Bulls low leading by 11 Noah with 13 rebounds in 26 minutes so far Deng 17 pts Rose 13 pts Boozer 11 pts
After 3 quarter Bulls leading 70-59 Deng 19 pts 4 reb Rose 13 pts 3 ast Boozer 13 pts 4 reb Noah 8 pts 13 reb
End of 3. 70-59 Bulls Bulls 44% Bucks 42% Bulls 35-26 rebounding edge Noah 13 Deng 19. L. Mbah a Moute, 14, Rose, boozer, 13, Salmons 11 Bucks bench 16-14
Bulls win 83-75 Bulls 49-37 rebounding! Noah 17 Bulls 41% Bucks 38% Deng 19, Rose 17, L. Mbah a Moute 16, salmons 14, Boozer 13, korver 11
It's hard to not be jacked that the Bulls refused to trade away Asik. Kenny Smith said at the halftime of the Miami game that the Bulls only had one half of a shot blocker (presumably Noah), and then clarified that they only have one half of a player to guard the front of the rim. I think he was right on the money. It's not about shot blocking, because the Bulls have plenty of those, but players who will instill the fear of Krishna in opposing players who want to drive the lane. Noah doesn't really give you that, even though he's a pretty good shot blocker. But when Asik is moving his feet no one drives the lane. You see opposing guards make it half way, then kind of pause and hold the ball and stare at him near the middle of the key. I think it's a question of size. Players aren't so much worried about getting their shots blocked as they are about suffering an injury that ends their careers. 6 rebounds, 0 points, and 0 assists in 15 minutes doesn't tell the whole tale. He was huge for us against Milwaukee just as he was huge in the Miami game.
My dear Thunder, Spot on re : Omer I think he's got the makings of a genuine interior defender whereas Jo and Taj are more help/rotational defenders As an aside we also spanked the Heat on the boards the other night too
It's not just the Heat as far as rebounding. The Bulls rebounding differential (the amount of rebounds they grab in comparison to opposing teams) is just silly. They're at +4.8. Not at all close in second is Orlando with +3.4, Lakers +3.3, Minny + 2.7, and the Clips +2.5. They've been killing the league, while their best rebounder has been sitting on the bench up until recently with a broken hand. Noah is second among centers at 11.9 (Dwight has 13.9); Boozer is fifth among power forwards (Love grabs a ridiculous 15.4) Luol Deng is fifth among small forwards with 6.1 a game (tops is Carmelo 7.7, James 7.5), Derrick Rose is fifth among point guards with 4.4 (Tyreke Evans is first with 4.9!?!); and Brewer somehow manages to grab 3.5 in limited minutes. When you consider the fact that there's a finite number of easy defensive rebounds to go around those numbers don't make any sense.