vs Game 40, Home Game 23 Monday, January 21, 2013 – 8:30 PM CT United Center TNT / ESPN 1000 AM / WRTO 1200 AM BULLS VS. LAKERS ALL-TIME ALL-TIME ......................Bulls trail 56-84 BULLS CURRENT STREAK.......2 Wins BULLS HOME STREAK............... 1 Win BULLS ROAD STREAK ............... 1 Win BULLS VS. LAKERS THIS SEASON Jan. 21 @ Chicago – March 10 @ Los Angeles LAST FIVE BULLS GAMES Jan. 19 vs Grizzlies L 82-85 (OT) Jan. 18 @ Celtics W 100-99 (OT) Jan. 16 @ Raptors W 107-105 (OT) Jan. 14 vs Hawks W 97-58 Jan. 12 vs Suns L 81-97 Game Notes Chicago Bulls (23-16) Home 11-11 Road 12-5 Bulls Averages: PPG: 93.8 (Opp: 91.7) RPG: 43.82 (Opp: 40.87) APG: 22.8 (Opp: 18.4) SPG: 7.28 (Opp: 7.82) BPG: 5.10 (Opp: 5.64) TO: 15.03 (Opp: 14.23) FG%: .439 (Opp: .429) FT%: .784 (Opp: .749) 3p%: .354 (Opp: .338) Probable Bulls starters Kirk Hinrich - PG - Richard Hamilton - SG - Jimmy Butler - SF - Carlos Boozer - PF - Joakim Noah - C - Bulls Stats Leaders Points: Deng 17.4, Boozer 16.2 Rebounds: Noah 10.6, Boozer 10.1 Assists: Hinrich 5.2, Noah 4.1 Steals: Noah 1.29, Deng 1.08 Blocks: Noah 2.00, Gibson 1.26 FG%: Butler .494, Boozer .484 FT%: Hamilton .902, Butler .859 3FG%: Hamilton .400, Belinelli .382 Injury report Luol Deng (right hamstring) is day-to-day. Derrick Rose (left knee) is out. For a full report and the latest on Bulls' injuries, check out the AthletiCo Injury Report. Los Angeles Lakers (17-23) Home 12-10 Road 5-13 Probable Lakers starters Steve Nash - PG Kobe Bryant - SG Metta World Peace - SF Earl Clark - PF Dwight Howard - C Injury report ▪ Steve Blake (abdominal surgery) is out. ▪ Jordan Hill (torn labrum, left hip / herniated disc) is out. ▪ Dwight Howard (torn labrum, right shoulder) is probable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bulls-Season-Highs-2012-2013 Active-Bulls-Career-Highs
I'm happy to see it. It'd be really good if the other 4 guys on the court were having good games at the same time.
Jeff Mangurten @JeffGurt This is Kirk Hinrich's first game with at least 22 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds since January 2008.
Nice game by the Bulls, but my God do the Lakers look hopeless. Kobe+Nash+Howard+Gasol+D'Antoni=Yuck? Nice call on the Hinrich-Duhon matchup.
I think Kirk's exceptional game bumped his PER over 10 again. Woot! I'm truly happy for him. But either he came through when the rest of the starters could not, or he got his at their expense. Rip 6-18 shooting. Noah 2-8. Butler 4-10. Boozer 7-17. Nash is a great defender, too The 39 year old version is almost as good as the 29 year old one.
I actually am happy for him. I was always in favor of keeping him and BG both when people were pushing to get rid of one or the other to save the Chairman money. I'm not upset that he's on the team. My gripe is that he's paid $4M, and that the team spent that money on a guy with a sub-10 PER for several seasons running, and that the team maneuvered the roster so he has to play. For every 22 point game from the guy, there's been 39 other rather lousy games.
It is a stretch to say that a guy who shot 9-11 got his points at the expense of others, but, whatever. That was totally unexpected and what a blessing! You wonder if that game tying shot gave Kirk a boost of confidence after a pretty trying year. Nice to see. I actually imagine that at some point Thibs told Kirk, "hey, you are the one you need to feed!" But Jimmy Butler did some nice work out there as well. Wow! I was sure with Kirk depressed and Luol out, we were toast. Hmmm, feels good to be wrong. And yeah, the Lakers are pitiful. Fools for dissing coach Phil!
Expense of others. If Kirk's going to beat you, you have serious other problems. Dare him to shoot would be a good plan. So he dribbles around and dribbles around and gets the ball to his teammates with :04 on the clock and they have to manufacture shots and that makes their FG% go way down. Or if they do make it, he gets the assist and pads his stat. That's what the box score stats supports. On the other hand, look at the Lakers and figure out where to attack on offense. The weakest part of their defense is the 39 year old Nash who never played much defense at age 29 even.
If you truly believe that Hinrich has 39 lousy games out of 40, you SHOULD be upset that he's on the team and almost apoplectic that he's playing significant minutes. You should be calling for the firing of the GM who decided to bring him here, but more particularly the ouster of the incompetent head coach who is giving him playing time.
There isn't anyone else to play. I don't know where the orders came from to assemble the roster the way it is. I figure they thought it's a losing season, let's make Kirk the star again like he was the first time he was here. Something to at least sell tickets when the front office moves don't sell tickets. It's hard to believe a guy with a PER hovering around and most of the time below 10 and who was shooting 35% from the field before last night's game has had many good games out of the 40 played. So maybe 39 is a stretch, but 36 isn't?
