<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Chicago Bulls @ Sacramento Kings Saturday, February 2nd, 2008; 9:00 CT; WGN, CSNW, ESPN-1000 Probable Starters:Chicago BullsG- Kirk Hinrich SG- Thabo Sefolosha SF- Andres Nocioni PF-Joakim Noah C- Ben Wallace Sacramento Kings: PG-Mike Bibby SG-Kevin Martin SF-Ron Artest PF-Mikki Moore C- Brad Miller Game Story: In January, the Chicago Bulls edged out the Sacramento Kings 94-93. The Bulls were saved by an unlikely hero, Ben Wallace. With 3.2 seconds left in the game, Ben Wallace sank a free throw to give the Bulls a one point lead. Wallace missed the second. Then, when the Kings tried to win the game by feeding the ball to Brad Miller, Ben Wallace came through again getting the key block, ending the game, and giving the Bulls a victory. Ben Gordon had 20 points 4 assists, Tyrus Thomas had 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Andres Nocioni led the Bulls in scoring with 26 points. Brad Miller had a great game, putting up 22 points 13 rebounds and 6 assists. The Bulls were without Luol Deng, and the Kings were without Mike Bibby, Ron Artest, and Kevin Martin. The Bulls are 18-27 on the season, while the Kings come in at 21-24. The Bulls are 4-6 in their last 10 games, and the Kings are 7-3 in their last 10 games, currently riding a 3 game winning streak. The Bulls fell to the last place Minnesota Timberwolves 83-67 on Wednesday night. The Kings are coming off a victory against the best in the West, defeating the New Orleans Hornets 112-103 last night. The Bulls will get a needed boost as Ben Gordon is set to play tonight. Ben Gordon last played in the Bulls victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Gordon is averaging 23.4 points since coming off the bench. The Chicago Bulls enter the game 1 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Hawks and New Jersey Nets for a playoff spot in the East. MemoraBull Moment: February 16, 2005- The Chicago Bulls entered the game with an 11 game losing streak to the Kings, last beating them in February 1998 with Michael Jordan and company. The Bulls were at a disadvantage, as Tyson Chandler missed the game because oe of his best friends had died. The Kings scorers game out in full force: Webber scored 15 points, Brad Miller 23 points, Cuttino Mobley 20 points, and Mike Bibby scored 21 points. However, the Kings were bested by Eddy Curry, who put up 25 points while pulling down 12 rebounds. The Kings were up 91-90 after Chris Webber nailed a jumpshot, but Gordon hit a pair of free throws to give the Bulls the lead, and Hinrich followed up with a three pointer, and the Bulls cruised to a 107-102 victory. Ben Gordon was the Bulls’ hero, scoring 24 points, 11 of them in the fourth quarter, en route to becoming the NBA’s 6th Man of the Year.</div> http://www.dabullz.com/2008/02/02/bulls-sacramento-preview/
Well, with how good the Kings are playing recently and how bad the Bulls have been playing, I won't be surprised if we lost. I'd love to see us win, but right now, we're just not playing very good and the Kings, now that they're finally healthy, are playing well.
Its hard to tell how good we should be. With Sefolosha and Noah solidly in the rotation now, that could help us big time, and we'll have Gordon back, which should make sure we don't have any 67 points outings against Minny. We'll probably lose because its on the road, but with Gordon, it should be close.
I agree that it'll be closer than what I'm thinking, but man. This team has been a huge disappointment all season. I love how Thabo and Noah are playing right now, but quite frankly, we're still playing bad on both ends. Plus, we have to find a way to stop a whole bunch of players. Now that the Kings are healthy, they have a ton of players who can kill us. If we shut down Martin, they still have Artest, Udrih and Bibby, and likewise for anyone else. Who knows though, maybe getting back Gordon will give us that much needed scoring punch we've been lacking and he'll help us get to a win and get back in the playoff picture.
I'm catching a bit of it via league pass... when did Peter Bjorn and John become closing music for a television broadcast? Bulls are shooting 75% for the first quarter.
This game's on WGN super station here It's funny, these two teams are back to about full strength and both of them are looking pretty feisty tonight. Like those videos of homeless guys that get paid in sandwiches to fight each other.
Goodness. The Bulls shot well at the start, finished horribly. The Bulls are lucky to be in the position that they are in, and it would be nice to win atleast 40 this season.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>This game played out with a storybook ending. The storyline is a common one for the Bulls, as they have come under the same fate all too often. The Bulls trailed coming into the fourth, but Ben Gordon had a big fourth quarter, scoring 15 points to keep the Bulls in the game, seamlessly hitting almost all of his shots. Then, with about 5:30 left in the game, the Bulls just collectively decide to ignore Gordon. We see shots coming from Hinrich and Nocioni, all misses, but none from the man who got you back in the game. Then when these players squander the lead after missing all their shots, they dish it back to Gordon and expect him to bail them out when there simply isn’t enough time to do so. This game even featured the trademark off balance three pointer that has no shot at going in by Nocioni as the clock ticked down. It’d be nice if the Bulls subscribed to a new storyline, but this game was just more of the same old, same old. The Bulls gave up 105 points, on their way to losing to the Kings 105-101. The Bulls are now 0-17 when their opponents score 100 or more points. Two former Bulls, Ron Artest and Brad Miller had a field day. Ron Artest had 26 points, while Brad Miller added 22 points and 20 rebounds. Miller hauled down key offensive rebounds down the stretch. During one possession, the Kings burned nearly a minute off the clock, because neither Wallace or Noah could come down with a rebound. Kevin Martin also chipped in 26 points. Ben Gordon was the sole shining star for the Bulls tonight, putting up 33 points in his return from the injury reserve. When the stat sites update in the morning, Gordon will be averaging 20.0 points per game after rounding (he really is 2 points shy of a legit 20.0 PPG). Gordon is averaging 24.1 points per game since coming off the bench when Boylan took over. In his 15 games off the bench, Gordon has scored over 30 points 5 times, and over 20 points 12 times. Joakim Noah had 10 points and 7 rebounds for the Bulls. He started the game strong, putting up 8 points in the first quarter, but as the game drew on, he made rookie mistakes, such as the foul when his coach told him not to with just over a minute left. Noah also had trouble guarding Artest. Artest had an emphatic clutch dunk over Noah to secure the victory for the Kings. Noah outshined his counterpart Tyrus Thomas still. Thomas played horribly, making only 1 shot in 6 attempts. Ben Wallace scored 9 points, had 9 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots. Kirk Hinrich added 18 points. Joe Smith also returned from injury today. Smith scored 9 points while grabbing 5 rebounds. He came off the bench for Joakim Noah, as Boylan tries to give Noah a longer look at the starting spot. The Chicago Bulls fall to a record of 18-28. They are now 1 1/2 games behind the New Jersey Nets for the 8th seed in the East, and are tied with the Indiana Pacers for 9th place. The Bulls will have to begin to close out games better if they wish to close the gap.</div> http://www.dabullz.com/2008/02/02/chicago-...to-kings-recap/ Oh no, we suck again! (Except Gordon, who is earning himself a pretty penny).
