The Chicago Bulls defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 86-85 in Cleveland last night.

The game looked like it was going to set up for a Cavs win. Luol Deng missed a shot, which the refs ruled to be an airball, which led to a 24 second violation and the Cavs getting the ball back with a few seconds remaining. The replay showed that the shot probably hit the rim. We were going to see the same story we’ve seen many times before, Lebron drives to the basket, refs call a foul, and the Cavs win.

So on the very next play, Lebron James drives left to the basket, being bodied up by Luol Deng. Joakim Noah then came over to help, and Lebron lost the ball out of bounds.

This was defense executed to perfection. You had Deng not giving into Lebron, staying between himself and the basket, leading Lebron into the defensive wall, preventing Lebron from getting to the rim in Joakim Noah.

It is defense like this for why the Bulls beat the Cavs, and defense like this for why the Bulls are 3-2. The defensive improvement has come entirely from the front court. Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Brad Miller have been making smart rotations on defense, and have played the pick and roll well.

Derrick Rose had an alright game tonight, scoring 14 points and dishing 11 assists. His passing was impressive, and he set up many of his teammates for easy looks. However, he is still scoring the ball very poorly, as he took 15 shots to get his 14 points tonight.

Luol Deng finished the game with 15 points and 7 rebounds. He had a rough night scoring the ball, taking 16 shots to score his 15 points, but he did a good job on the boards, and did a solid job of defending Lebron James, which is no easy task.

John Salmons scored 14 points in the game on 6-13 shooting. Again, efficient scoring was a problem with him, as he didn’t make a lot of three pointers, and didn’t get to the line much. Additionally, John Salmons last point came with 5:58 remaining in the third quarter.

Taj Gibson gave the points 11 points and 7 rebounds, and Joakim Noah put up 7 points and 11 rebounds.

Kirk Hinrich had a solid 9 points, 6 rebound, 4 assists game and Brad Miller added in 10 points.

For the Cavs, Lebron James continued his excellent play, finishing with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Anderson Varejao put in 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Shaquille O’neal had 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Mo Williams and Anthony Parker had 11 points a piece.

The Cavs offense just hasn’t been the same ever since they lost their offensive guru, John Keuster, to the Detroit Pistons this offseason.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 3-2 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls started 2009 just where they left off in 2008, getting blown out. The Bulls got humiliated in Cleveland tonight 117 to 92.

For the second straight game, Vinny Del Negro quit. This is the third time this season where Vinny clearly quit on a game, the man is simply a quitter. The Bulls were down 15 with almost an entire quarter left in the game, yet Vinny never brought Rose and Gordon back in the fourth, allowing Cleveland to rebuild their lead.

There is not much to analyze about the Bulls humiliating losses these days. The Bulls are simply playing glorified Boylan-ball. It is only glorified, because Vinny is playing Ben Gordon more than Boylan did and because the Bulls now have Derrick Rose. The Bulls have no noticeable offensive sets and the team doesn’t even pretend to try on the defensive end of the court. Someone should really teach Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah about the concept of help defense, because both seem to think that you aren’t allowed to help out when an opposing guard dribbles to the basket.

It is clear what the Bulls have to do, replace Vinny Del Negro. We gave him a try. Perhaps his ideas really were great, but that doesn’t chance the fact that he had no coaching experience, and obviously could not implement anything. And on the small chance that the players are actually running his offensive and defensive sets, then Vinny is a terrible basketball mind. Regardless, the result has been horrific, and Vinny has earned his dismissal.

Derrick Rose finished tonights game with only 3 points and 2 assists. Rose simply didn’t care when he was in the game. He accepted defeat. This is unacceptable. Our head coach has made this team so bad, that our never give up point guard is accepting defeat. The coach needs to go.

Ben Gordon is the lone bright spot for the Bulls tonight, finishing with 22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal. He is simply a great scorer, and can score in the face of adversity. Gordon showed a certain look of disgust on his face often tonight. That is the look of other players not passing him the ball when he is sitting there wide open waving his arms yelling for the ball. On one of these plays Thomas dribbled the ball down the court ignoring Gordon on three separate occasions. Sefolosha and Noah also went in against heavy defensive coverage either to be stripped or put up a bad shot. Apparently no one taught our players that you can pass out of the paint to the perimeter in a drive and kick or post up. The coach needs to go.

Our big men again did not produce offensively or defensively. They were easily scored on by the Cleveland bigs and did not offer any resistance to the penetration by Cleveland’s guards. Anderson Varejao had 26 points, Ben Wallace 13, and J.J. Hickson had 13 points. A bunch of Cleveland players had their season highs tonight. The Bulls big men have no idea how to defend either big men or penetrating perimeter players. The coach needs to go.

Lebron James had a triple double for Cleveland, finishing with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. He easily picked apart the Bulls.

Lindsey Hunter added in 13 points for the Bulls and Andres Nocioni had 11 points.

Delonte West gave the Cavs 14 points, Sasha Pavlovic added in 13, and Mo Williams had 11.

Cedric Simmons had 9 points and 4 rebounds. He has done something our other bigs haven’t been able to do, and that is catch and dunk the ball.

Zydranus Ilgauskus did not play tonight.

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