Chicago Bulls at Utah Jazz Saturday, February 9th, 2008; 8:00 CT; WGN, NBA TV Probable Starters: Chicago Bulls: PG- Chris Duhon SG- Thabo Sefolosha SF- Andres Nocioni PF-Joe Smith C- Ben Wallace Utah Jazz: PG-Deron Williams SG-C.J. Miles SF-Andrei Kirileinko PF-Carlos Boozer C- Mehmet Okur Game Story: The Chicago Bulls are reeling off of an exciting win against the Golden St. Warriors, a game in which Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, and Ben Gordon all did not play in. Luol Deng will not play today, and Hinrich and Gordon are game time decisions. Chris Duhon had 34 points 9 assists, Joe Smith added 27 points 8 rebounds, and Tyrus Thomas had 15 points 5 rebounds 2 blocks, leading the Bulls down the stretch to victory in dominating fashion. The Bulls will have a difficult time beating the Utah Jazz, one of the top teams in the Western Conference. The Jazz enter the game at 32-19, and are 9-1 in their last 10 games. The Bulls are only 4-6 in their last 10 games, and are 20-29 overall. This is the first time that the Bulls and Jazz meet this year. The Bulls lost both of their meetings against the Jazz last season. MemoraBull Moment: February 7th, 2007- The Bulls and Jazz took the game to overtime, and the Bulls fell just short 109-107. Ben Gordon forced overtime by sinking a three pointer with 7 seconds left in regulation. Gordon finished the game with 35 points. Gordon put the Bulls ahead 106-100 after making two free throws. The Bulls looked destined to win the game, but with seconds left, and the Bulls leading by one, Luol Deng turned the ball over, the Jazz found a wide open Mehmet Okur who sank the game winning three point shot with just 0.7 seconds left in the game. http://www.dabullz.com/2008/02/09/chicago-...h-jazz-preview/
Bulls have been called for 13 fouls, 2 minutes from the half. 10 have been on our SFs. 2 on Thabo, 3 on Tyrus, 3 on Noc, 2 on Griffin. Thabo is looking very good though.
The game was close for awhile before Utah went on a 14-2 run to end the half. Thabo picked a 3rd foul, so that's 11 fouls on the Bulls' 4 SFs in one half. Demetris Nichols got 1 minute of playing time. Amazing. I had no idea what he looked like.
The 2 games with out Gordon, Deng, and Hinrich have been the most entertaining of the year. Thabo looks damn good.
I'll never get Boylan's reluctance to use Gray. The guy is so much better than Thomas and Wallace, yet he gets regulated to the bench for long stretches and games. It's utterly ridiculous.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BG7 Lavigne @ Feb 9 2008, 11:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'll never get Boylan's reluctance to use Gray. The guy is so much better than Thomas and Wallace, yet he gets regulated to the bench for long stretches and games. It's utterly ridiculous.</div> Boylan just called a timeout down by 9 with 40 seconds left to set up a play. He seems to be actively trying to win an obviously un-winnable game. He sucks. Gray looks okay whenever I see him.
Tyrus was awful. Makes me think that the GS game was a fluke. I can't recall the last time I've seen a player who plays as reckless as he does. He's a horrible finisher and jump shooter. If he didn't have a knack for drawing fouls he would almost never score.
Once again the Chicago Bulls were without Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, and Ben Gordon. Once again the Bulls lost, a sight becoming too familiar for our Bulls. The Bulls became the latest casualty of the Utah Jazz, losing 97-85. It looked for awhile like the Bulls might be able to ride the Sefoloshamotive to victory, but the Sefoloshamotive ran out of steam, and the Bulls loss. Thabo Sefolosha had 22 points 7 rebounds 4 assists 2 steals 1 block. Sefolosha continues to play with his newfound confidence since gaining the starting spot, reminiscent of his play for the Switzerland this summer. When he gets the ball, he is looking to score. When he is wide open and the ball is passed to him, he shoots it up instead of hesitating. Sefolosha was only 2-6 in three point attempts today, but one of those attempts was on a desperation team as the Bulls tried to string together a miracle run in the last minute in an unlikely quest to win the game, and another that was on a full court attempt at the end of the first half. Jim Boylan continues to show that he has no clue what to do with the big man rotation. The simple part for him right now is that Joe Smith and Ben Wallace are the starters. Ben Wallace had 9 points 7 rebounds 2 steals 3 blocks and Joe Smith added in 14 points. Boylan’s problem comes with what to do with Aaron Gray, Tyrus Thomas, and Joakim Noah. Joakim Noah managed to get in 19 minutes while only scoring 2 points and grabbing 2 rebounds. Tyrus Thomas again returned to his stupid play, scoring 5 points, grabbing 0 rebounds, and picking up a myriad of fouls. In his 11 minutes on the court, the Bulls somehow managed to be outscored by 22 points. This probably had something to do with Thomas constantly being out of position when on the court, and making dumb fouls to compensate for him being out of position. Aaron Gray, however, only could manage to get a measly 8 minutes on the court despite putting up 6 points on 3-4 shots, and grabbing 2 rebounds. The man was dominant in the low post, with his only blunder being a missed dunk after he perfectly executed a pick and roll. Apparently merit doesn’t determine playing time on this team. Adrian Griffin played selfishly throughout the entire game. He would constantly dribble around, looking for his own shot, and routinely not passing to the open man. He would dribble the ball so much, yet end up not doing anything productive in all that time dribbling. The guy apparently thinks that he is Kobe Bryant or something, yet somehow he only managed to only take 4 shots despite hogging the ball for so long. Both Chris Duhon and Andres Nocioni didn’t look too aggressive tonight. Nocioni had 14 points, and took relatively good shot selection. Nocioni was constantly posterized by Utah Jazz players. Chris Duhon had 11 points and 8 assists, but it was a little underwhelming after his great play against Golden St. The Bulls are now 20-30 on the season. The Indiana Pacers won tonight, and the Bulls drop down to 11th in the East with tonights loss, falling behind the Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers. The Bulls fall to a full game behind the New Jersey Nets for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. http://www.dabullz.com/2008/02/09/chicago-...tah-jazz-recap/
