<div align="center"> (he knows I'm kidding). Arenas didn't shoot well, he didn't play well at all until the 2nd half of the game, then he played decent. Duhon on the other hand really surprised, he grabbed 10 rebounds..how the hell did he do that? He was 3 points and 4 assists shy of a triple double. I look for Arenas to come in here and be pissed. Knowing Arenas, he won't let his horrible game 1 affect him, the matchup is still in his favor. ADVANTAGE: <font color="navy">Washington</font> Shooting Guard <font color="navy">Larry Hughes</font> VS. <font color="red">Kirk Hinrich</font> Larry Hughes dominated this matchup until 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. He was on a roll in the first half, scoring 25 points, shooting 10-12 from the field. There is no reason why he can't repeat that performance here tonight. As for Hinrich, he had an overall good game. 17, 7, and 5, he didn't need to do anymore than that. If he can repeat that and play some better defense on Hughes, he will get his job done. ADVANTAGE: <font color="navy">Washington</font> Small Forward <font color="navy">Jared Jeffries</font> VS. <font color="red">Andres Nocioni</font> Wow. 18 rebounds for Nocioni, that is all I have to say. If that happens again, Jeffries should be our towel boy. ADVANTAGE: <font color="red">Chicago</font> Power Forward <font color="navy">Antawn Jamison</font> VS. <font color="red"> Othella Harrington</font> Well, in game one this was a closer matchup than I thought. Antawn didn't come on strong until the late 3rd quarter. He needs to have a strong game all the way through to give the Wizards a better chance of winning. Othella, on the other hand, had a good performance, not stellar, but just what the Bulls needed. I look for Jamison to continue to have the advantage here, I just expect him to dominate in game 2. ADVANTAGE: <font color="navy">Washington</font> Center <font color="navy">Brendan Haywood</font> VS. <font color="red">Antonio Davis</font> This was a very even matchup in game 1, like I predicted. No player really had a change on the outcome of the game, both just did their parts to chip in. Haywood needs to be more aggressive here, he needs to call for the ball down in the post and take it strong. Davis needs to keep being physical, he can't let Haywood get the ball easy in the post. Make everything tough on him. ADVANTAGE: TOSS UP The Bench Still no change, as long as Ben Gordon comes in and scores 30 points, the Wizards' bench can't compare. Kwame Brown was on fire in the first half for the Wiz, but he was denied the ball by his own players in the second -- Arenas, Hughes, and Dixon. Dixon was a decent surprise off of the bench, he scored 11 but he didn't shoot well (4-12). Only thing to say about the Bulls' bench is -- Ben Gordon. ADVANTAGE: <font color="red">Chicago</font> <div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="navy">Key</font><font color="red"> Players</font></font> (<font color="navy">Gilbert Arenas</font>, <font color="red">Kirk Hinrich</font>) Projected Stats <font color="navy">Gilbert Arenas: 28 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds</font> <font color="red">Kirk Hinrich: 16 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds</div></font> <font size="5"><font color="navy">Keys</font><font color="red"> to</font><font color="navy"> the</font><font color="red"> Game</font></font> <font color="navy">Washington:</font> <ul> [*]<font color="navy">BOX OUT</font>- Is it that hard? Should Chris Duhon really be getting 10 rebounds? Should Nocioni really be getting 18 boards? HELL NO. BOX OUT, IT ISN'T THAT HARD. [*]<font color="navy">Don't Neglect the Bigs</font>- I believe this is why we lost game 1, our guards neglected the big men. Kwame was unstoppable in the game, he was beating whoever the Bulls threw at him off of the dribble, he had post position a lot and the guards neglected him the ball. When Kwame is having a good game, you have to give him the ball, it makes winning a lot easier. [*]<font color="navy">Smart Decisions</font>- The other reason we lost, stupid mistakes. Down the stretch our guards were lost out there, idiotic turnovers, forced shots, they relied too much on the refs. Granted it could be playoff jitters, they have to get over it to give the Wizards a chance to win. [/list] <font color="red">Chicago:</font> <ul> [*]<font color="red">Ben Gordon</font>- Before game 1, he was struggling, shooting a low percentage from the field in his previous 10 games. Was it the ending of a bad shooting streak, or was it just the hype of getting the Bulls back into the playoffs that led him to that great game 1? I think it was a mixture of both, but I think he can easily fall back into that streak if the Wizards apply heavy pressure to him when he first enters the game, we can't give him anything easy. [*]<font color="red">Continue the Rebounding</font>- I really don't think Duhon and Nocioni will have amazing rebounding games again, but as a team, if the Bulls can continue the rebounding like that, it will make things a hell of a lot easier to get a win. [*]<font color="red">Be Ready</font>- That is all I have to say for Chris Duhon/Ben Gordon/Kirk Hinrich. Gilbert Arenas is going to be pissed. Knowing him as a player, he hasn't gotten that horrible game 1 out of his head and will be coming out to erase it. Don't expect to keep him down this game, I wouldn't be surprised if he exploded for 40. [/list] <font size="5"><font color="navy">Random</font> <font color="red">Movie</font><font color="navy"> Quote</font>*: </font> Buzz: You are a sad, strange, little man. You have my pity. Farewell. *Idea taken from Supersonic <font size="5"> <font color="red">Prediction</font></font> Game 1 was a very exciting game with Chicago stealing the win in the final minutes, don't expect the same. Washington hung in there throughout the game without production from Gilbert Arenas and limited production from Jamison, you can't expect those players to stay down. I like Washington to avenge the loss in game 1 with a 102-97 victory here.
It seems as if Chicagos game 1 victory has left a bitter taste in their mouths. Even after missing 6 freethrows at the end of the game the bulls pulled off the 9 point victory in the united Center. The bulls are tuff to beat at home and their home court advantage will take care of this series. Gilbert Arenas has made his first excuse in this series. Stating that he wanted to pump fake and draw fouls thats why his shot was off. Well Gilbert has had a great year but has become cockey. He even predicted to win MVP during the Allstar game (now who does that?). The bulls are confident and the presure is on the Wizards as most of the world has picked them to win the series. The question is can they handle the pressure? Some say that Gilbert was Nervous now that we know it was not nervousness. Maybe he sits at home preparing a new plan to find a weakness in the Bulls defence. The key to this game is team defence. They have alot of athletic guys that are hard to guard in islolation. Its important that Chicago communicates well on the floor and makes their guys work for every shot. Gilbert played the entire game in game 1, and contrary to popular belief the guy is not a robot and will tire if not rested in game 2. Its important to find a way to let him rest for the fourth quarter. The bulls have the lowest opponants ppg average and it will benefit them to again keep the wizards under 100 points. Bulls win by seven!!!! GO BULLS (lets make it 2-0)
It's extremely important that the Bulls don't let the Wizards split these games as they head back to Washington. Even though I'm confident the Bulls can win on the road it's going to be harder.
I think the Wiz will come out determined to play better. All in all, if you look at it, the game wasn't nearly as close as the box said it was. By all means, the Bulls should have dominated this game. They held Washington to 38% shooting, shut down Arenas, shut down Jamison, and shut down Hughes after the half. They dominated the boards, outrebounding them 54-44. Washington needs to improve in pretty much every facet of the game tonight if they're to win. At least two of the big three need to produce and not have it be the one man Larry Hughes show again. If that happens, they're once again in trouble. For the Bulls, look for them to be confident and come out aggressive early. They know they have the chance to take a commmanding lead tonight and send Washington realing out to D.C. For them, just do what they did in game 1. When Ben comes in, get him the ball early and often and let him get going. Keep Washington off the boards and don't let them get 2nd chance points. The only thing they need to do better is to contain Kwame. He dominated early on, thankfully, Washington completely ignored him the 2nd half and left it up to the big three. Chicago can't let that happen again. Shut him down early but don't forget about the rest of the team. If they can do that and at least contain one of the big three, preferrably Arenas, they should go out to Washington with a 2-0 series lead.
I think Arenas will be the hardest one to shutdown out of the big three. Jamison I can see happening, but Arenas in an article said he was trying to get to the line by leaning into the Chicago guards when they bit on fakes, but it didn't work at all and had him taking stupid shots. He will not repeat that in this game, and if he can get to the line the way he always does which is just driving hard at the defense, and play his game, their's no was he shoots 3-whatever it was. I didn't like Jamison's comments about Noc, Jamison to me is soft, and he's not one to be talking. If it was Arenas or Hughes, it's fine, but Jamison will get dominated by Noc, he's not even a good defender. I'd like the Wizards to have Jeffries on Nocioni, he can matchup with him defensively, and though taller is still capable of taking him off the dribble on offense. It will be an interesting game...
Bulls started off slow but man are they pumped. 4th Quarter just started and already Griffin has a rebound while sitting down, Hinrich is heating up with a 3 and Gordon just faked on a breakaway for an easy layup. Let's hope they can keep this up and close the game out. Man I love the playoffs!
I didn't watch the game, I was out playing basketball, very dissapointed that I missed it, but from the box score I can basically interprete what happened. The Wizards played garbage defense again, while I like Hinrich, he's not a high percentage shooter, and allowing him to shoot 12-15 is just unacceptable. Like I said, Arenas would not be shut down, he's not the one that you look to shut down. Arenas came out firing and had a big game with 39 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals, but it just wasn't enough to get the win. Kwame was a minimal producer in this game, and since I didn't watch I'm not sure why, but I'd guess it's because he didn't get the ball, kinda like it's been the whole season. The biggest problems for the Wizards in this one were turnovers and defense. If you commit 18 turnovers, and let the other team shoot 48.8% FG and 53.3% 3PT, unless they're doing the same, you're not going to win. Good win by the Bulls, Noc and Gordon didn't come close to replecating their performances, but Hinrich really stepped it up hitting 12-15 shots and 5-5 three's. Duhon though he couldn't buy a basket added 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Big man AD also had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and I'm assuming one Gorilla dunk to go along with it. The Wizards are going home now, and should win those games, but if they can't win a game on the road, they have no hope in the series. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Arenas will be the hardest one to shutdown out of the big three. Jamison I can see happening, but Arenas in an article said he was trying to get to the line by leaning into the Chicago guards when they bit on fakes, but it didn't work at all and had him taking stupid shots. He will not repeat that in this game, and if he can get to the line the way he always does which is just driving hard at the defense, and play his game, their's no was he shoots 3-whatever it was</div>
I think the bulls were meant to be on ESPN in Australia instead they decided to put on the baseball. I wasnt happy.
