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.

1. Boston Celtics - 97.09110809
2. Los Angeles Lakers - 96.23695606
3. Cleveland Cavaliers - 95.96925995
4. Dallas Mavericks - 93.29128104
5. Orlando Magic - 92.74592282
6. Atlanta Hawks - 90.6801248
7. San Antonio Spurs - 89.85378126
8. Portland Trail Blazers - 89.11698158
9. Phoenix Suns - 88.8448073
10. Denver Nuggets - 88.78509466
11. Oklahoma City Thunder - 88.19723688
12. Miami Heat - 86.64786563
13. Houston Rockets - 86.54235316
14. Utah Jazz - 85.72642726
15. Memphis Grizzlies - 82.68375435
16. Toronto Raptors - 82.65221533
17. New Orleans Hornets - 81.58930876
18. Los Angeles Clippers - 81.48618476
19. Milwaukee Bucks - 80.87913298
20. New York Knicks - 80.733524
21. Charlotte Bobcats - 79.74848855
22. Sacramento Kings - 78.14215859
23. Chicago Bulls - 77.67040777
24. Washington Wizards - 77.62351403
25. Philadelphia 76ers - 76.79352679
26. Golden State Warriors - 74.71841182
27. Detroit Pistons - 74.05881037
28. Indiana Pacers - 73.71263082
29. Minnesota Timberwolves - 70.07581229
30. New Jersey Nets - 64.57433245

1. Los Angeles Lakers - 97.31343181
2. Boston Celtics - 96.70934681
3. Cleveland Cavaliers - 96.00231091
4. Orlando Magic - 93.80917918
5. Dallas Mavericks - 93.44483347
6. Atlanta Hawks - 91.17138088
7. San Antonio Spurs - 90.10669577
8. Portland Trail Blazers - 89.19846473
9. Denver Nuggets - 88.63571121
10. Phoenix Suns - 87.31533131
11. Houston Rockets - 86.72524182
12. Oklahoma City Thunder - 86.47244937
13. Miami Heat - 84.70969601
14. Utah Jazz - 84.48189577
15. Memphis Grizzlies - 81.98791773
16. Toronto Raptors - 79.5810086
17. Los Angeles Clippers - 79.56145316
18. New York Knicks - 79.29919319
19. Milwaukee Bucks - 78.23391633
20. New Orleans Hornets - 78.11032041
21. Sacramento Kings - 77.77323118
22. Chicago Bulls - 77.74640951
23. Charlotte Bobcats - 77.46536279
24. Washington Wizards - 75.92258969
25. Detroit Pistons - 74.77870483
26. Philadelphia 76ers- 74.35075076
27. Indiana Pacers - 73.9924849
28. Golden State Warriors - 72.68995327
29. Minnesota Timberwolves - 69.33966297
30. New Jersey Nets - 64.83572184

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Detroit Pistons 98-87 in Detroit, to extend their win streak to three games.

The Bulls took control of the game early behind Derrick Rose. Early in the game, Rose was making his jumpshots, and either finishing on the fastbreak, or drawing a foul on a Detroit player, and then converting at the free throw line. Rose did stall out a bit towards the end of the game, but overall, he played solidly, finishing with 22 points on 7-18 shooting, along with 4 assists and 4 rebounds.

Joakim Noah provided the Bulls a strong presence on the glass, grabbing 21 points. Noah also scored 15 points in the game, to put together another double double. One point of concern was Noah’s 8 turnovers, but when you are scoring and rebounding as Noah did tonight, the turnovers are forgivable.

The Bulls really started to pull away from the Pistons in this game behind John Salmons and Tyrus Thomas.

John Salmons finished with 17 points on 6-10 shooting, to put together one of his better games of the season.

Tyrus Thomas was the main difference maker in the game. Thomas attacked the Pistons defense relentlessly, drawing foul after foul on the Piston’s players. Thomas finished the game with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Thomas should have earned a place back in the starting lineup after this game.

The Bulls are now 3-0 since getting Tyrus Thomas back in the lineup, and seem to be improving as a team. The Pistons on the other hand, are going in the opposite direction, losing their ninth straight game.

The Pistons problem is that they have no clear pecking order of who the offense should run through, and they have too many selfish players who are ineffective on the offensive end, notably Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and Charlie Villanueva.

Hamilton finished with 7 points on 2-13 shooting, Prince 11 points on 5-16 shooting, and Villanueva 10 points on 4-14 shooting.

The best solution to the Pistons’ problems would be to bench Richard Hamilton, and move Ben Gordon into the starting lineup in his place. Gordon is so much better than anyone else on the Pistons, that it is just silly to watch him continually coming off the bench for inferior players, such as Rip Hamilton. The Pistons should then run their offense through Gordon, as he is the one player they can depend on to draw double teams, while also scoring the ball efficiently.

Gordon finished this game scoring 21 points on 59.1 TS%.

Gordon got some help from Rodney Stuckey scoring the ball. Stuckey scored 22 points on 53.3 TS%, while fighting through ankle injuries. Stuckey rolled his ankle twice in the game, but continued to play through the injuries.

Kirk Hinrich struggled scoring the ball once again, shooting 1-6, but he did grab 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and played good defense on Ben Gordon for some short stretches.

Luol Deng was largely invisible, scoring 7 points on 3-10 shooting.

Former Bull Ben Wallace finished with 9 rebounds and 2 blocks in just 21 minutes, while playing through an ankle injury. The Piston’s defense looked noticeably worse when Wallace was out of the game.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 13-17 on the season.

1. Boston Celtics - 98.61599297
2. Los Angeles Lakers - 94.32885139
3. Orlando Magic - 92.64145695
4. Atlanta Hawks - 92.12477223
5. Dallas Mavericks - 91.43577365
6. Denver Nuggets - 90.189023
7. Cleveland Cavaliers - 90.027552
8. Phoenix Suns - 87.2460405
9. Houston Rockets - 86.96593225
10. Oklahoma City Thunder - 86.45765016
11. Portland Trail Blazers - 85.05060155
12. Utah Jazz- 84.12495838
13. Miami Heat - 83.56653612
14. San Antonio Spurs - 81.57006081
15. Milwaukee Bucks - 79.66665728
16. Detroit Pistons - 79.1607668
17. Los Angeles Clippers - 78.59712519
18. Sacramento Kings - 76.8116151
19. New Orleans Hornets - 76.50493999
20. Indiana Pacers - 76.35917675
21. New York Knicks - 76.22681851
22. Memphis Grizzlies - 75.92817743
23. Toronto Raptors - 75.74750039
24. Charlotte Bobcats - 75.70946478
25. Washington Wizards - 75.05702002
26. Golden State Warriors - 73.20632655
27. Chicago Bulls - 72.65158055
28. Philadelphia 76ers - 70.04531128
29. Minnesota Timberwolves - 65.10387236
30. New Jersey Nets - 64.43645582

1. Boston Celtics - 97.41670302
2. Los Angeles Lakers - 95.79455195
3. Orlando Magic - 95.35119103
4. Denver Nuggets - 91.99905467
5. Cleveland Cavaliers - 91.87213907
6. Phoenix Suns - 90.81430009
7. Atlanta Hawks - 90.04026662
8. Dallas Mavericks - 89.92322872
9. Portland Trail Blazers - 87.67986983
10. Houston Rockets - 84.91429101
11. Oklahoma City Thunder - 84.3083509
12. Utah Jazz - 83.88613924
13. Miami Heat - 82.76348402
14. San Antonio Spurs - 80.79083727
15. Milwaukee Bucks - 79.58332963
16. Los Angeles Clippers - 79.02214963
17. Sacramento Kings - 77.96059083
18. Washington Wizards - 76.47618869
19. Toronto Raptors - 76.27227912
20. Charlotte Bobcats - 76.06008517
21. Memphis Grizzlies - 75.38169896
22. Detroit Pistons - 74.984861
23. New Orleans Hornets - 74.52658819
24. Indiana Pacers - 73.81922759
25. Chicago Bulls - 73.56375608
26. Golden State Warriors - 72.95615238
27. New York Knicks - 72.21380956
28. Philadelphia 76ers - 70.67590259
29. Minnesota Timberwolves - 65.70763399
30. New Jersey Nets - 62.64741569

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Detroit Pistons 92-85 at the United Center, snapping their five game losing streak.

The story of the game of course was Ben Gordon’s return to the United Center. When he first checked into the game he was greeted with a mixture of cheering and boos.

It was good to see a sizable portion of the United Center crowd cheering for the guy. Unfortunately, I don’t think this crowd is necessarily representative of what would happen with a normal United Center crowd. I suspect that a lot of Ben Gordon’s bigger fans among the Bulls’ fan base purchased tickets for this game. A normal United Center crowd probably would have been full of more of the non-informed fans who booed Gordon, who don’t really understand basketball and the contribution that Ben Gordon brought to the Bulls’ basketball wise, as well as his great conduct off the court.

It’s impossible to support fans who decided to boo Ben Gordon. Gordon was the Bulls’ best player for almost his entire time in a Bulls uniform, and did nothing but work hard his entire time in a Bulls uniform. His Bull career ended with him scoring 33 points on 55.7 TS%, as he tried to gut out a victory for the Bulls while playing on a torn hamstring.

Ben Gordon ended up having a mediocre return to the United Center, which is not really surprising, given that he was coming off an ankle injury. Gordon still finished with 18 points on 6-16 shooting. To put Gordon’s performance in perspective, he scored on a greater volume and scoring efficiency in this game than John Salmons, Kirk Hinrich, and Jannero Pargo, the three players who are replacing his minutes on the court.

Defensively, Gordon stuck his man pretty well. Derrick Rose and John Salmons had some pretty good nights, but very few of their points came against Gordon.

Defensively, the Bulls were a mixed bag defensively on Gordon. John Salmons and Lindsey Hunter were a complete failure in guarding Gordon. Gordon missed a lot of shots that he would normally make against those two. Neither could keep him from getting clear looks at the basket, and Salmons especially had trouble stopping Gordon from getting to the basket.

Where the Bulls excelled defensively on Ben Gordon was in their help defense. That is because of Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. These two guys were frustrating Ben Gordon all night. I think this shows that Luol Deng and Joakim Noah are some high basketball IQ players. They seemed to know Gordon’s game as good as one can. Whenever he burned John Salmons, Noah or Deng were right there helping, making the correct reactions to frustrate Gordon’s shots.

I think Ben Gordon definitely has the potential to be a Bull killer in the future. He can get any shot he wants at will against John Salmons or Lindsey Hunter. Things might be a little different when Kirk Hinrich is guarding him, but with Hinrich’s physical play, it’s easy to see Hinrich getting into foul trouble. Ben Gordon also has a history of completely burning smaller guards, so that also works in Gordon’s favor in the potential Ben Gordon vs. Kirk Hinrich matchup.

As for the rest of the game, this was a win the Bulls needed, as they were coming off a five game losing streak from their road trip, and they were also playing a bad Detroit Piston’s team. The Pistons were without Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Charlie Villanueva, and Ben Gordon was coming off of an injury. The Bulls better beat a team who features Chucky Atkins, Jonas Jerebko, and Jason Maxiell in their starting lineup.

The Pistons starting lineup finished with only 33 points on 11-37 shooting. No team is going to win when their starting lineup performs that poorly.

This is not to say that the Pistons will be a bad team all season. If they get all of their guys back, they can probably make the playoffs. As bad as they have been, they’re only 1.5 games behind Charlotte for the final playoff spot, and are only 4 games behind Miami for a playoff seed that features home court advantage.

The Bulls seemed to be in control of the game nearly the entire time. The Pistons made some runs to close the gap some throughout the games, but the Bulls would repeatedly build their lead back up.

Derrick Rose had a good game, scoring 19 points on 6-9 shooting along with 6 assists. He did have five turnovers in the game, but his highly efficient scoring mitigated the effect of those turnovers.

John Salmons did great offensively, scoring 22 points on 7-12 shooting, but he had trouble defensively, stopping Ben Gordon from getting good shots.

Luol Deng struggled a bit, scoring 14 points on 5-15 shooting, but his defense was superb.

Joakim Noah had another great night, finishing with 7 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.

Brad Miller finally had a good game, finishing with 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

For the Pistons, Rodney Stuckey finished with 17 points, but did it on 4-16 shooting. Stuceky struggled to score efficiently tonight as he is very much a one dimensional scorer, who gets his points by driving to the basket. The Bulls set up with good help defense when he drove, and that forced him to score inefficiently.

Willy Bynum and Kwame Brown finsiehd with 10 points each.

The former Bull, Ben Wallace, finished with 0 points and 7 rebounds.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 7-9 in the season, and are slotted as the 7th seed in the East.