The Bulls started off their West Coast road trip with two losses to the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Bulls followed that up with wins over the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets.

The Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns 115-104. The Bulls were led by Derrick Rose, who had one of his best games of the season, scoring 31 points on 15-21 shooting. Luol Deng gave the Bulls 23 points, Joakim Noah 19 points, and 14 a piece for Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons. Amare Stoudemire finished with 23 points and Steve Nash struggled, finishing with only 8 points and 7 assists.

In their 104-97 win over the Houston Rockets, the Bulls got a big night out of Brad Miller, who finished with 25 points and 5 rebounds in only 25 minutes of play. Brad Miller was starting in place of Joakim Noah, who is suffering plantar fascitis. Taj Gibson had a big double double, finishing with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Derrick Rose played well again, finishing with 20 points. Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola had 20 points a piece for the Rockets, and Carl Landry scored 22 points off the bench.

With Taj Gibson continuing to play well while Tyrus Thomas struggles, it is hard to make a good case for Tyrus Thomas starting over Taj Gibson anymore. Thomas will be gone at the end of the season, and the Bulls are unlikely to feel the loss of him at all. If Taj Gibson is the starting power forward next season, then the Bulls might feel the loss of Thomas some, but their cap space should be used to sign a big man, not a shooting guard (unless you are getting that superstar player named Dwyane Wade).

It is also good to see Derrick Rose put up good game after good game. He has really turned the corner as a player.

Also, it is great to see the Bulls get two road wins against tough opponents. This was a part of the schedule that could have really derailed the Bulls season some. Now, it looks like the Bulls will keep a hold of their playoff position coming out of this trip, and will have a chance to move up in the playoff standings when they get back to an easier chunk of the schedule. The Suns are 26-19 on the season, and the Rockets are 24-19, so these are two wins that really shouldn’t have been expected out of the Bulls.

The Bulls have three more games left on this road trip, against the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and New Orleans Hornets. Worst case scenario is that the Bulls are 5 games under .500 coming out of the road trip, leaving them plenty of time to get back to .500 and make their claim for the playoffs as the schedule gets easier.

The Chicago Bulls fell to the Golden State Warriors 114-97 in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee game.

This was a bit of an unexpected win from the Warriors given that they were only suiting eight players, three of whom were D-League players. Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Corey Maggette, and Andris Biedrins were the only four Warriors’ regulars who played today, and they all played great.

The best player for the Warriors was by far Andris Biedrins, who finished with 9 points, 19 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Biedrins really bothered the Bulls with his length, and was a big part in shutting down the Bulls’ offense in the paint. The only knock on Biedrins today was his poor free throw shooting, where he shot 1-7. All of his free throws were line drives at the hoop, that bricked off the front of the rim. But Biedrins more than made up for the poor free throw shooting with his shot blocking and shot altering ability. Biedrins really set the tone defensively for the Warriors, who did a good job contesting the Bulls’ shots, and also getting set for charges, which also helped to shutdown the Bulls penetration game.

The Warriors got great production from Corey Maggette, who scored 32 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished 5 assists. Maggette shot 11-14, and was automatic from mid range shots in which he just caught the ball, measured up, and shot it.

The rookie Stephen Curry played great today as well, finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Curry shot the ball well, going 5-8 from three, hit some nice floaters, and did a nice job defensively on Derrick Rose.

Monta Ellis led the Warriors in scoring with 36 points, but he did that very inefficiently, taking 39 shots to get those 36 points. He also had 8 assists in the game.

John Salmons finished with 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. He did a good job of keeping the Bulls in the game in the third quarter, but was very quiet in the fourth quarter.

Luol Deng played well, finishing with 20 points on 7-16 shooting, and Derrick Rose was solid, scoring 19 points.

Jannero Pargo scored 12 points for the Bulls, but he scored 5 of it in garbage time. When the game mattered, Pargo was hurting the Bulls by taking some really bad shots.

Biedrins really bothered Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas. Noah only scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting, and Thomas scored 4 points on 2-7 shooting. Neither knew how to score around Biedrins’ long arms. Both rebounded well, as Noah finished with 16 rebounds, and Thomas had 9 rebounds in 19 minutes before fouling out.

Taj Gibson played well today, finishing with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

The Bulls were without Kirk Hinrich, who was suffering a bout with the flu.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 18-21 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics 96-83 behind an all around great team defensive effort.

This was a pretty winnable game for the Bulls, as both Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace were sitting out with injuries. The Bulls have really played the Celtics pretty well over the past two seasons when Kevin Garnett has not been in the lineup.

The Bulls took a lead in the first half, and seemed to maintain that throughout the rest of the game. The Celtics would cut the Bulls lead down to around 6 points or so, and then the Bulls would get some stops and hit some shots and build the lead back up to double digits.

The Bulls did a fairly good job defensively tonight, out rebounding the Celtics 50-39, blocking 10 shots, and collecting 9 steals.

Luol Deng led the way for the Bulls scoring 25 points, shooting 8-13 from the field. Deng did a good job attacking the Celtics defense and getting them to foul him, going to the free throw line 10 times.

The Bulls usually struggle dealing with the Celtics’ wide bodied big men, in particular Kendrick Perkins. Perkins played well tonight, scoring 14 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and blocking 5 shots. While that is a good game for Perkins, it was pretty much negated by Joakim Noah who had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks. If the Bulls are playing the center battle even, they stand a pretty good shot at beating the KG-less Celtics.

The Bulls ended up winning the point guard battle between Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo. Rose started off slow, as he got into some early foul trouble, but he had a big second half, and finished the night with 17 points, 4 assists, and 8 rebounds. Rajon Rondo finished with 15 points on 6-14 shooting, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds. Rondo didn’t score the ball all that efficiently tonight, and was kind of lazy with the ball, turning it over 5 times. As the commentators mentioned during the game, Rondo kind of looked fatigued out there.

The Bulls got solid games out of Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson. Kirk Hinrich finished with 11 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds and Taj Gibson finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

For the Celtics, Paul Pierce scored 20 points, but he only shot 33.3% from the floor. He also had 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Deng can really can do a nice job defensively, as he did tonight on Paul Pierce.

Tyrus Thomas only managed to get 17 minutes in the ball game tonight. He was really active when he was in there, accumulating 5 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Thomas was pulled from the game for his inability to make shots. He would make brilliant moves towards the basket or get offensive rebounds in good positions, but he wouldn’t finish on those plays.

James Johnson had 2 big time blocks in the 7 minutes he was in the game.

John Salmons really struggled tonight for the Bulls shooting 2-9 for the field. Ray Allen also had an off night, only scoring 8 points on 4-10 shooting. Allen missed four really good looks from three point land that you expect him to nail.

Eddie House came off the bench for the Celtics and scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting.

This was the Bulls third straight win, and with this win, they improve to 17-20 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls blew out the Detroit Pistons 120-87 to hand the Detroit Pistons’ their 13th straight loss. The win was the 2nd straight for the Bulls.

Most Bulls fans who bought tickets for this game probably did so to see the Bulls play against Ben Gordon. Those fans were left disappointed, as Gordon was only able to go for 6 minutes before being pulled for the rest of the game. Gordon suffered a thigh injury in the Pistons loss against the 76ers, and he re-aggravated the injury in the second quarter of tonight’s game. On a fastbreak, Gordon was running side by side with Jannero Pargo, and when Pargo made a burst towards the basket, Gordon was unable to keep up as his thigh tightened up. Gordon was then pulled from the game.

Without Gordon, the Pistons are a pretty pathetic team. Coming into this game, all five of the Pistons’ starters had a true shooting percentage of less than 50%. That changed coming into tonight’s game, as the Pistons were without Tayshuan Prince and Jason Maxiell was sent to the bench. Starting in their place, was Jonas Jerebko and Chris Wilcox, two players with scoring efficiencies greater than 50 TS%.

But the change to the lineup did very little, as the Pistons starting lineup, featuring Rodney Stuckey, Richard Hamilton, Jonas Jerebko, Chris Wilcox, and Ben Wallace is still pathetic. The Pistons fell behind the Bulls in the second quarter, and once the Bulls got up double digits, the Pistons seemed to quit exerting effort on both sides of the ball, allowing the Bulls to continue to pile on the points.

The Bulls took advantage of the Pistons’ lack of defense, converting easily on the good looks the Pistons were providing. Luol Deng led the way for the Bulls with 27 points on 13-18 shooting, and Derrick Rose had a great game as well, scoring 22 points on 11-13 shooting to go along with his 9 assists.

Joakim Noah got another double double, finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. John Salmons gave the Bulls 17 points on 6-10 shooting off the bench. Salmons has just played great ever since being sent to the bench.

Jannero Pargo got some minutes tonight, first getting in the game during the second quarter. Pargo finished with 9 points on 4-10 shooting and 3 assists, and also turned the ball over 4 times. Pargo did a poor job managing the offense when he was out there, and turned the ball over a lot.

Richard Hamilton finished with 17 points on 6-11 shooting, and really frustrated Kirk Hinrich tonight, drawing foul after foul on him.

Jonas Jerebko finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds, starting in place of Tayshaun Prince. Jerebko is really active, moving off the ball, and going after rebounds.

Rodney Stuckey finished with 11 points, and Chris Wilcox had 10 points.

Charlie Villanueva really struggled tonight, scoring 4 points on 1-10 shooting.

James Johnson accomplished the impressive feat of fouling out in only 8 minutes.

The Bulls did a good job tonight of beating up on a bad team. The best stat of the game was that the Bulls shot 8-19 from the three point line. The more and more the Bulls make their threes, the more potent their offense will become.

With the win tonight, the Bulls improve to 16-20 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 110-96 at the United Center tonight, ending the Bulls three game losing streak.

The Bulls opened up a double digit lead on the Timberwolves in the third quarter, and coasted to an easy victory.

Joakim Noah led the Bulls, scoring 20 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. Kirk Hinrich also scored 20 points and dished 7 assists. The most encouraging thing about Hinrich’s performance tonight was that he went 4-9 from three point shooting. If guys like Hinrich and Salmons start hitting their three point shots again, the Bulls will find it much easier to win.

Taj Gibson also had a nice game, finishing with 13 points an 9 rebounds. Gibson started the struggling with his shot, but he found his stroke after having a shot bounce off the top of the backboard and into the basket. This game helps to further cement Gibson’s spot in the starting lineup with this performance, and Tyrus Thomas’ struggling performance. Thomas does a lot of positives on the court, finishing with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals, but he continuously screws himself out of a starting spot by mixing the good with a lot of bad, boneheaded plays, as evidenced by his 6 turnovers tonight.

The Bulls got good performances off the bench from Brad Miller and John Salmons. Brad Miller finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds. Miller has been having a lot of success with his slow motion drives the past few games. John Salmons had 14 points on 6-10 shooting.

James Johnson also had a pretty good game. Nothing eye popping, as he finished with 6 points on 2-2 shooting, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, but it was still the best that he’s looked in a game this year in my opinion. He showed flashes of his talents in leading some Bulls’ fastbreaks.

Derrick Rose finished with 8 points and 7 assists, and Luol Deng also finished with 8 points.

For the Timberwolves, Johnny Flynn had 14 points and 8 assists, and Corey Brewer and Al Jefferson scored 12 points each. Kevin Love had 9 points and 10 rebounds.

Ryan Gomes led the Timberwolves in scoring with 15 points off the bench.

The Bulls did what they were supposed to do tonight in taking care of business against a terrible Minnesota Timberwolves teams. The only team worse than the Timberwolves are the Nets, so this is the type of game that is a must win, and the Bulls did that tonight.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 15-20 on the season.

With the Bulls down three, Luol Deng bricked a three point shot from the top of the key, giving the Bulls their third loss in a row, as they fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 96-93.

The Bulls, who were down 17 points at one point in the first half, made it a two point game when Brad Miller stroked a three pointer to make it a 93-91 game. The Bulls would then come up with the stop, but Derrick Rose was called for a charge, giving Milwaukee the ball back. The Bulls forced Charlie Bell to miss, but no one put a body on Hakim Warrick, and he slammed it home to give the Bucks a 95-91 lead.

The Bulls quickly called a timeout and advanced the ball past half court. The Bulls found Rose on a curl, and the Bucks gave Rose an easy layup, making it a 95-93 game. It seems like a pretty dumb decision for the Bucks to just give Rose the layup like this. If they had played tough defense on Rose, they could have easily forced him to pass it or forced him into a bad shot. If the Bulls had missed there without a quick putback, the game would have been pretty much over, and by allowing Rose to make this shot so fast, they gave the Bulls a chance to tie, as Michael Redd split a pair of free throws to make it a 96-93 game with 8 seconds left.

On the final play, John Salmons got the ball. He opened up a clear shooting path after getting his man on the pump fake, but opted to pass the ball to Luol Deng, who bricked the potential game tying three.

This was pretty much a mirror image of what happened last game against the Charlotte Bobcats. John Salmons had the ball in pretty much the same spot, and decided to pass the ball to Derrick Rose when he was in the air. Rose of course bricked the shot and the Bulls lost the game. In both instances, Salmons opted to pass the ball to guys who are known not to take three point shots.

It is these situations where the Bulls are down three and need to tie the game where they really, really miss Ben Gordon. Derrick Rose who is the one guy who has an ability like Gordon to create his own shot, and Rose can’t make three point shots. Luol Deng, who moves well off the ball to get open for shots, also is not known to make three point shots. Kirk Hinrich has difficulty creating his own shot, and is terrible when contested on a shot, and he is also terrible in the clutch, even when he is wide open.

So that leaves the Bulls to go to John Salmons in these type of situations, and Salmons lacks that killers edge that Ben Gordon possessed. Ben would just go up for the shot confidently, he knew it was going in. Salmons appears unconfident in these situations, hesitating on his shots, and passing the ball out to teammates after pump faking or while in the middle of his shot. The Bulls are better off with Salmons just jacking up a shot in these situations than passing it out to teammates.

In the future, when the Bulls are down three, Vinny should probably go with a lineup of Jannero Pargo, Kirk Hinrich, John Salmons, Luol Deng, and Brad Miller, with Brad Miller popping out to the three point line as the first option, and Jannero Pargo as the second option, as at least these two guys will just go up and shoot the ball confidently.

One of the main proponents in the Bucks win was Andrew Bogut, who played great in the first half, as well as in the stretch run of the game. Andrew Bogut finished with an impressive 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 blocks. Bogut did most of his damage against Joakim Noah, who was just too weak to guard Bogut, as Noah ceded ground too easily whenever Bogut backed him down in the post.

Michael Redd was also big for the Bucks, finishing with 24 points on 8-16 shooting and 8 rebounds. Redd really came alive in the second half, hitting big shots to keep the Bucks in the game.

Derrick Rose led the Bulls in scoring with 25 points, but he did it inefficiently, taking 25 shots to score those 25 points. The Bucks did a good job of keeping Rose away from the basket. When Rose did get near the basket, the Bucks were set for charges (a trademark of a Scott Skiles’ defense) and Bogut blocked many of Rose’s shots. Rose also had 9 assists and 5 rebounds in the game.

Outside of his defense on Andrew Bogut, Joakim Noah was solid, finishing with 10 points and 18 rebounds.

Luol Deng finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds and Kirk Hinrich finished with 12 points and 6 assists.

Off the bench, Brad Miller scored 11 points and John Salmons had 10 points.

For the Bucks, Ersan Ilyasova had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Hakim Warrick had 11 points and 7 rebounds, and Luke Ridnour had 10 points.

Brandon Jennings struggled tonight scoring only 5 points on 1-9 shooting. Jennings also had 8 assists and 3 blocks, including a nice block on a driving Derrick Rose.

There was a little scuffle in the second half which started with Kirk Hinrich and Luke Ridnour being called for a double foul. Ridnour then tried to get away with a push on Hinrich, but was called for the offensive foul. Ridnour then picked up his third foul in 11 seconds on a Hinrich drive. After the foul, Hinrich pushed Hakim Warrick, which prompted Andrew Bogut to come over and get entangled with Kirk Hinrich. The fight didn’t escalate past that point.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 14-10 on the season.

The Charlotte Bobcats defeated the Chicago Bulls 113-108 in Charlotte tonight, because of the Bulls’ inability to make shots in the clutch.

The biggest culprit of anti-clutchness was probably Kirk Hinrich, who missed a wide open three that would have put the Bulls up 108-107, and followed that up by missing an open midrange jumper with 25.9 seconds left, which would have tied the game at 107.

The Bulls were forced to foul after the Hinrich miss, and Raymond Felton made two free throws to put the Bobcats up 109-105. But John Salmons came back the other way, converting on an and one to make it a one point game. The Bulls were forced to foul, and the Bobcats converted both free throws, going up three.

The Bulls gave the ball to John Salmons to hoist up the potential game tying shot. Salmons slowly dribbled across the top of the key, deciding to hoist a jumper. In mid jump, Salmons realized he was taking a ridiculously stupid shot, and made a bailout pass to Derrick Rose, who bricked a wide open three. But the Bulls got another chance, as Kirk Hinrich tipped the ball out to Salmons, who also missed a three, guaranteeing the Bulls their second straight loss.

The Bulls problem in this game was their complete inability to shutdown the Bobcats four main perimeter players. Gerald Wallace did the most damage, scoring a season high 32 points on 76.8 TS%. Flip Murray came in and did major damage off the bench, scoring 25 points on 82.9 TS%.

Stephen Jackson had 25 points, experiencing a lot of success posting up Kirk Hinrich. Raymond Felton had 15 points and 6 assists.

For the Bulls, Derrick Rose led the Bulls back into the game down the stretch. Rose finished with an efficient 24 points and 9 assists. Turnovers plagued Rose once again, as he committed 7, but his positives far outweighed that negative tonight.

John Salmons gave the Bulls a big lift off the bench, scoring 19 points on 7-12 shooting. Luol Deng scored 18 points, but he took 17 shots to do it.

Kirk Hinrich shot poorly, scoring 12 points on 4-13 shooting, including his two big clutch misses.

Joakim Noah finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 14-19 on the season.