Well, with a new coach in Scott Skiles and 3 new players in Chris Jeffries, Antonio Davis, and Jerome Williams, it was going to be interesting seeing how Chicago did tonight. Well, they did very well in their first game with a new coach and new players as they beat Milwaukee 97-87. The Bulls, led by Jamal Crawford who had a huge game, as he scored 30 points, dished out 8 assists and grabbed 8 boards. The game was close througout most of the first 3 quarters. But, in the 4th quarter, when down 69-64, Chicago began what soon became a 27-6 run. They would take 91-75 lead with just under 4 minutes remaining. The Bucks would counter with 12-0 run which was capped off by a Michael Redd 3-ball. That's all the closer they would get though, 4 points. Quickly after that, Hinrich would come up with a steal that would spark a fast break and lead to a Crawford dunk. Just seconds later, on a offensive rebound, Jerome Williams would find Eddy Curry waiting wide open under the basket for a two handed slam. That would push the lead to 8 and Milwaukee was never able to recover. Milwaukee would go to miss a 3, Crawford would than come up with the board and make 2 free throws. The free throws would account for the games final deficit and score. For the rest of the Bulls outside of Jamal, Eddy Curry had 22 points and 5 rebounds, Jerome Williams had 13 points and 10 boards, and the other new guy, Antonio Davis, scored 11 and grabbed 5 rebounds. Michael Redd led the Bucks with 26 points, but, was only 2/9 from 3 point range. Desmond Mason had 18, Joe Smith had 16, and Erick Strickland added in 12. The big stats of the night were fast break points and points in the paint. Chicago had 22 fast break points compared to just 6 for Milwaukee. Chicago also thoroughly dominated the paint, outscoring Milwaukee 46-26. Overall, a good win for Chicago. Hopefully this will spark a turn around for them. As for Milwaukee, free throws killed them tonight. They made just 19/33. For more info, check out NBA.com for a recap and box score. Box Score Recap
Very nice postgame Moo2k4. I can tell you put a lot of time into this...very in depth which is a plus. :thumbsup: Very nice win for the Bulls against a pretty good Bucks team. Antonio Davis is going to have a huge impact on this young team. Hopefully this win will get this team moving in the right direction.
Yeah, Bulls played a great game. I love the new players they brought in and love that the others are gone. Crawford had a huge game and JYD was running out there like a maniac. I hope this continues.
I like the energy the JYD brings to the court, he's going to be a fan favorite in Chicago as well... and hopefully he shows their young guys how to play the game much better than Jalen did...
Very nice Moo. Come visit the Nets' thread sometimes. hehehe Looks like the trade is working well for them. But I have a question. Do you think that the performance of Jamal shows that he's now happy with the Bulls with the new players? I think so. With Jalen gone, they're looking for Jamal to score more points.
It was a great game. Hopefully Jalen can take lots of pressure off of Vince. Looks like JYD is helping out Tyson and Eddie with rebounding and being in the paint. Might look like Bulls got the better end...
I dont think the Raps fans know what Jalen is like. The 1st week or so he might be good, but then you will see the true Jalen.
I think the Raptors got a good deal with this trade. They finally have a veteran player who is a capable scorer and will be able to compliment Vince. They had capable scorers, but, most are fairly young. Jalen will be able to help the younger players on this team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting nkwu:</div><div class="quote_post">Looks lik JYD brings alot to the Bulls... Now lets see if this trade benefitted The Raps 2nite...</div> No doubt Williams played great. But he nearly put up double his season average. I don't expect him to do that good every night. As long as he hustles, plays good defense, and rebounds, I will be happy. Yes, his game is certainly a good fit for us. But it would be unrealistic to expect that every night.
JYD's intensity is his greatest contribution for the Bulls. He's an exciting player to watch and he may teach a thing or two about hustling to they young ones.
I believe that Antonio Davis and Jerome Williams bring a certain intensity that the Bulls have not seen. I have never seen anyone hustle as much as Jerome Williams since the Mj days. Antonio Davis is a solid inside presence and can block a few shots. He has a nice low post game also. JYD brings the stuff we need. Such as hustle. Also a rebounding presence, hopefully making up for Eddy Curry's rebounding woes. I was hoping that the trade would bring some kind of "spark" or motivation to the team. What I saw on Monday, was intence basketball. Something I have't seen in a while. Hustling for balls, usually is a rarity in Bulls basketball, but it was no shock to me when I saw JYD diving on the floor for lose balls. I like the team that Paxton has built. Adding a certain defense and mental toughness. Antonio Davis, Scottie Pippen, Gendall Gill, and Jerome Williams are some examples of that. Being that I am a huge Crawford fan, I was extatic to hear Jamal Crawford announced last, and the huge applause. I was very pumped about Jamal and hope he would have a nice showing in front of Skiles. Other than the unnessisary 3 pointer late in the game, Jamal played unbelievable. 30 points shows the great offense he can bring to the table. And it wasn't by shooting 30 percent either, he lit it up. Shot over 50%. Another thing was his ability to pass the ball and gain assists. Even when he played the two gaurd, he got assists. Being at the two, showed his ability I never new he had, and that is rebounding. Maybe without the ball on the top of the key every play, enabled him to get downlow and rebound. One of the most important things I saw, was that they ran the fast break extremely well. Crawford had about 3 break away dunks and had two nice passes in the open court. This brings me to my next point. Scott Skiles was rescently hired and I loved the move. I was excited to see how they would preform with such little practice, and they came through. I can feel his presence already. The presence Bill Cartwright did not bring to the table. An important thing, was when he told us about trashing the triangle, which I thought was so very needed. I didn't think it suited the type of players we had. Overall I am happy with the new look Bulls. It should be an exciting year to come. I am hoping that the Bulls will soon make a playoff run, which has been waited for a long time. Prophecy.
