The Chicago Bulls defeated the Indiana Pacers 104-95 in their preseason debut.

The Bulls struggled for most of the first half, but a strong third quarter, in which they outscored the Pacers 34-19.

Danny Granger led all scorers with 27 points for the Pacers. He did it on an efficient 7-13 shooting, going 11-12 from the free throw line. The Bulls wings had a difficult time staying in front of Granger, and once he drove past them, the Bulls big men did a poor job with their help defense, leading to a lot of fouls.

Derrick Rose finished with 17 points. He also had 3 rebounds and 3 assists. The nice thing about Rose’s game tonight was that he scored efficiently, going 8-13 from the field. Scoring efficiently was a problem for Rose last year. The problem with Rose’s night is that he didn’t seem to have a big affect on the game. He scored a lot of his points on midrange jumpshots, and on nights when his shot isn’t falling, he is going to score inefficiently, just like he did last year. At least based on this first game, Rose looked like pretty much the same player that he did last year.

John Salmons had a nice night, scoring 15 points on 6-8 shooting. He was just taking what the defense gave him, and scored on some really good looks. We didn’t see any of that stuff where Salmons shoots it up with a defender right up on him. It has yet to be seen how Salmons will adjust to facing hard double teams, and having a defense focused on him. The Pacers played him in single coverage, and the help defense on Salmons’ drives to the baskets was weak.

Taj Gibson led all Bulls in scoring, finishing with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Gibson made a living on the midrange jumpshot tonight. I was a bit shocked when I saw Gibson hitting that jumper with such consistency, as I don’t remember him looking like much of an offensive player in summer league. Gibson was all over the place defensively, chasing after loose balls, etc. This was a very good start to Gibson’s rookie season.

Luol Deng finished the game with 15 points on 3-10 shooting. The most impressive part of Luol’s night was that he was drawing fouls and getting to the line. At the free throw line, Deng made the most of his opportunities, going 9-9 from the free throw line. Deng looked to be 100 percent healthy, as he was moving around well. Deng was moving well without the ball, and was contorting his body in athletic ways, which allowed him to draw the fouls that he did. The downside to the game was that Deng’s jumpshot was off. Deng had one really good season, and it was the one season where his midrange jumper was at an elite level. If he’s not making that midrange jumpshot at an elite level, it’s hard to see Deng scoring very efficiently this year.

Tyrus Thomas finished the game with 9 points and 3 rebounds. He fell in love with the jumpshot, and outside of the one he made in the first quarter, he wasn’t hitting him. In the second half, Tyrus started going towards the basket more, and began to look a bit better.

Joakim Noah finished with 10 rebounds, 9 of which he grabbed in the first half. Noah looked impressive rebounding the ball last night. His box outs were fundamentally sound, and he was holding position much better than he did in past seasons, as a result of his new muscle. Defensively, Noah made smart rotations. He needs to work on the help defense a little bit more, to avoid getting in foul trouble like he did against the Pacers. Noah’s help defense was much, much better than any of the other Bulls’ bigs’, and because of that, it’s not a shock that the Bulls were +18 in the 24 minutes that Noah was in the game. Noah showed some flashes of the offensive game he has been working on over the summer. He opened the game with a nice little hook shot. Noah failed to get another shot to fall, but he did show some of the little post moves he’s been working on over the summer, and the moves themself look good, he just needs to make the shot.

Derrick Byars finished the game with 12 points on 4-11 shooting. He would have had 14 points, but the refs waived off a shot he took with 3.7 seconds left in the game, on account of a shotclock violation. Byars looks like he has some legitimate NBA talent. He has a strong handle, and he can stroke the jumpshot, and he’s 6′7″ too. If he keeps this type of play up throughout the pre-season, the Bulls should definitely keep him.

James Johnson and Chris Richard were the worst Bulls of the day. James Johnson finished with 4 points on 1-6 shooting and 6 fouls. There wasn’t a lot to like about Johnson’s game last night. He just sat out on the perimeter jacking up jumpshots, which he made a routine of bricking. He needs to use his great handles and attack the basket, rather than just settle for the midrange jumpshots. He was played pretty lazy defense too, and didn’t really get after it hard on the boards.

Chris Richard finished with 2 points and 5 rebounds. Richards just looked like an out of shape basketball player that has no place on an NBA roster. I expect him to be the next cut by the Bulls.

Luther Head put up 14 points for the Pacers, and Roy Hibbert contributed 9 points. Solomon Jones scored 11 points, mostly in the early parts of the game.

Brandon Rush had 13 points.

Josh McRoberts had an impressive dunk on the fastbreak, which was good enough to make the Sportscenter Top 10 Plays.

Closing Comments

It’s always nice to see the Bulls win, but there isn’t really much that can be said on this game, on account of the Pacers being awful. This very well could have been a loss if T.J. Ford wasn’t stupidly throwing the ball right to the Bulls over and over again en route to 7 turnovers. It’s also discouraging to see James Johnson come out and put up his best Tyrus Thomas vs. Boston last year, impression.

There are three kind of big questions surrounding the Bulls coming into the season. Will Derrick Rose take the next step toward stardom? Can John Salmons be a legitimate first option? Is Luol Deng healthy?

To answer those three questions:

1. Based on tonight’s game, no, it does not look like Rose is taking the next step towards stardom. He never imposed himself on the game. He rarely drove to the basket, and if he’s not driving to the basket, he’s not going to get free throws, which are crucial in scoring efficiently. He also showed reluctance in shooting the three point shot, which might be because his long range shot still isn’t very good.

2. Inconclusive. John Salmons scored great tonight, but he did it all against single coverage and weak help defense. We will have to wait until another game, where Salmons is facing strong doubles before we can evaluate him as a first option.

3. Yes.

All in all, it is always a good night when the Bulls get the win, as they did tonight. Solid start to the 2009-2010 season.

Go Bulls!

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Tags: 2009 Preseason, Brandon Rush, Chicago Bulls, Chris Richard, Danny Granger, Derrick Byars, Derrick Rose, Indiana Pacers, James Johnson, Joakim Noah, John Salmons, Josh McRoberts, Luol Deng, Luther Head, Roy Hibbert, Solomon Jones, Taj Gibson, Tyrus Thomas

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