The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 102-101 on a James Johnson buzzer beater in London, at the O2.

James Johnson was phenomenal down the stretch. Johnson gave the Bulls a 100-99 lead after scoring on the fastbreak and converting an and one. The Jazz reclaimed the lead on a pair of Ronnie Price free throws. James Johnson tried to be the hero first, but he missed, but the ball went out of bounds on the Jazz.

Then it was Derrick Byars’ turn. He launched a three from the top of the key, which careened off the rim to the left. Johnson grabbed the rebound, flicked it up, and it was good. The entire O2 erupted in celebration.

In total, James Johnson finished with 18 points 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, a much better outing than his first preseason game with the Bulls. Johnson’s energy level was just a lot higher tonight. I think it might have helped Johnson to have Rose out of the lineup. In the first game, Rose really dominated the ball on the fastbreak, while in this game, Johnson was given more reign to show off his skills in transition. When Rose gets back in the lineup, he will have to adjust to Johnson’s great transition skills.

Kirk Hinrich had an impressive day today. He finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. The best part of Hinrich’s game today is how efficiently Hinrich scored the ball. He finished the game with a 102.5 TS%. Hinrich gains the distinct honor of being the first Bull to score over 10 points in a game on over 100 TS%.

The London favorite, Luol Deng, finished with 18 points, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. This was a fitting game for Deng to have in London. In his time with the Great Britain National Team, Deng always finished with point and assist totals similar to what he did today. It’s nice to see Deng moving around the court so well again. It looks as though he is finally completely healed from not only his stress fracture, but the Achilles and back injuries that hindered him in the 07-08 season as well.

Jannero Pargo finished with 16 points on 6-17 shooting and had 5 assists. Pargo chucked up shots in a disgusting display of shot selection, which could make one long for Larry Hughes even. The one big positive of Pargo’s game tonight is that he was 3-6 from three. If Pargo can hit threes at a 40-50% clip this season, he will have a very valuable place on this team, as three point shooting is key in winning NBA games.

Joakim Noah was good today, scoring 10 points, grabbing 3 rebounds, dishing 4 assists, and blocking an astonishing 6 blocks. You would like to see Noah get after it on the boards better, but his shotblocking was great tonight. We know Noah will rebound come regular season time. What’s especially nice about Noah’s first two games this pre-season, is that you know he was serious when saying he worked hard.

Taj Gibson had another solid showing with 10 points and 5 rebounds. Brad Miller had 8 points and 5 rebounds in his pre-season debut, while showing great fire. Derrick Byars had 7 points on 6-7 shooting.

Deron Williams had 16 points and 3 assists for the Jazz. Paul Millsap had 18 points and 6 rebounds. Wesley Matthews also had 16 points for the Jazz.

The Bulls were without Derrick Rose, John Salmons, and Tyrus Thomas.

Carlos Boozer had a quiet 6 point and 5 rebound night.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 2-0 in pre-season action.

Closing Comments

The NBA needs to make the Bulls vs. Jazz in an obscure location an annual event. Last year, in Assembly Hall, Ben Gordon (13 points in the fourth quarter) and Andres Nocioni (8 points in the fourth quarter) hit clutch shot after clutch shot, and clutch free throw after clutch free throw to lead the Bulls to an exciting 108-105 victory. This year, both are departed, but the results were the same. Different player, different place, same result. It was James Johnson’s turn this time around as he downed the Jazz in the O2 in London.

The Bulls just have a knack for downing the Jazz in an exciting fashion, even in the regular season. Last season, Rose and Gordon combined for 50 points in a game against the Jazz, as they led the Bulls from behind to victory. In an earlier regular season game, Larry Hughes hit a game winner off a rebound, similar to what Johnson did yesterday.

And of course there are those game winners Michael Jordan hit in the finals, as well as those other monster performances.

The two Jazz games are on November 26th and March 9th. Mark your calendars, because they’re going to be good ones.

Also, it was cool to see how much support the Bulls got from the London crowd.

Go Bulls!

According to mirror.co.uk, Luol Deng will not participate for Great Britain this summer as he still tries to recover from the stress fracture that he suffered last summer.

Following reports that he was not playing, Deng addressed the rumors in a conference call with reporters. In the conference call, it was revealed that Ben Gordon also would not play, because he needs to acclimate himself to Detroit.

Q: Does it surprise you given Ben Gordon’s situation that he decided not to play?

A: Ben was very interested in playing. I don’t believe that his decision came from me not playing. I really believe that Ben thought he might be back here with the Bulls and I think it would have been an easier summer: Coming back to play for the same team, the same place, the same house. But now I think that his summer and his plans have all changed. Now he signed with Detroit, he has to go back there and get a place and work out, he has to get adjusted to new guys so right now with the new team I think Ben is making the right decision by committing to Detroit. He just signed with them and they’re looking for big things from him. That said, I am really looking forward to the future, as I am sure he will one day play for GB. Unfortunately he didn’t come back to the Bulls, if he would have signed back with us not only would I be playing with him with GB but also back here. He was a great teammate.

Without both Gordon and Deng, Great Britain seems hopeless going into Eurobasket. I would expect Great Britain to be blown out in almost every game in the tournament.

According to The Times, Luol Deng will reject that advice of his trainer, David Thorpe, and likely the Chicago Bulls, and play for the Great Britain National Team this summer.

Luol Deng will fly in the face of advice from his personal coach and, most likely, his club, the Chicago Bulls, to play for Great Britain in the European Championship finals this summer.

The 6ft 9in forward is at present sidelined with a stress fracture of his right leg that may require minor surgery, the latest in a series of niggling injuries that have plagued Deng since his international debut.

As is common in the NBA, Deng works with a personal coach during the summer, in his case David Thorpe, the respected media pundit. Thorpe echoed the Bulls’ concerns about Deng playing in internationals and advised him to take a summer off to recuperate fully.

However, the suggestion was rejected by Deng, who is adamant that he will be in Chris Finch’s squad when they play their EuroBasket group games against Spain, Serbia and Slovenia in Poland in September.

“I recommended to him that he take the whole summer off and not even train with me,” Thorpe said. “But Luol told me that was not acceptable. There is no way he is not going to help GB in some capacity. He will maybe not play as many friendlies. He will maybe adjust his schedule after consulting with Coach Finch and coming up with a plan that makes sense for everybody.

“Luol feels a sense of duty as far as GB is concerned but he also loves playing for the team and in the style that Coach Finch plays. That’s what’s driving Lu on and as soon as he is healthy, we will sit down with doctors from the Bulls and from GB to come up with a plan.”

I think that Luol Deng’s commitment to the Great Britain National Team is quite admirable. He has done a lot of good for basketball in Great Britain, leading them to qualification for the 2009 European Championships this summer. He has helped to recruit major talent to the Great Britain team, namely his friend and Chicago Bulls teammate, Ben Gordon. With Gordon on hand, Great Britain could be a major contender to win the European Championship this summer.

But Deng’s lack of respect towards the NBA team that decided to pay him $80 million is less than admirable. According to Sam Smith, he is jealous of the Bulls’ rookie, Derrick Rose. He has produced at unacceptable levels of production and efficiency this year, and many believe that his subpar production has to do with his nagging injuries.

One thing that has become clear this year is that Luol Deng is an injury prone player. His body just doesn’t handle the stress of strenuous physical activity very well. Playing for Great Britain will only add increased wear and tear on Deng’s body, which will make him more susceptible to being injured during the NBA season.

It would be wise for Deng, in terms of his NBA career, to just rest this summer. But for Deng, his career isn’t just about the NBA. Playing for Great Britain seems to be equally important to Deng as is playing for the Bulls. This is something the Bulls will have to deal with going forward. If they don’t like this, and see this as something that will just result in Deng getting injured every year, they might need to seek out potential trade suitors for Deng.

Ben Gordon has confirmed to Ian Whitell of The Times that he will make his debut for Great Britain this summer.

“I’m just hoping this summer I’ll be able to play,” Gordon said. “If everything goes according to plan, I will. I’m going to be an unrestricted free agent, which gives me a little bit more freedom with different teams. I’m hoping I can get my deal out of the way and move on with a clear mind.”

Born in Hammersmith, West London, Gordon moved to New York before his first birthday and, after his parents separated, Gordon would make annual summer visits to Wembley to see his family until into his teens, when his promising basketball career forced him to remain in the United States. “I used to love going to England,” Gordon said. “I used to come back and see all my cousins and relatives I hadn’t seen in a while. I have really good memories.

“I still have a lot of relatives in England and keep in touch with all of them. They come over and visit me in the summer, but I just haven’t been able to go back and forth as I would like to because of my schedule.

“I definitely do feel a tie with Britain. My Mum and some of her customs are very British. She brought me up having a cup of tea every morning, and two or three times during the day, which I guess is a British thing, and lots of my family still go back regularly and bring me tea and chocolates and things you can’t get here.

“I talk to my relatives in England regularly and they’re pumped about me playing, in fact they’d been hoping I would play the last couple of summers. Things didn’t go my way to do that, so I feel I let them down a little and I haven’t really spoken to them too much about it this year. I don’t want to get them too excited until I know I’m playing for sure.”

“We’re thrilled with how it’s gone with Ben,” Wuotila said. “He’s been easy to deal with and he’s a world-class scorer. He’s probably in the top ten to 20 players in the world in his ability to score the jump shot, penetrate to the basket. That’s hard to come by.”

Things should go much smoother for Ben this summer, as he will be an unrestricted free agent. This past summer, Gordon missed out on playing for Great Britain because of contract uncertainty, as his contract negotiations spilled into October, when he accepted the qualifying offer. This summer, as an unrestricted free agent, the market should move much quicker, and Gordon should have contract certainty within the first few days of July.

Great Britain will be playing in the 2009 European Championship in Poland this summer in an attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London. Great Britain has been placed in a group with Spain, Serbia, and Slovenia.

The process for getting Gordon to play should be much smoother than it has been for Deng. Gordon has not suffered any serious injuries during his career, and will avoid the insurance mess that Deng was in last year.

Ben Gordon should be one of the premier players to play internationally. Gordon’s game is perfectly suited for the current FIBA rules thanks to his elite jumpshooting.

Great Britain also is looking to add Kelenna Azubuike to their roster for this summer.

With Kelenna Azubuike, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng on the roster, Great Britain will have a realistic chance at becoming the 2009 European champions.

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The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Bulls are planning on playing an exhibition game in London next preseason as part of the NBA’s Europe Live tour. Here is what the Chicago Tribune wrote:

Though the league office hasn’t released anything official, the Bulls are working under the assumption they’ll travel to at least London — home to the famous clock tower — next training camp as part of the NBA’s Europe Live. It will be the fourth year of the league’s overseas initiative.

It’s unknown whether the Bulls will travel to other cities or how many exhibition games they will play. Miami and New Jersey played against each other in both London and Paris in October 2008.

To honor Britain for granting his family political asylum from Sudan, Bulls forward Luol Deng earned his British citizenship in 2006 and has worked extensively trying to qualify British basketball for the 2012 London Olympics.

Through his father, Yannick, the former tennis star, Joakim Noah has ties to France. Also, Ben Gordon, an unrestricted free agent who may or may not be with the Bulls, was born in London.

The Bulls haven’t traveled overseas since playing in Paris in October 1997.

The trip will be good, as it will allow Luol Deng, and maybe Ben Gordon, who both might be playing for Great Britain during the 2012 Olympics to expand the popularity of the game in Great Britain. It could also just lead to worse starts to the season for Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, two guys who have struggled early on in the season in the past.

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