The Chicago Bulls fell to the Toronto Raptors 99-89 last night.

The reason for the Bulls loss was their lack of offensive production. The Bulls carried a 78-77 lead into the fourth quarter, but only scored 11 points in the fourth quarter en route to their second straight loss.

The Bulls took an 88-85 lead with 6:24 left in the fourth quarter on a Taj Gibson free throw. This would be the last time the Bulls would score until Kirk Hinrich hit a free throw with 10 seconds left on the game.

This is unacceptable, and the obvious elephant in the room has to be brought up, and that is, that the Bulls offense is so bad because they no longer have Ben Gordon.

Going 6:14 without scoring is unacceptable at the NBA level. To put it bluntly, if you had Ben Gordon go down the court and throw up contested jumpshots over double teams for six minutes, he is going to score, probably multiple times. It’s just amazing that an NBA team could go that long without scoring.

Joakim Noah had another solid game, getting another double double, with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Noah did a good job guarding Chris Bosh. Yes, Chris Bosh had 28 points on 55.1 TS%, which is a very good game. But on the season, Bosh is averaging 28.9 points on 62.7 TS%, so Noah kept him below his season averages in both.

Taj Gibson had a good game, finishing with 18 points on 8-13 shooting, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

The Bulls held Andrea Bargnani to only 16 points on 5-15 shooting, which is great.

Derrick Rose had another mediocre night, finishing with 14 points on 6-14 shooting and 6 assists. Rose did a horrible job defensively, giving Calderon easy drives to the basket, as Calderon went on to score 18 points on 8-10 shooting and dish 6 assists.

Luol Deng struggled again offensively scoring 18 points on 8-19 shooting. Deng’s offense isn’t as bad as the other members of the Bulls, but he is still playing bad offensively, scoring the basketball at an inefficient rate.

John Salmons had another terrible game, scoring 5 points on 1-11 shooting. I think it’s time for Salmons to meet the bench.

Kirk Hinrich struggled as well, finishing with 11 points on 3-10 shooting, 4 assists, and 5 turnovers.

Hedo Turkoglu finished with 11 points on 4-12 shooting.

This is a game that it looked like the Bulls would win, up until they had a complete offensive breakdown.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 4-4 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls introduced James Johnson and Taj Gibson in a press conference today. Here is a rough recap of what was said during the press conference today.

Gar Forman: We are very excited about how things turned out.  Think with both players there is great versatility, both for the roster, but also as far as their games are concerned.  James can play inside and outside.  He can play at the 3 and the 4.  Taj is a skill player, who brings length and activity to the floor that will really help us.

James Johnson: Chicago is a great city, going to be happy to play here.  They’re a great young team.  Going to be fun running with Derrick and the rest of the guys.

Taj Gibson: I feel the same way.  I’m blessed to be here, a great city, a great team.  Looking forward to filling any need the team has, looking forward to the season.

Reporter: Do you liken yourself to anyone in particular or the kind of style of play?

James Johnson: I watch everyone.  I have a couple guys, inside and out.  Try to take everyone’s game who makes great moves, and make them in my game.

(more…)

The Chicago Bulls blew out the Orlando Magic 120 to 102 tonight, as they play strong to keep themselves in the playoff hunt.

The Bulls crept to some double digit leads in the second and third quarters, but Orlando wouldn’t go down without a fight. The Magic nearly tied the game, bringing the score to 83 to 82. Following that, Rose hit two big shots to give the Bulls a 5 point lead going into the fourth.

Then a lineup of Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, John Salmons, Tim Thomas, and Brad Miller/Joakim Noah led the Bulls to victory in the fourth, opening the game into a blowout.

Tonight was one of those nights where no one really played bad for the Bulls.

Derrick Rose struggled early in the game, but had an explosive 14 points in the third quarter, which were big in preserving the Bulls’ lead. Rose finished the game with 22 points and 5 assists.

Ben Gordon snuck under the radar tonight for an efficient 20 points on 9-14 shooting. He just played completely within the offense, and very rarely tried to create anything on his own.

Gordon was called for a type one flagrant foul, when he hammered Courtney Lee. It didn’t look like much of a flagrant foul, just a good old fashioned hard foul.

Kirk Hinrich had 6 points on 3-4 shooting. His defense was really bad for the first three quarters. He managed to give up 10 points to J.J. Redick, who scores almost exclusively on Hinrich. But Hinrich’s defense was big in the fourth quarter run that turned the game into a blowout. Hinrich forced a lot of Orlando turnovers in the fourth.

The Bulls young front court was solid. Tyrus Thomas had 11 points, and Joakim Noah added in 14 points and 8 rebounds. Noah really struggled guarding Dwight Howard. He’s just not strong enough to guard Howard.

Howard finished the game with 26 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulls got Howard into foul trouble, drawing 5 fouls on him. He got pretty much whatever he wanted against Noah, but struggled to score on Brad Miller.

And on that note, John Paxson’s trade is looking like a grandslam early on. The thing about the trade is the Bulls traded Andres Nocioni, a chucker who didn’t play defense and Drew Gooden, another chucker who didn’t play defense, along with a bunch of scrubs. In return, the Bulls received three legitimately talented NBA players.

The Bulls main nine man rotation currently is: Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Kirk Hinrich, John Salmons, Tim Thomas, and Brad Miller. There is no question, all those guys are quality NBA players. John Paxson should be lauded for putting that group of players together.

Brad Miller’s defense on Dwight Howard was great. He is a legitimate center, and would not allow Howard to back him down. Miller finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Two of his points came on a breakaway dunk after he stole the ball. Miller is just a good offensive big man. He can make both interior passes and passes out to the perimeter, he can set screens, and he knows how to cut to the basket. Having such a skilled center will really shape up the Bulls offense.

Tim Thomas was huge in the game. He was hitting big shot, after big shot in the fourth to help open up the big lead. Thomas finished with 17 points, going 4-6 from three point land. Thomas fills the Nocioni role quite well, as he is a bit of an upgrade over Nocioni.

The interesting thing about Thomas, is that he has been directing his new teammates while out on the floor, especially Derrick Rose.

John Salmons had 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. He dribbles around a lot, looking to create his own shot. It doesn’t quite kill the offense because he has the ability to make his shots, as well as make some nice passes when he is driving to the basket.

Hedo Turkoglu had 16 points for the Magic, and Courtney Lee added in 14 points.

Both Luol Deng and Rashard Lewis finished with 10 points.

At the end of the game, Del Negro subbed Rose in for Gordon to give Gordon the standing ovation. It’s a little weird that he didn’t use Anthony Roberson or Lindsey Hunter for the standing ovation sub.
With the win, the Bulls improve to 26-31 on the season. The Bulls are now 1.0 game behind Milwaukee for the 8th seed, and 2.0 games behind Detroit and Philadelphia for the 6th and 7th seeds.

The Chicago Bulls got trounced by the Orlando Magic 113 to 94 at the United Center.

The Magic jumped to a big lead early on and never gave up, completely rolling over the Bulls. The Bulls offense came out slow because Orlando played tough defense on Gordon, throwing hard doubles at him, knocking him off his rhythm causing him to miss shot after shot.

Vinny Del Negro made a coaching no no when he quit on the team with 20 minutes left, less than 2 weeks after quitting in the Boston game when down 15 with 15 minutes left. With 20 minutes left, Del Negro made a four man mass substitution. Mistake one, leaving Thabo in. The other players would instantly begin to think why Thabo wasn’t getting called out with the rest of them. The second mistake was when he put Rose back in, in the third quarter. The other players in that group, would begin to think why Rose wasn’t being punished with the rest of them.

Fortunately for Vinny, one of his veteran assistants probably saved him during the break between quarters. To start the fourth, Del Negro brought back in Gordon and Aaron Gray, averting a near chemistry disaster, similar to the one Skiles made in his last season with the Bulls with his mass substitutions.

Ben Gordon finished with a so so game, finishing with 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 4 turnovers. The turnovers were not as bad as they looked in the box score for Gordon, as one of his turnovers was from a pass that bounced off Aaron Gray’s stone hands and another was when the ball got passed to him at the last second when Tyrus bailed on a shot, causing Gordon to get the 24 second violation, even though he began his shot instantly upon receiving the ball. Still, Gordon had two really bad turnovers. One, he threw it up in the air out of a double, although in Gordon’s defense, no one came to get the ball. (Rose usually is the only one smart enough to come and get the ball when Gordon is doubled, but Del Negro had taken Rose out moments before). The other turnover was Gordon dribbling off his foot while positioning himself, a turnover that prompted the mass substitution.

Joakim Noah had a really nice game tonight, putting up 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists. This is the type of game that Noah can have when he is actually making those short shots that the other players are creating for him.

Derrick Rose wasn’t very good today, going assist-less. He only scored 11 points.

Andres Nocioni had 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Nocioni was getting into it with both Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis with his rough play.

Larry Hughes added 15 points for the Bulls.

Dwight Howard was dominant today, forcing the Bulls to double. When the Bulls doubled, Howard would make the correct decisions when passing the ball, making the Bulls pay. Howard had 15 points and 14 rebounds in the game.

Rashard Lewis poured in 21 points.

The Magic had 7 players in double figures: Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Marcin Gortat, Jameer Nelson, Courtney Lee, and Anthony Johnson.

The main difference between the Bulls and Magic appears to be coaching. Even when Howard was out of the game, the Magic were able to create open looks for their three point shooters out of the post. The Bulls big men only can make passes forward, but they never make the pass out to the perimeter to the wide open player, often missing Ben Gordon standing wide open for three. The Magic are so good because all of their bigs see the shooters, and are able to pass out of the post to the perimeter. This is something our bigs need to learn to do to help us become a better team.

The Bulls end a turbulent 2008 with a record of 14-18.