@ Game 64, Home Game 32 Saturday, April 21, 2012 – 7:00 PM CT United Center WGN-TV/ESPN / ESPN 1000 AM BULLS VS. MAVERICKS ALL-TIME ALL-TIME ............Mavericks lead 31-30 BULLS CURRENT STREAK.......2 Wins BULLS HOME STREAK...............1 Win BULLS ROAD STREAK ............... 1 Win BULLS VS. MAVERICKS THIS SEASON April 21 @ Chicago – Game Notes Chicago Bulls (47-16) Home 24-7 Road 23-9 Bulls Averages: PPG: 96.3 (Opp: 88.5) RPG: 46.51 (Opp: 40.06) APG: 22.9 (Opp: 19.2) SPG: 6.95 (Opp: 7.46) BPG: 5.94 (Opp: 5.29) TO: 14.13 (Opp: 13.40) FG%: .450 (Opp: .423) FT%: .720 (Opp: .740) 3p%: .375 (Opp: .327) Probable Bulls starters CJ Watson - PG - Richard Hamilton - SG - Luol Deng - SF - Carlos Boozer - PF - Joakim Noah - C - Bulls Stats Leaders Points:Rose 22.5, Deng 15.3 Rebounds: Noah 9.7, Boozer 8.6 Assists: Rose 7.9, Watson 4.0 Steals: Brewer 1.11, Deng 1.06 Blocks: Noah 1.46, Gibson 1.25 FG%: Boozer .528, Noah .509 FT%: Lucas .867, Korver .833 3FG%: Korver .427, Watson .411 Injury report Derrick Rose (right foot) are day-to-day. For a full report and the latest on Bulls' injuries, check out the AthletiCo Injury Report. Dallas Mavericks (36-28) Home 23-10 Road 13-18 Probable Mavericks starters Jason Kidd - PG Delonte West - SG Shawn Marion - SF Dirk Nowitzki - PF Brendan Haywood - C Injury report No injuries.
Obviously great to get Rose back and he didn't force anything. Nice games from Noah, Hamilton and Deng. And as a bonus, the Heat lose to the Wiz.
Have caught the game yet so I'm going to run this a little off topic. Do you guys believe in the Spurs?
The Spurs were 61-21 last season and bounced out of the first round by Memphis. Something like that seems likely to me this season, too.
That's the argument against. The argument for seems more convincing to me though. Manu Ginobili was out last season. This year he's putting up a shooting guard league leading TS% of .666 with a higher usage rate than all of the shooting guards besides a handful of starting players (Kobe, Joe Johnson, Martin, Hamilton, Ellis). If not for the injures you could make an awfully strong case that Gibobili has been the best shooting guard in the NBA this season. Then you add in Tony Parker, who is having one of his best seasons, and a healthy and fully adjusted Tiago Splitter, and Kawhi Leonard -- they're tough. Memphis was playing out of their minds last year too. There were like five or six players on the roster who had never played as well as they played in that run, and who have not played as well since. I'm still leaning OKC as favorites. But I wouldn't be surprised if San Antonio came out of the West.
The Spurs pretty much have the same problem as last year though. They're a mix of really old stars, Parker, and young guys who are meh (except for Blair). Manu is 34 years old, he's missed half the season already, and his 12.9 PPG and other stats are awesome for a 6th man, which he is. There was a time when he or the 35 year old Duncan could dominate a game, and maybe they still can from time to time. In a 7 game series, I'm not so sure. A pretty good match up for the Celtics, if you think about it.
