<div align="center"> (27-24) <font color="red"> Toronto Raptors</font> @ <font color="DarkRed"> Chicago Bulls </font>(29-23) Game Time: Tuesday, February 13, 7:30pm CST The Place: United Center, Chicago, Illinois Local Television: CSN-Chicago Local Radio: WCKG 105.9 FM <font size=""1""> The Bulls arrive home from their extended western road trip to take on the Raptors in what should be a thrilling Eastern Conference match up. The Raps come into town with 8 wins in their last 10 games. This is also their final road game before the All-Star break. The Bulls should be pumped tonight though after taking down the Phoenix Suns two nights ago despite a scare with their plane before take off, which resulted in an oil fire. They will still be missing out on Andr?s Nocioni again who is likely to be M.I.A. until the post All-Star break. P.J. Brown was also missing two nights ago with back spasms. He is questionable for tonight's game.</font> </div> [div=50%] <font size=""1""> <font color="Red">Toronto Raptors</font> <font size=""1""><font color=""red"">PG</font>- T.J. Ford <font color=""red"">SG</font>- Anthony Parker <font color=""red"">SF</font>- Jorge Garbajosa <font color=""red"">PF</font>- Chris Bosh <font color=""red"">C</font>- Radoslav Nesterovic</font> <font size=""1"">Coach: Sam Mitchell</font> <font size="3">Season Stats</font> Leading Scorer: Chris Bosh - 23.2 PPG Leading Rebounder: Chris Bosh - 10.7 RPG Assist Man: T.J. Ford - 7.8 APG The 'X' Factor: Chris Bosh (23.2 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 2.3 APG) [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/tj_ford.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">T.J. Ford </font> PPG: 14.4, RPG: 3.5, APG: 7.8 T.J. Ford has been a great pick up for the Raptors, leading the team in assists, also contributing double digit scoring on average. He also has a good defensive presence, averaging just over one steal per game, but he has the team's highest turnover ratio. Not a concern considering he is their top point guard at the moment. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/anthony_parker.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">Anthony Parker</font> PPG: 11.9, RPG: 3.9, APG: 2.0 Anthony Parker is solid. One of the surprises the Raptors have added to their arsenal. Playing overseas for over five years has turned him into a solid contributor for this team and he is showing signs of becoming the NBA's most improved player of the year. Parker has a size advantage tonight over his 2 guard counterpart, Ben Gordon. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/jorge_garbajosa.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">Jorge Garbajosa</font> 8.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.0 APG Jorge Garbajosa looked like he could've contended for rookie of the year, but he hasn't found his footing per say since entering the NBA. While he has been a pretty good contributor to the Raptors he hasn't been the threat he was in Europe. Not to fret however as the future looks bright and with a fellow Spaniard among other European players on the team already he should be able to adjust his game and improve. He should improve and become a much better player in the coming years. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/chris_bosh.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">Chris Bosh</font> PPG: 23.2, RPG: 10.7, APG: 2.3 Chris Bosh, 2007 All-Star selection, has remained the franchise player for the Toronto Raptors. Despite missing a few games he has improved nearly all of his statistical averages from the previous season and has lead this team to contending for a Playoff position as the top seed in the Atlantic division. This exciting player gets my Impact Player of the Game prediction as he could tell the tail for the outcome. Bosh will be looking for a better game after his previous one against the Pistons with 14 points at 5 of 15 shooting. Though he did have a double-double, I don't think he was personally satisfied. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/radoslav_nesterovic.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">Radoslav Nesterovic</font> PPG:5.9, RPG: 4.6, APG: 1.0 Radoslav Nesterovic knows himself that his time as the starting center for the Raptors could come to a close by next season with the young Italian Andrea Bargnani emerging. Rasho already averages less playing time then Bargnani despite starting, but he has still been a decent player for this team and gives the best he can offer. He is a 7 foot big man after all and that can't be looked away from. Look for some solid rebounding from him tonight. [/div] <font color="Darkred"> Chicago Bulls</font> <font size=""1""><font color=""DarkRed"">PG</font>- Kirk Hinrich <font color=""DarkRed"">SG</font>- Ben Gordon <font color=""DarkRed"">SF</font>- Luol Deng <font color=""DarkRed"">PF</font>- Tyrus Thomas <font color=""DarkRed"">C</font>- Ben Wallace</font> <font size=""1"">Coach: Scott Skiles</font> <font size="3">Season Stats</font> Leading Scorer: Ben Gordon - 21.2 PPG Leading Rebounder: Ben Wallace - 10.2 RPG Assist Man: Kirk Hinrich - 6.3 APG The 'X' Factor: Luol Deng (18.4 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.2 APG) [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/kirk_hinrich.jpg[/imgl]<font color="DarkRed">Kirk Hinrich</font> PPG: 16.3, RPG: 3.4, APG: 6.3 Kirk Hinrich helped lead this team home from Phoenix two nights ago with 29 points attributed to him hitting 5 of 7 three point field goal attempts. He always seems to improve his statistics during an extended road trip and has done so yet again. It seems that he's gained more confidence in his shooting and has taken more shots recently. I can't see that as a bad thing, he has been solid lately. Hopefully he can bring home his shooting touch and continue his recent form. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/ben_gordon.jpg[/imgl]<font color="DarkRed">Ben Gordon</font> PPG: 21.2 PPG, RPG: 2.9, APG: 3.5 Ben Gordon has been a consistent scorer for the Chicago Bulls throughout the season so far and had a solid scoring night against Phoenix on Sunday. However, he notably struggled during some portions of the Bulls' western road trip none more so then against Sacramento where he only managed to score 7 points. Ben (and the local media) will definitely be looking to keep his hot hand tonight against Toronto at the United Center. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/luol_deng.jpg[/imgl]<font color="DarkRed">Luol Deng</font> 18.4 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.2 APG Luol Deng recently won the local sports award for Bulls player of the year. If that is any indication of him being traded away I don't know what to tell anyone anymore except that you're nuts. Lu has been on fire this season and is looking to keep improving his form. He's been picking up double-doubles lately from his large improvement in defensive rebounding. He also comes home from Phoenix after a big night co-leading the team in points with 29 and grabbing down 12 boards. 10 of which were defensive. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/tyrus_thomas.jpg[/imgl]<font color="DarkRed">Tyrus Thomas</font> PPG: 3.7, RPG: 2.8, APG: 0.5 Tyrus Thomas may start tonight again with P.J. Brown questionable as he missed the previous game with back spasms. Tyrus comes in to Chicago with a decent scoring night in Phoenix tallying 9 points and 3 blocked shots to his credit. Tyrus is raw though and looks to improve his game with more playing time, though I personally believe Viktor Khryapa may be given more time over the rookie down the stretch of the game. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/ben_wallace.jpg[/imgl]<font color="DarkRed">Ben Wallace</font> PPG: 6.2, RPG: 10.2, APG: 2.0 Ben Wallace has been down since his injury against the Miami Heat. He's had some great rebounding nights, but he's still feeling the effects of the blow to his knee. That should be gone soon and I'm anticipating a huge defensive night for Big Ben sometime soon. Don't be surprised if that happens tonight. </font> <div align="center"> </div> <ul><font color="DarkRed"><font size=""1"">Rebounding</font></font> <font size=""1""> The Bulls have been winning and losing games based on their problem of giving teams too many second chance points. They seem to leave the center near the free throw line to the three point line open for opponents to grab easy offensive boards and that has to stop. Even small point guards are running into this area and grabbing offensive rebounds, it has become their staple of allowing this to happen nightly. If they can close down this area and allow Ben Wallace and Luol Deng to attack the basket for defensive rebounds then they should have no further problems. The Raptors aren't as good of a rebounding team as the Bulls are and if the Bulls play this to their advantage they can dominate the game. But aforementioned if they become lazy the Raptors may just walk all over them. Luol Deng and Ben Wallace will have to continue their dominance on the defensive glass to avoid second chance points.</font>[/list] <ul><font color="DarkRed"><font size=""1"">Scoring Threat</font></font><font size=""1""> The Bulls have more high scoring options then the Raptors do so if they can get a great contribution from Hinrich, Gordon and Deng once again I can't see this team losing to the Raptors tonight. The Bulls will have to remain consistent, something that has troubled them throughout the season and the one before that .. and, the one before that, and well, you get the picture. They need to be consistent; Duhon is their only probable scoring threat off of the bench right now with Andr?s Nocioni out for a few more weeks.</font>[/list] <div align="center"></div> <font size="1">The Raptors are coming with an 8 - 2 record over their last 10 games. The Bulls are finally home after beating down the Phoenix Suns in a much needed win over a troubling western road trip. This could only end up being one of the better games of the year in the Eastern Conference. Hopefully this one will be a thrilling spectacle as predicted. I'm eagerly anticipating viewing the Raptors' players on the court again; they have a promising roster and will only improve as the Bulls have over the last few seasons.</font>
Nice preview M21. The Raptors are playing some good basketball lately. With Brown out, and Nocioni out Bosh is going to have a field day. I think the Bulls pull out a win in the end though they have the best record at home in the eastern conference.
Wow someone want to get infront of Bosh and not let him get to the basket and score everytime. Thomas got 2 quick fouls again. Our defensive rebounding sucks. And we fall for every shot fake.
Our defense is pathetic and we can't score when it matters. This team is not going to be winning anything significant this year.
Nakz OT but in your favorite players its spelled Dwyane Wade haha... Gordon/Deng/Hinrich all played well yet we down by six with five minutes left. We cannot stop the Raptors offensively tonight.
Gordon took it. This whole season when we have a last shot opportunity we never execute well, don't know if they play sucks, but Skiles is usually good at drawing those up, but everytime this year when we had a game tying/winning shot opportunity we never even get a good shot, not even a decent one. We didn't really get a good one today either.
I've never really liked the play calls with those to be honest. I know exactly what you mean though everytime we're in that situation we suck it up even with Mr. Cluth BG7. What a shame.
