thomas has reverted to bad Tyrus Thomas. He finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds tonight. He takes a lot of stupid shots on offense that he doesn’t have the skill to have a hope of making. He doesn’t put a body on anyone in regards to rebounding, and his defense in the paint is usually weak. Thomas extended his block streak.

Kirk Hinrich was good tonight, scoring 14 points on 10 shots. The game wouldn’t have been quite as close as it was without Hinrich’s little scoring punch off the bench.

Joakim Noah also did really well, scoring 13 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. He should have been in instead of Brad Miller in the fourth quarter.

Tim Thomas was bad overall, but his barrage of 3 three pointers helped get the Bulls back in the game.

Andre Miller had 13 points and 13 assists.

The scoring duo of Andre Iguoldala and Thaddeus Young really killed the Bulls. Iguodala had 25 points and Thaddeus Young 31 points. Del Negro had Gordon guarding Young for part of the game. Young is a big, 6′8″ forward. Del Negro is out of his element coaching if he thinks Gordon can guard Thaddeus Young.

Maurice Speights had 10 points. The Bulls gave up way too many easy dunks up to him.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 29-37 on the season.

Diatribe Against League Pass

This was the screen that we were treated to tonight.

Were there really no games tonight? What about the Bulls vs. 76ers game among others? League Pass just completely died a little before the midpoint of the fourth quarter. A lot happened down the stretch that those using league pass depend on.

David Stern, if you have any respect for your customers, you must do one of two things. First, you could offer a refund to all of those who did not receive the product that they are paying for. The second thing you could do is offer a public apology to the customers. Not your publicist issuing an apology on your behalf, but from you. League Pass has cut out during crucial moments of multiple games this season, and NBA fans simply deserve better.

Closing Comments: Del Negro’s Probably Getting Fired

This was a must win game for the Bulls. The 76ers aren’t a very good team and are also a team that the Bulls are chasing in the playoff race. You have to win these games against mediocre teams and the Bulls have failed to do so all season long and that has to fall on the coach.

Vinny Del Negro, you are probably getting fired at the end of the season. You are a horrible coach. After our joke of a loss to the Orlando Magic, I said that making the playoffs should not be enough for Del Negro to keep his job. The Bulls are a very talented team. They took the core of a team that won nearly 50 games and a first round playoff series, but who just disappointed for one season and added the first overall pick in the draft, and they’re still just on the outside of the playoffs looking in. Making the playoffs with a losing record doesn’t mean we’re a good team, it means the rest of the conference sucks.

If Del Negro doesn’t get the Bulls to .500, he should be fired, simple as that. Anything less would be too little of an improvement over Jim Boylan to warrant Del Negro keeping his job. With Tom Thibodeau, Avery Johnson, Flip Saunders, and Jeff Van Gundy all not in head coaching jobs, the Bulls will have a good crop of coaches to choose from.

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