Bulls with a big win. 99-90 Bulls 43% Magic 41% Howard 40, Deng 26, Rose 22, Boozer 16, Arenas 11 Bulls 54-40 in rebounding. Boozer 16, Howard 15. Rose had 12 assists, 6 rebounds. With the exception of C.J. and the fact that Korver's shot was a little off, I thought the bench played very well. Kurt Thomas, what he did tonight does not show up in the box score. Nice game!
Woooo! That was sweet! Tip of the cap to Thibs. Did a 180 (degree) from last game. Let Howard get his (OK, 40 is a lot, but still) and stayed home on the 3-point shooters. Great win and a great second half by my boy Luol.
Luol Deng with a beautiful game. And how about Asik as the defensive stopper? The Magic aren't the same team without Jameer Nelson, but hopefully Boozer is the difference maker and this is now a competitive rivalry.
Asik was the only player who was able to stop Howard in one on one situations. He made a couple of steals, and forced Howard into a number of wild shots -- really solid job. Asik almost instantaneously was whistled for two quick fouls so he didn't have a ton of time on the court (the refs also looked the other way and didn't whistle a couple of fouls when they realized he wasn't a stiff and was in foul trouble, to be fair). It was a solid effort. Omer also had one of those week sauce layup attempts that he could have dunked. The coaches have to get on him about that post haste, if it's not a strength issue that will come with time. As per Rose's shooting, Sex Panther, I feel like we must have watched two different games. I was shocked when I looked back at the boxscore and saw how poorly he had shot overall. He ended three or four Orlando runs with timely baskets or drives for fouls. It was a masterful game given how limited he was by his ulcers, which were clearly bothering him throughout. Really a Herculean effort. I think the reason Derrick's poor shooting wasn't apparent to me when watching the game is that he had a number -- maybe three or four -- of those shots where he draws the bigmen away from the hoop to challenge, leaving a Bulls big free to tip in the layup. Those are as good as passes, really. That was something I used to hate about Jalen Rose. His shot selection never took into account whether there were rebounders in position. Even when he was shooting brilliantly, the selection was not conducive to winning because it eliminated the possibility of second chance points. The only other thing to note was Kurt Thomas played the role of enforcer again. He has been invaluable in dishing out hits. There was a streak earlier this year when Dwight Howard, Shaq and Amare dished out cheap shots on Rose in a series of games trying to knock him off his play. I think Thomas has retaliated against all three. He leveled Felton at the end of the Knicks game; and Jason Richardson tonight. I don't remember off-hand who he took out in the Celtics game, but I have a recollection that it happened. Anyone, Bueler, Bueler, Bueler?
Couldn't agree more. The Bulls scored 7 points directly off Rose misses, including Boozer's key 4th quarter tip-in. As for Asik, he did a nice job on Howard despite the fact that the refs let Howard abuse him while calling ticky-tack stuff on Omer.
Asik and Thomas have stepped up so much in Jo's absence. It bodes well for playoff time. That +17 of Asik's in a game against Howard and the Magic, that says something. Don't know if you saw it, but Sam Smith's column says that KT's foul trouble was one of the keys of the game, because it forced Thib's to play Omer. He also mentions James Johnson's debut with 28 pts. in NBDL in the same paragraph, discussing how hard it is sometimes for the younger players to get Thib's trust.
Fair enough. But I can think of 5-6 instances where he shouldn't have shot that ball, and brought it to the inside. I understand he's trying to win the game and all that jazz, but he really shouldn't be shooting as much. Bulls fan or not. He's a great a passer who has tunnel vision at times.
Deng's entire second half was a thing of beauty at both ends of the floor. Quite possibly the best I have seen him play
