Chicago Bulls Blog

Small doesn't come up big for Bulls this time

You figured this "small ball" thing had to catch up to the Bulls at times, and it will continue to do so as it did here Friday with the Memphis Grizzlies jumping all over the Bulls, figuratively and literally, in a 103-96 victory.

The loss dropped the Bulls to 10-12 with a wakeup call to play the New Jersey Nets at home Saturday. While Friday was billed as a matchup of the two likely candidates for rookie of the year in the Bulls Derrick Rose (12 points and 11 assists) and the Grizzlies O.J. Mayo (14 points), Saturday's game features Rose and Devin Harris, the two point guards perhaps fighting it out for the last spot among the reserves for the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

And once again the Bulls will find themselves looking up. Not drastically in the standings to the 11-10 Nets, but to a front line of several seven footers, whom the Bulls have little counter for but to hit those jump shots and run the fast breaks.

"You cannot go small all the time," acknowledged Larry Hughes, who continued his hot streak shooting with 12 points off the bench and a pair of threes. "You have to have the paint. It's where the game is won, low post scoring and rebounding. When you go small, it's kind of tough to control the paint. You allow teams to get to the free throw line, get second chance points when you have to double a lot of times. It's tough to go completely small."

Though Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro doesn't seem to feel he has much choice with his "bigs" of Drew Gooden, Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray and Tyrus Thomas.

Gooden did have 10 points and 13 rebounds, his third straight double/double after two poor shooting games. But Gray, Noah and Thomas played bit parts as the Bulls reverted to those three-guard sets with Luol Deng or Andres Nocioni at power forward and Gooden at center down the stretch.

Leading early in the game by 14 after a sizzling first quarter shooting exhibition by Ben Gordon of 18 points with five threes, the Bulls pulled within 83-79 with about 10 minutes left on a Nocioni three. But little Mike Conley snuck in for a rebound, one of a career high 10, and Hakim Warrick hit a short bank shot. Nocioni missed and Rudy Gay knocked in an 18 footer, part of his season high 29. Gooden countered with a nice inside cut for a layup, but Darko Milicic—yes, Darko with season highs of 13 points and 11 rebounds—spun inside for a score. After Luol Deng got himself loose for a reverse along the baseline after a miss, Warrick turned into Dominique Wilkins, bouncing around for a layup off his own miss on three consecutive possessions, 12 points in the fourth quarter to help the Grizzlies pull away.

In all, the Grizzlies outscored the Bulls by a whopping 52-26 in the paint, and that was with the Grizzlies missing perhaps 10 layups.

"Give them some credit," said Del Negro. "Warrick hurt us. Gay hurt us. We didn't handle Milicic well in the post. We couldn't get good matchups against their lineups. I don't always prefer to play small. I felt we needed to go small and trick it up, but we couldn't handle their penetration. They were getting in the middle and breaking us down."

As we've heard before with this Bulls team: Live by the jump shot; die by the jump shot.

How it happened this time on defense with Gay leaping over Bulls like a young Dr. J was the difficulty you get in trying to squeeze through so often with small lineups. That said, I am not opposed to it with this group, though the question always remains if you give regular time to players like Thomas, Noah and Thabo Sefolosha, the latter finally getting six minutes after sitting out the last five games, do you end up with more production? Or do you run into quicker losses because they give you so little and your guards are your best scorers?

It looked that way as the Bulls built a 26-12 lead.

First Gordon and then Hughes were punishing and embarrassing Mayo, who couldn't stay with either and the Bulls kept picking on him to take that big lead.

But after leading 30-22 after one quarter, Gordon drew his third foul 35 seconds into the second quarter and sat down with 18 points.

"I was locked in and focused," said Gordon, who finished with 26. "After I got in foul trouble, I wasn't a big factor in the game. I kind of let my team down not being out there."

And give him this: You pick on his defense or ball handling, but when the guy is hitting his shot, there are few players in the NBA as deadly. You still need to score to win the game, and it would be difficult to see how the Bulls could score enough to win much with this roster and Gordon not playing.

I also enjoy Gordon's direct answers.

I asked him if he thought of asking Del Negro if he could stay in since he was hot.

"Yeah, but I knew he'd take me out anyway, so I didn't bring it up," said Gordon with a gentle smirk.

Actually, my favorite comic moment of the game was with Gooden checking in. He was standing in front of the scorers' table when one of the scorers said, "Dwight, can you sit down."

"You guys keep calling me Dwight," Gooden says. "It never changes."

So after the game I was standing with Gooden and asked him what that was about. He was a first round pick of the Grizzlies but traded a few months into his rookie season. He said everyone always got his first name wrong and called him after the infamous baseball pitcher. So as we're standing there, a local radio guy comes up and says, "Uh, Dwight, can I ask you a question."

"See, see," Gooden said. "I think it may be southern for Drew."

Anyway, the Bulls went south after Gordon went out, though not right away, leading 54-52 at halftime. The Bulls shot 53.8 percent in the first half with eight of their 54 points inside. Gordon, Hughes and Rose scored 48 of the Bulls 54 first half points. You knew that couldn't last.

From a tie at 66 with four minutes left in the third, the 8-15 Grizzlies went on a 15-4 run with Milicic and Marc Gasol scoring inside and Mayo and Gay hitting threes, and Warrick finished it off.

The Bulls tried playing zone on occasion, but didn't react well enough to contain penetration and were losing position for offensive rebounds. Given Memphis is a young team and young teams often cannot take advantage, the Bulls tried to front the post on Memphis' big guys, which required Gooden to come over and help behind. But too often that left a guard matched against Warrick or Gay and it was no contest as those guys were jumping over, throwing lobs and dunking in spectacular fashion, especially Gay, a stunning athlete.

Deng had 19 points and was as active as he could be gathering up loose balls and following misses. But he is in the unenviable position of playing against the most athletic players in the NBA at the small forward position and had huge problems trying to stay with Gay or Warrick.

"Gay and Warrick are as athletic as you'll find in the league," said Del Negro. "Their length definitely bothered us. We couldn't sustain anything after the first quarter and were playing catchup in the fourth."

Otherwise, it was a homecoming for Rose, who attended the University of Memphis and was tremendously popular here.

He was introduced as being from the U. of Memphis instead of from Chicago as he is introduced at the United Center and got a standing ovation from the Grizzlies largest crowd of the season.

"I have great fans," Rose said. "They came out and supported me and I love them for that."

Though the Grizzlies, one of the lowest drawing teams in the NBA, were aware as well and there seemed to be a little extra in their step.

“We knew what the people were coming for tonight, but we wanted to put a show on for the fans even though its Derrick’s homecoming," said Conley. "I thought we did a great job of not letting that get to us."

Rose's Memphis team was off playing at Georgetown, so they weren't in attendance, but Rose has become close with Mayo and the two talked. Rose said they stayed with one another in the summer in Los Angeles and Chicago and Rose said Mayo is his closest friend among the rookies.

They were matched up only occasionally, mostly on switches. But neither played a major role in the game, though it's perhaps more vital for Rose with the Bulls, especially when his teammates' shots stop going down. Still, Rose played more than 44 minutes.

"I didn't want to force up shots," said Rose. "That's not my type of game. I try to pass if guys are open and let someone else create and I can play off them.

"I felt like I was at home," Rose added of the appreciative crowd. "It felt good. It seemed like it was a Memphis game."

In more ways than the Bulls preferred.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

Did NBA trade deadline come early?

Well, it looks like Larry Hughes isn't going anywhere. And probably not Thabo Sefolosha, either, from his seat deep on the Bulls bench.

That seems to be the Bulls side of the three-team trade announced Wednesday that sends Memphis point guard Javaris Crittenton and New Orleans guard Mike James to the Washington Wizards. The Hornets get Wizards guard Antonio Daniels and a conditional second round pick and the Grizzlies, whom the Bulls visit Friday, get back their conditional first round pick from the Wizards in the deal for Joan Carlos Navarro, who since has returned to play in Europe. To make room, the Wizards released former Illini guard Dee Brown.

But that wasn't all Wednesday as the Suns and Bobcats engaged in an intriguing deal sending Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley to Phoenix for Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Sean Singletary.

Is it February and trading deadline already?

It's a bold move for the lately stagnant Suns and suggests any talk about trading the supposedly unhappy Amare Stoudemire is just that. It’s hardly likely the Suns would add the athletic Richardson, signed through 2011, and then want to lose Stoudemire. Rather, a lineup that includes Steve Nash, Richardson and Stoudemire looks like an impressive improvement for the Suns as Richardson is averaging 18.7 points and shooting 46 percent on threes.

The Bobcats had been trying for some time to move Gerald Wallace, but apparently despairing in that made this move for the veteran Bell, a hard nosed player of the kind admired by coach Larry Brown, and Diaw, presumably to provide an offensive counter to Emeka Okafor.

It's a further breakup of the high scoring Suns teams of recent vintage, but potentially provides an exciting balance as the team again is looking to open the game more for scoring.

Meanwhile, for Washington its deal is a good short term fix as their backcourt has been unproductive with Gilbert Arenas out. Crittenton had been behind Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry at Memphis, and has possibilities.

I'd thought he'd be a good pickup for the Bulls to relieve Derrick Rose, but Memphis had been holding out for a first round draft pick. The Bulls brought in Lindsey Hunter for that purpose, but he's pretty much stopped playing with DNP's the last three games and a total of 10 minutes the previous two games. In that stretch, Rose has averaged 40.6 minutes per game.

Though the main possibility seemed to be Hughes.

I didn't hear that there had been any talks lately. But before Hughes was hurt in training camp, the Bulls were active in talks with the Wizards in several multiteam scenarios involving Hughes. The Wizards were searching for backcourt help and had an interest in Hughes. Some of the possibilities involved Wizards big men like Etan Thomas and Oleksiy Pecherov as well as Daniels and possibilities involving the Clippers' Chris Kaman. Perhaps that remains a possibility, though the Clippers continue to insist they are not dealing Kaman, who remains out injured probably through December.

In the meantime, Hughes has played some of his best ball in years.

Hughes is averaging 13.2 points this season and shooting 44.6 percent from the field, 46.9 percent on threes and 86.2 percent on free throws, the shooting numbers all by far career bests.

Hughes' reputation long has been a game shooter who doesn't like to practice shooting. Bulls coaches say that's not the case now and Hughes has worked rigorously on his shooting.

In the last five games, Hughes is averaging 15.6 points in 26.8 minutes off the bench. He is shooting 51.9 percent from the field and an impressive 63.6 percent on threes, 14 of 22. He's also averaging 1.8 steals per game in that time. And the Bulls are undefeated this season at 5-0 when Hughes scores at least 16 points in a game, as he did Tuesday in the win over the Knicks.

It perhaps is an ideal showcase period if the Bulls want to deal Hughes, but also difficult if he's making such an impact on success. Though his play also figures to further limit Sefolosha's chances to play. Sefolosha hasn't played in the last five games and in six of the last seven with three minutes in the one game he's played since before Thanksgiving.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

Bulls walk off with a win as Jazz exclaim 'Oh Guard'

Now that was positively Jordanesque. No, not Larry Hughes' 22 footer as time ran out to give the Bulls a 101-100 victory over the Utah Jazz. Though it was a terrific shot and better recognition and good fortune as Hughes recovered Derrick Rose's miss off the back iron, pump faked C.J. Miles and nestled a win into the basket.

“I’ve never had a walk off," Hughes said. "That’s no time on the clock, doesn’t give the other team another chance. I’ve hit some game winners, but never without any time on the clock."

But, hey, we've got to get past the Michael Jordan comparisons for Rose. There hasn't been another yet and I still don't see one here or coming along.

So perhaps that last three minutes for Rose was more Bird-like or Kobeesque or reminiscent of Oscar or West or Barry or Magic.

The kid took the ball down the stretch, like he did in last Friday's win at Golden State when he scored the team's last four field goals and five of the last seven on the way Monday to a team high 25 points and nine assists, and made just about every play: Drive past Mehmet Okur, who led the Jazz with 26, to make it 93-92 Bulls. Drive from the top (I think the Bulls ran the same play 18 straight times, a high pick and roll) and foul for two free throws and Bulls lead of 95-94. Drive and scoop to put the Bulls back up 97-96. Drive across lane and pushing one in from nine feet as he's slipping crossing the lane to put the Bulls back up again 99-98.

No, the Bulls didn't stop the Jazz, even though they were missing Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring. The Bulls don't stop much of anyone anymore, especially on this Western Conference trip in which the five opponents are shooting a combined 50 percent with the Lakers 47 percent being the lowest. The Bulls have become one of the league's poorest defensive units, 16th in opponents' field goals and 24th in points yielded.

But that's not who they are anymore. They are an open the court, drive the ball and try to get the occasional runout, find Rose team. They're third in the league in shooting free throws at more than 80 percent, easily the best in franchise history. If you are going to play the game the Bulls do now, mostly small with more attacking thanks to Rose, you better make the free throws, and they are this time.

See, no one could coach that before Vinny Del Negro.

Okur and Kirilenko had dunked previously, and when Okur missed a 20 footer and Miles put the ball in after a rebound from Ronnie Brewer with 11 seconds left for a 100-99 lead, it looked over. The Bulls didn't call time out, but this time it wasn't a rerun of that loss in Orlando earlier this month when Del Negro skipped the time out and Ben Gordon ended up with a forced attempt into Dwight Howard.

This time, as he had been all fourth quarter, Rose drove into the middle after scoring eight straight, but his shot hit back rim and came to Hughes, who finished with 16 points on an efficient 10 shots. Hughes, as we know, usually isn't the most reliable shooter. But he'd made two of three threes in this game, and we know he'll shoot the ball. Sometimes it looks great, and this time it was.

“I just knew I had to get it up, got some space, and was able to get a good enough look to knock it down," said Hughes, noting clock malfunctions in the arena all game kept players guessing on time. "It felt pretty good. I definitely gave it a chance. I wasn’t going to shoot it short."

Still, it was another breathtaking finish thanks to Rose, who in both wins certainly bailed out the team and had his share of highlight moments, like his full court drive through every Jazz defender to close the first half and give the Bulls a 53-45 edge.

Now, a 2-3 mark on this trip looks pretty good with a decent chance to get one of the next two in San Antonio Wednesday with Tony Parker out and Manu Ginobili just returning and Sunday in Philadelphia as the 76ers are just 7-7 after losing to lowly Charlotte Monday.

Give Del Negro some credit here.

No, it doesn't appear he's going to match strategy with Hubie Brown or Alex Hannum. But his player-friendly ways seem to be something of a balm for this Bulls team that could have exploded. They're 7-8 with Kirk Hinrich out three months and Luol Deng just back Monday, but clearly not ready to play as he moved stiffly around the court for two points in 16 ugly minutes.

"It’s a terrific win for us," said Del Negro. "Our guys hung in there. Derrick (Rose) made plays down the stretch. I thought our bench in the second half really helped us a lot, gave us a big boost so our stars could get some rest. But it was just an overall really good team effort. Everybody contributed, did their role and we made plays. Both teams were going back and forth at the end. We got the last shot, and Larry (Hughes) was in the right spot and pulled up and hit it. We were just trying to get Derrick in isolations and penetration. He was making plays."

They got a wild night from Andres Nocioni, who was being beaten on defense and picking off his own teammates when the Jazz hit the Bulls with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 87 with 3:47 left. Then Nocioni came out of the timeout with a jumper and frustrated Paul Millsap, whom he'd been pounding on as Millsap had 21 points and 10 rebounds, into a foul and made both free throws. Millsap is the Jazz' best interior defender, and it was his fifth and he was soon to foul out before Rose made three more successful assaults on the basket.

The Bulls don't have much inside presence, though Aaron Gray had another nice stretch, this time for about the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter as among his eight points was a back to back baby hook and tip in and a nasty put back when he seemed to push Okur out of bounds without a call as the Bulls took an 85-79 lead with about six minutes left.

He had been running that high screen roll every play with Rose, though wore out soon after that score with a lazy pass out of bounds for a turnover and was replaced by Drew Gooden. Gooden had another solid offensive effort with 18 points and six rebounds, though he is a little small to fight off the big size inside. Gooden has made up with it on this trip with a nice pop out game that bothered the Jazz' interior players.

The Bulls finally made the adjustment of putting someone who could make a shot in that pick and roll or pick and pop play instead of Joakim Noah or Tyrus Thomas, who often run out to set those screens. Why? No one is passing to them.

Noah did show some exceptional energy running out to congratulate Hughes as his winner went in with Hughes offering, as usual, little expression.

But it was the most animated the often morose Bulls bench has been in some time.

Noah had six points and seven rebounds, four offensive, in 16 minutes mostly in the first half as he again wound down quickly and signaled to the bench with three minutes left in the first quarter to get him out of the game. And apparently to emphasize that hauled up a wild shot after he'd raised his hand to be excused.

Meanwhile, it seems as if Rose has one of those super charged nickel hydrogen batteries that power the space stations.

The kid just keeps going and going, offering little or no expression, and as the game grows tighter and more demanding, he is willing to—heck, wants to, demands to—take the ball and the responsibility.

It really is the most rare trait in sports.

Guys like Jordan and Tiger Woods and Reggie Jackson and Kobe and Bird and Tom Brady and Joe Montana have that. There were always guys around who could jump higher and shoot better and throw farther and hit a ball farther and straighter. But they were the ones who could do it when it was needed most and when everyone was watching to see if they would fail. They did, but they always came back and wanted it again because they were sure the miss was an aberration.

It seems like that with Rose, who with a seeming nonchalance simply takes over. There's no fuss or braggadocio, just a man going to work. Ben Gordon will try to do that, but he doesn't have the athletic moves or that first step quickness and jumping ability like Rose, who can get to the basket seemingly anytime he wants and past multiple defenders.

“We needed that win and we didn’t care how we got it," offered Rose casually, as usual. "We just wanted to come out of here with just a victory. (I) missed the shot and Larry gathered it and he’s been in this situation before and he just shot the ball. We left on a good note and this won’t do nothing but help us.”

This was a Jerry Sloan team, after all. And while it was devastated with injuries and down its two best players, it's always a tough team and was 9-5 without a loss this season at home.

The Bulls got the Jazz into their game most of the time, the Jazz falling into more individual play and jump shots as the Bulls pushed the pace. The Jazz got little resistance at the basket and shot 51.4 percent and ran out on 19 Bulls turnovers for a 21-4 fast break margin. The Jazz did have 30 assists on 43 field goals, far better than the Bulls, who still shoot too many individual jumpers. The Jazz generally is disciplined and forceful, but they could not find space in front of Rose.

“We gave them too many opportunities," lamented Sloan. "That last shot that they made, we kind of fell asleep a little bit, they came up with the offensive rebound and buried us. There are always a million things you can think of, but the bottom line is they beat us at the last second. It just takes one play to beat you.”

Good win. Great last shot. Remarkable young player.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

In the Rockies and spending too much time admiring the view

 

This one was a lot better than the final score, 114-101 Denver Nuggets over the Bulls.

 

I know, I know. That doesn't matter much as the Bulls now are 1-3 on this Western Conference so called circus trip, and 6-8 on the season.

 

It's too bad because this is a Denver team that will be pushing just to make the playoffs in the West despite now being 8-2 since the trade for Chauncey Billups. Billups was one of three Nuggets with 21 points while Kenyon Martin was a ridiculous 10 of 10 shooting with 26 points.

 

Sometimes it happens. He hit a lot of jumpers and you want him to take those.

 

Carmelo Anthony also had 21 points in a good all around effort with 21 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Though you don't see the joy in Anthony's game much any more and you wonder how long before he snaps. Once, he was dueling with LeBron James, the Nos. 1 and 3 picks in the 2003 draft, supposedly the next great NBA rivalry, something of a second coming of Magic and Bird. But while James has been to the Finals and is heading to an MVP this season and perhaps the greatest bidding war the NBA ever has seen, Anthony is stuck on a competitive, if not special team, 4-20 in the playoffs with five first round exits and cutting back payroll and going nowhere with that roster.

 

Anthony wasn't a major factor in Sunday's game, at least until the Nuggets with about six minutes left stole a game the Bulls looked like they had and would have deserved.

 

They were better and smarter than the Nuggets for most of the game.

 

"Chicago is going to be an interesting team this year," said Nuggets coach George Karl.  "They're different. They play small, and they play so many pick-and-rolls you get tired of covering them.  That Rose kid is going to be special; Chicago is going to get better as the year goes on."

 

They'd like to think so, given Luol Deng is day-to-day and Kirk Hinrich is out until February.

 

I liked the way coach Vinny Del Negro moved the Bulls in and out of the zone, especially late in the third quarter when the Bulls went on a 13-5 run to take a six-point lead while Denver stood around and fired long jumpers.

 

It was an Aaron Gray highlight film at the time, and we don't even imagine that.

 

Denver isn't particularly big, and though I often advocate small ball with this Bulls team, I thought in this game the Bulls were having their way on the boards with Gray and especially Joakim Noah, who was more active and effective than usual with nine rebounds in 19 minutes. But Del Negro stayed small, and I thought it hurt this time down the end, though mostly because the "small" guys were losing sight of penetration and help down the stretch and the Bulls were outscored 31-16 in the fourth.

 

Tired because of the altitude?

 

"(Altitude) That's all in your head," said Drew Gooden. "I remember coming here in college and playing Colorado and Roy Williams was saying, 'It's all in your head, it's a bunch of bull crap at altitude and if you are feeling it, it will go away.' I felt fine and I know the majority of the guys on the team felt fine tonight.  (What happened in final run) I think we kind of got rattled and they got a lot of easy baskets.  Defensively we gave up too many easy baskets down the stretch.  We have to get stops in the crunch time; especially if we are going to turn the ball over we have to get more stops."   

 

Exactly. If it were so tough to play in Denver, perhaps the Nuggets would have won a playoff series in the last 14 years.

 

I thought Del Negro made a mistake early in the game apparently worrying about thin air too much as he substituted liberally in the first quarter to give guys rest. I think that creates an excuse for players and puts in their mind they may tire. Noah was very good to start, but was gone for Gray about five minutes in, and I thought the bench emptying first quarter with 10 players playing put the Bulls in an unnecessary 27-18 hole after one.

 

Del Negro pretty much went back to a regular rotation after that and didn't play Tyrus Thomas and not much of Thabo Sefolosha, though Larry Hughes was firing erratically again and was one of six on threes.

 

It reminded me of a Cleveland fan's web site for the career 29 percent three-point shooter: "Hey Larry Hughes. Stop taking so many bad shots."

 

During that third quarter run, meanwhile, Gray put back a Ben Gordon miss and was fouled and even made a clever drop step move to fake Renaldo Balkman for another three-point play.

 

Gordon had it going with 28 points, five of seven threes and all nine of his free throws, and when he dropped consecutive pull up threes with about seven minutes left to make it 96-92, it looked like the Bulls second chance to get a game in Denver since 1998.

 

Denver began forcing the ball inside with Gray drawing his fifth and Noah not getting back in the game. I was surprised to see Lindsey Hunter in so long and playing alongside Rose in the fourth quarter, though when Hunter left the Bulls only were down 102-99. Hughes came in and fired up those two misses after a quick hook earlier in then fourth when he got his fifth foul.

 

Gooden, with 21 points and seven rebounds, was sharp popping out and shooting, but with three guards, Andres Nocioni and Gooden, the Bulls were wheezing. The Nuggets would fail to score on four straight attacks of the basket while Gordon hit those threes, and the Bulls looked in good shape.

 

With six minutes left and the Bulls leading 99-96 after a Lindsey Hunter three, the defense went brain dead.

 

Anthony hit a three outside the sagging zone for a 100-99 Denver lead, and then Anthony came cutting down the lane for a slam as both Hunter and Nocioni let him go by untouched. Hughes then went singular with a quick drive and three, both of which missed, while Billups lost Rose on a screen and Hughes didn't roll into cover and allowed Billups to score a layup untouched.

 

Martin then slammed after Gordon lost the ball on top of the floor making a dribble move between his legs and Martin was fouled by a late arriving Gooden.

 

So 12-0 run in two minutes, and suddenly it's 109-99 Denver with 2:51 left and the game effectively is over.

 

After Gooden knocked down a jumper, the Bulls were done. The Nuggets grabbed two misses to get an unlikely Martin three and that was it, 18-2 to end the game for Denver when the Bulls should have had a better result.

 

"We had a lot of mismatches out there," said Gordon, though that will be the story of every game for this small Bulls team.  "I think we looked a little confused on who was covering who since we normally don't cover those types of guys.  They got a lot of easy baskets, too many dunks in the paint.  On the other end we didn't make sharp plays and it bit us in the butt.  I think defensively it was our big problem: a lot of points in the paint (50-32), uncontested shots and the easy lay-ups really hurt us (29-9 Denver on fast breaks).

 

Rose had a solid line with 15 points and six assists, though four turnovers. But you wonder if he is getting tired, of the road, of the altitude and of the bouncing around he's taking from opponents that is inevitable with all the national attention he is getting.

 

 Despite having Hunter, Rose played 44 minutes, the most on both teams, and is averaging 37.5 per game, 15th in the league and going up as it's 39.1 per game this month and six of the last nine games at least 40 minutes.

 

 So you wonder about the lack of aggressiveness Rose showed against the Nuggets despite a few of his specialty highlight drives. In the third quarter, he scored on a fabulous drive faking left and then right to baffle Anthony and later in the quarter split a double team and scored, though he seemed to carry the ball-hey, at least the Bulls finally have a guy who can do the Iverson-Wade carry.

 

 But Denver's strategy was to trap Rose to make him give up the ball, and I thought he did so much too quickly. Denver trapped off the pick and roll, sending two players with him, and the Bulls too often had non scorers setting the screen, like Noah. So the ball remained on the perimeter. But often when Rose brought the ball across, Denver would show a light trap with the big man coming out and Rose would pass it cross court quickly. Usually, the Denver big man sank back quickly, and I'd like to have seen Rose attack that double, especially with Martin often coming out, though playing 44 minutes that probably was asking too much.

 

 That's the problem. He's so good we forget he's a kid and just learning.

 

I commend Del Negro and the players for hustling efforts after the miserable start in Los Angeles and Portland. Next time if they can just finish.

 

"We weren't as crisp at the end there, but the guys played hard again and gave ourselves an opportunity," said Del Negro.  "We just weren't able to convert down the stretch.  They were switching and trapping and doing different things and we were going back man-to-man and zone and trying to make some things ourselves. But they were posting Carmelo and we had a couple of doubles at times and they got some easy baskets underneath on us.  They are a big athletic team up front and we made some mistakes down the stretch.  Offensively we got a little stagnant and with their traps and stuff we got to do a better job of moving the basketball."

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

Going small gets Bulls a big win at Golden State

I'm glad coach Vinny took my advice about playing small and having five guys out there who could make an impact against the Golden State Warriors Friday. Now on to the economy and health care.

I know, I know. The Warriors aren't your everyday NBA team to go inside/outside, try to dominate you on the boards and play physically. They won't win a championship and a Nelson team never really has gotten close. Though he hasn't exactly had Michael, Magic, Larry, Kareem, Tim, Shaq or Kobe. What makes Nelson special as a coach and his teams always competitive is that he uses what he has and tries to put them in the best position to succeed no matter what anyone thinks.

So everyone thinks you need a seven footer at center and more size next to him and a big man post presence.

If you don't have it, you don't keep putting big people in there who don't, won't or can't impact the game.

The Bulls finally didn't Friday, and it resulted in a nice 115-110 victory over the Warriors.

"I thought the Bulls did a good job, matched up with us at the beginning of the game," said Warriors coach Don Nelson. "We did a marvelous job the first half with (Derrick) Rose and he figured it out in the second half and showed why he’s the number one pick in the draft. We’re big Rose fans here, love to watch him play, love to watch him as he gets better in games. Wow. Second half he put on a show. An incredibly talented point guard. He’s right up there with the best of them, in a short period of time”

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro finally stuck with the players who could contribute the most, especially Rose, who was absolutely brilliant and took over the game until a potentially career threatening hip bruise (anytime he falls down we fear that) with just over a minute left and the Bulls leading 111-106. It doesn't appear to be that serious as Rose left the court with an ice pack held to his rib cage after being kicked by Corey Maggette on a drive.

“I should be alright, it stung a little bit at that time, but I am better now," Rose told reporters after the game and said he'd play Sunday in Denver.

Del Negro said Rose could have returned if necessary, though Del Negro has more faith than I do as the Warriors looked sure to cut it to one with 10.3 seconds left before impressive looking rookie Anthony Randolph missed on a wide open drive that should have been a dunk.

"We really needed this one tonight," said Rose, who had 25 points on 12 of 19 shooting with five assists but five turnovers, most early. "We thought that we could come in here and compete against them, and that is what we did. I have to shoot, and that is what I did. I stopped thinking about stuff and started reacting. I know I can hit the shots they were giving me. My teammates want me to shoot the ball, and that is what I did.”

So the Bulls, 6-7, held on and made a nice statement coming back from their 375-point loss in Portland Wednesday. C'mon, it felt like that, didn't it?

The Bulls played hard, harder than the Warriors, who kept talking about the lift they'll get from Friday's trade for Jamal Crawford. We'll keep quiet about that and let them find out. If Nelson thinks they don't defend now…

The Bulls shot 51.1 percent—yes it helps when the shots from a jump shooting team go in—scored a season high in points, and were led by one time Warrior Larry Hughes with 26 points and five of five three pointers.

But perhaps what was most encouraging was their competition level after the brutal loss in Portland and Del Negro sticking with his best athletes and performers. Joakim Noah didn't play, and it's a game he should have against Andris Biedrins. But perhaps it was a message to finally get in shape. Aaron Gray didn't play, and it was too quick a game for him. Tyrus Thomas was in occasionally, and mostly laid off his jump shot with three shots and seven points in 17 minutes.

"For us to bounce back the way we did after last couple of games I’m real happy for the guys," said Del Negro.

Luol Deng was out again with his sore hamstring, and Thabo Sefolosha with a dozen points got the start along with Rose, Ben Gordon, Hughes and Drew Gooden. In effect, a four-guard, sort-of-a-center lineup that matches what Golden State does. The Bulls were better at that game this time.

Yes, the Lakers and Portland are big, and you probably don't get away with it against Yao Ming. But there aren't that many dominant big men in the NBA these days, especially in the East, and Gooden does a reasonably good job keeping big guys off balance, as he did earlier this season against Dwight Howard and Amar'e Stoudemire before hurting his ankle.

Gooden, a native of Oakland, was terrific with 18 points and 16 rebounds, eight offensive in an active performance.

“We just wanted to win," said Gooden. "We didn’t want two bad losses on this road trip. We figured that this is a must win tonight. Even though we made a lot of mistakes, we are on the road, and we have to understand to value the basketball (17 turnovers, 10 from Rose and Gordon combined, four from Rose in his ugly first half), and take good shots. Derrick Rose was a big key factor in this game tonight. We can’t exclude him. He was the one who picked us up in the second half after having a bad first half, and went out there and got a victory for us.”

Translation: Give the kid the ball and don't freeze him out. Stop taking those quick shots and use a screen on occasion. Perhaps we should have some more weak side action on offense. Work at it and you never know what will happen. Drew Gooden, leader? Sorry, not with that facial hair.

But Denver, the next opponent on this trip, won't beat you going big and Utah's biggest player, Mehmet Okur, plays mostly outside and Carlos Boozer is about the size of Gooden and an awful defender. Come to play and it makes up for all kinds of deficits. The 76ers are bigger. Fine. Let them go to Samuel Dalembert all they want. I'd have Ben Gordon guard him. Nothing messes up an offense, I believe, like being sucked into matchups you don't prefer but appear to favor you. It's always been one of Nelson's great strengths.

Nelson's weakness Friday, or at least his team's, was he didn't have the best player on the floor.

That was Rose, though certainly not in the first half when you had to be pulling for Del Negro to get Rose off the floor. It was an awful performance to begin, though the Bulls remained in the shootout with the Warriors thanks to the shooting of Hughes and Sefolosha.

So who had them in the pregame pool for best first half?

 Sefolosha also did a nice job defending in a game in which it wasn't a high priority, knocking some balls loose to get the Bulls on the break. The Warriors were good in the first half trapping Rose and collapsing on him and also sending help on Gordon with long armed players Gordon couldn't see past. Handling the ball on the top of the floor in the last six minutes of the second quarter, Gordon was a basket case in dribbling off his foot out of bounds against no pressure, going behind his back and losing the ball.

Lindsey Hunter actually started the second quarter and scored some big baskets as Rose forced himself into defenders for offensive fouls and committed some bad fouls while also being blown by while trying to play defense. Perimeter defense has been Rose's one issue this season. It's as ordinary as he's looked this season.

That would change dramatically, as we've come to expect.

By the way, do you have to be out of basketball five years to get into the Hall of Fame or can they put you in during your rookie season. Sometimes we make it sound that way.

 But this time there was Hughes with weak side help on defense and Gooden flying around the court. The Bulls went into the second half trailing 59-57 after a Hunter three. Yes, Lindsey Hunter with 10 points.

It was your classic back-and-forth game, which makes for nice entertainment, and also suggests two teams, which they are, that merely hope to make the playoffs and have about the same levels of talent.

Rose came out after that one of three shooting first half with a hard drive for a three-point play followed by a pullup jumper. Sefolosha showed a nice show-and-go with the ball, Hughes, which he can do though not consistently, was firing in three balls after coming into the game with one this season, and after a Warriors turnover with the Bulls up 77-76, Rose missed on a run out but Gordon and Hughes were running as well while the Warriors weren't and Gordon got the easy basket.

That kind of play was a vast departure from the games against the Lakers and Trailblazers.

The Warriors put Gordon in pick-and-rolls three straight times and Stephen Jackson scored six straight in the kind of mismatches you can get caught in with small lineups. But I'm glad Del Negro didn't cave in and resort to bigger players who haven't scored or played much defense this season, but basically just been tall.

Rose had 11 in the third quarter, and was just beginning. There'd be another dozen in the fourth.

His fourth quarter was a thing of beauty.

The Warriors got a nice lift from Randolph, whom some scouts said before the draft could end up one of the top three rookies of this class within five years. He's an impressively versatile athlete who had a brilliant block on a Hughes breakaway that looked like it would cinch the game with 1:15 left and the Bulls ahead by five as Randolph also got Rose earlier in the game.

But there was no denying Rose late. Jackson, with 32 but eight of the Warriors 15 turnovers trying to run an offense with no true point guard playing, and Maggette with 24, began to cool off and the immortal Anthony Morrow, who had 62 in his first two pro starts from nowhere, was just two of nine. The Bulls had the real kid.

Rose hit a pull up for a 98-93 lead after a clever lefty drive by Hunter and then a second three by Hunter, of all things, as Hunter was paired with Rose the first part of the fourth quarter. Small was big this time.

Rose's drive through three Warriors and slam dunk with about five minutes left was the oooh and aaah of the game. Yeah, the Bulls still shot too many times without much movement as Hughes missed badly on a jumper with the Bulls ahead 105-100, but then Rose took the ball left off a screen and hit a jumper from the elbow and kept the Bulls up by five a few minutes later going left again for a pull up and then with a driving bank shot as Rose made the Bulls last four baskets and even showed a rare puckish side with a finger to his lips as he was a crowd silencer.

“Rose is good.  Oh man," said Jackson.  "For a young guy at that age, a rookie to come in here and take over that game like that, regardless of who he’s playing, that’s real impressive.  He didn’t buckle under pressure. He stayed solid.  I’m definitely a Derrick Rose fan now.  I will have one of his jersey’s up in my house.”

Rose went down with 1:13 left, but Randolph missed that finger rolling potential slam and the Bulls hit free throws to walk away with their heads up this time.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

Bulls bag first road win and Rose is spectacular

Entered the arena here in Oakland..the buzz about the Knicks in 2010—enough—enough!  I can't wait until 2011 !!!!!

The Bulls in the win column on the road...wow what a ballgame. How good is Derrick Rose? He was spectacular in the second half...including a monster dunk in the fourth quarter. Vinny Del Negro with a tight eight man rotation matching Golden State's small ball lineup.

Five starters in double figures..Gooden with a double-double. Sefolosha got it going early.  Hughes with five triples (26pts). Lindsey Hunter with ten off the bench.  Rose is sensational. No hype-just the plain truth. He is awesome.  He is worth the price of admission I love this kid. He's humble and poised and respects everyone.

Hawks over the Bobcats--Joe Johnson with 30-whatever.

The undermanned Knicks lost to the Bucks.

Another game-another loss for the Thunder.

Another game-another win for the Lakers. Kobe  could repeat as MVP

Portland with  yet another blowout win by 21 over the Kings. Sac rookie Jason Thompson with an impressive double-double.

Are you kidding me? The Spurs with 119 points on the Jazz. My man Roger Mason with 29-class act. He's off  to a terrific start..

Here come the Mavs. Dirk with  a 25 and 10 game as they took care of Memphis.

KG returned to Minnesota..so much for the T-Wolves on a feel good Friday night...no chance. Celtics win.

Just a wild, wild ballgame in Toronto. Bosh went crazy-Calderon-former Raptor Vince Carter went off.

In OT  the Nets beat the Raps  Carter with a 39 points including the game winning dunk as time expired.

Bosh with another incredible game..over 40 for the superstar.  ESPN's Jalen Rose  projects Bosh and LeBron together in NY in 2010......

The Clippers found another way to lose a game. The 76ers  at crunch time rallied behind Elton Brand ( take that LA!)---

For those of you counting..the Wizards are now 1-9 after losing at home to Houston.

Dwight Howard -don;t take him for granted what he does on a nightly basis-24 points 17 rebounds in Orlando's win over Indiana

Thanks for reading. E-mail me at cswirsky@bulls.com

It's on to Denver! Word just in.....hopefully somone in blog world will reach P.J. Carlesimo and Paul Westhead and extend my sincere best wishes after they lost their jobs Saturday. The Thunder now 1-12 and this is the cruel but real world of pro sports. You have to win. Simple as that.

Bulls play Standins for Lakers Show

Did you ever see one of those movies where there's a giant and a little guy and the little guy wants to fight? So the giant puts his open palm against the little guy's forehead and the little guy starts wind milling punches and doesn't hit anything because he can't reach the giant.

That, worst of all, was the story of Tuesday's Lakers not-as-close-as-the-final-score 116-109 win over the Bulls in Los Angeles Tuesday.

The Lakers didn't seem to take Tuesday's game very seriously. Phil Jackson even yanked Kobe Bryant after a mocking playground type play with the Lakers ahead 79-65 in the third quarter. Bryant got into the open court ahead of everyone on a turnover and stopped to throw back for a lob to Trevor Ariza. It went awry, but Bryant gathered it in and stepped back to the three-point line and hit the shot.

Bryant barely played in the fourth quarter, coming in for the first time with under four minutes left as Lakers coach Phil Jackson used primarily reserves down the stretch. Bryant played just 31 minutes and had eight of his 21 points in the first half and didn't score until almost midway through the second quarter.

Then Bryant broke open a five-point game coming out after halftime.

It went something like this: Luol Deng miss, Kobe jumper. Derrick Rose miss, Kobe three. Ben Gordon miss, Andrew Bynum dunk after several Lakers' offensive rebounds. Joakim Noah putback, Kobe jumper. Rose blocked by Bynum, Pau Gasol running layup on a pass from Kobe.

That made it 73-58 Lakers with the Bulls into a timeout less than three minutes into the second half, and though the Bulls battled back behind some brilliant Rose drives, a nice hesitation floater shortly thereafter and a twisting drive through Bynum and Gasol, the Lakers size and the Bulls' sloppy and too often fearful play guaranteed a loss.

“They got too many easy baskets and took us out of everything we wanted to run offensively by taking away our first option," said Drew Gooden. "They were usually playing good ‘D’ and pressuring the ball. They did a tremendous job defensively on us tonight."

Chris Webber on the NBA-TV broadcast made a nice comparison with Rose to Rod Strickland, the slippery guard from DePaul who was a wizard in getting to the basket. But Strickland didn't shoot even as well as Rose does now, and Rose has more the athletic ability of Darrell Griffith or Dwyane Wade going to the basket.

I was a bit surprised that Bryant didn't take any defensive turns on Rose to test him out, though Bryant is smart. With Rose's young legs, he may have made Bryant look bad.

I also was surprised we didn't see more of Thabo Sefolosha, who, predictably, has fallen out of the rotation with the return of Larry Hughes. Hughes had six points and almost 19 minutes, and the guard issue that didn't materialize with Kirk Hinrich and Hughes hurt could be an issue now if it forces Sefolosha to the bench. It's clear Hughes is not in the Bulls long term future, so you figure the Bulls need to get a better idea what Sefolosha can do and how he fits with Rose, if at all.

Sefolosha didn't enter Tuesday's game until 2:29 was left and the Bulls were down 14 and Rose going out, the official end these days of Bulls games.

Now, the Bulls head into Portland Wednesday, and, what do you know, Greg Oden is looking like he can play. It's the 2007 No. 1 pick against the 2008 No. 1 pick.

Oden had 22 points and 10 rebounds Tuesday in easily his best game as a pro through the Trailblazers lost to the Warriors, and it will be another game that tests the Bulls smaller, mostly skinny front line with Portland also playing LaMarcus Aldridge. You'd expect Gray to get more time against Oden, who is settling in as a defensive player and rim rocking dunker.

"This is a team that's relatively thin inside," Jackson said of the Bulls after Tuesday's game.

Hey, Phil, can you spare a post player. You've got four or five.

You also wonder how much the Bulls will get out of Drew Gooden, who had nine points in the first four minutes and didn't score again. He's battling a sore ankle which he aggravated some before leaving Chicago, and there's also questions about Luol Deng after he was slowed with leg problems in the game against the Lakers.

It was a brutal—and probably unfair—night for Deng in many ways. He had just nine points and three turnovers and wasn't able to do anything much in having to guard Kobe Bryant, who seemed to be able to score whenever he felt like. Though that would be hardly unique. Ask the Raptors after giving up those 81 points a few years back. Deng also was being looked at frequently by trainer Fred Tedeschi after coming up lame at shootaround earlier. But Deng came in for his worst beating from the NBA-TV studio crew of Ahmad Rashad, Gary Payton and Chris Webber.

After the game, Rashad, who generally is the most positive of broadcasters, piled on the hurting Deng. He introduced the show as saying they were going to see if they could find Luol Deng. When they came back. Payton said he might find Deng in his pocket, a reference to Deng playing so small or invisible.

Discussing the game at halftime when the Bulls still were in it, Payton and Webber were equally tough on Deng. Payton declared: "Deng hasn't showed up and I don't think he's going to show up this year." Webber said Deng was one of those players who did nothing in the offseason to improve his game. NBA-TV was taken over this season by TNT and they're apparently trying to create another Ernie Johnson-Kenny Smith-Charles Barkley trio, and while the group was auditioning, it was Deng mostly being victimized.

“We’ve got a lot of things to improve on but we’ve got to keep on playing and try to keep on getting better," Deng told reporters afterward. "Eleven games (5-6) and we’ve just got to keep playing.”

Perhaps what was most galling—other than a gruesome 21 turnovers—was the deference paid to Bryant. When he decided to begin scoring in the second quarter, Bryant drove the middle, one time high stepping for a finger roll as Bulls defenders—to use the term generously—stepped aside like he was some form of royalty. Yes, Bryant is something of the king of the NBA now, apologies to LeBron James, but it was time for someone, anyone, to knock him on his butt and at least announce the Bulls were in the building.

Just like my old buddy Norm Van Lier was likely saying.

"I thought we did a decent job of that tonight, especially in the first half," said Gordon. "You see how great his is, though, when he came out in the second half and controlled the tempo of the game.”

Rose, as expected, was in the building and opening some eyes even in Los Angeles with 25 points and nine assists and though Gordon had 23, it came with six of 22 shooting as the Lakers gave him trouble with their size. They pretty much left Fisher on Rose with the occasional trap, but like with any great players, it's tough to keep the ball out of his hands for too long. But the Lakers constantly had Gordon in mismatches with Gordon forced, at times, to guard Vladimir Radmanovic or Bryant.

There were some good moments, though.

Aaron Gray did a nice job in the post with a season best output of 11 points and five rebounds. Though Gasol came out flying with 14 of the Lakers' first 18 points and ended with 34, the Lakers huge front line is not all that mobile and Gray was able to maneuver for position and some put backs.

It wasn't a very good night once again for starting center Noah, who was in foul trouble almost immediately as he was being torched by Gasol, and later was yanked after he was beaten down court for a layup by Bynum.

Tyrus Thomas was, as is often the case, Good Ty and Bad Ty.

Thomas came out hustling and disrupting plays, flying into the stands to save a loose ball, blocking Bynum from the weak side and then making one of the highlight plays of the season when he stole a pass from Jordan Farmar and as Farmar tried to reclaim it went behind his back and passed ahead to Gordon for a layup and then Bulls 33-32 lead. It is the promise Thomas shows with his brilliant athleticism.

Then less than two minutes later, Thomas twice offered up lazy passes that were picked off by the Lakers among their 16 steals for scores.

It was a relatively easy night for the Lakers, though now that you see them I don't quite see a dynasty. I was talking with Chet Walker before the game (my name drop of the day). Walker, the 70's Bulls All Star and 60's star with the 76ers after dominating at Bradley, lives in Los Angeles and I consider him to be the most underrated player in NBA history. Having split his career between Philadelphia and Chicago and then being an activist in the players' union, which shortened his career, Walker doesn't get the credit he deserves for being an all timer in league history.

He's still working on screen plays and seems to have a promising one some studios are looking at about college basketball. He produced the Mary Thomas movie which was a TV hit.

Walker watches the Lakers and says they're somewhat overrated given their buildup thus far, and I'd have to agree some. Their guards, other than Bryant, are small and give up penetration and Gasol and Bynum seem to both play center and sometimes don't space the floor well. Plus, they have yet to solve the small forward position with Radmanovic hardly suited to chase around the smaller, big time scorers.

It looked good against the Bulls, though the Bulls outrebounded the Lakers and got to the free throw line more. It suggests the weaknesses that the Celtics showed up in last season's Finals.

The Bulls should only have such problems.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

Not a Rosy Night

Uh oh. Uh, uh, uh, uh, oh.

Yeah, Ben Gordon was in one of those never-met-a-shot-he-didn't-like modes, and Joakim Noah played college teammate Al Horford like Horford was Usain Bolt in the Olympics and Noah was running 10th. Tyrus Thomas was firing them up in one of his one-fer shooting nights while Luol Deng was yelling at him for falling for a pump fake from Zaza Pachulia. The Bulls gave up a season high 113 points, including a career high 27 points to Horford, who also added 17 rebounds and six blocks. Hey! Anyone got that guy?

As bad as all that was, and it was bad as the Hawks without Josh Smith went to 6-0 while the Bulls fell to 3-5, it was way worse.

Because Bulls rookie star Derrick Rose got hurt.

Uh, oh.

Rose was brilliant, getting 26 points to match his young career high with a career high 10 rebounds and six assists. This all after he pulled a muscle in his back in the first quarter, refused to leave the game and ended up playing 42 minutes and 29 seconds.

"I'm fine," Rose said as he left the United Center late Tuesday night with friends and family.

But he clearly wasn't, and it seems unlikely he'll practice Wednesday as he gets treatment. I assume seeing him so far he'll play Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks. But you don't want to mess with back injuries and Rose admitted to being stiff coming into the game and was getting treatment.

Teammates said Rose, who was one of four Bulls along with Gordon, Deng and Andres Nocioni announced for the All Star ballot Tuesday, appeared to be in considerable pain during the game. Coach Vinny Del Negro said Rose was unable to sit in a chair during timeouts.

"He pulled a muscle in his back in the first quarter," said Del Negro. "I think he'll be fine. His back tightened up a little. He wasn't sitting during timeouts very often. He didn't want to come out of the game. We were going to take him out of the game and he was like, 'I'm fine.'

"He's got a little bit of an issue there and we're going to have to monitor that," said Del Negro."He's going to battle hard and do what he can to give us a chance. That's what he did tonight. It wasn't enough."

Yes, the Bulls lost 113-108 in a game they were down two with eight minutes to go, but again fell to three pointers with Mike Bibby, with 22 points, hitting a pair after consecutive unforced Deng turnovers and the Bulls unable to regroup.

Deng, who followed those miscues with a hard drive for a basket and an offensive rebound on his own miss which led to a pair of free throws from Rose, blamed himself for the loss.

"We started to get back in the game in the fourth quarter, but then I made two big mistakes," Deng said. "I can't make turnovers on back to back possessions. I was trying to be aggressive, but those are the kinds of mistakes that cost us the game. I'm down right now. But we have to continue to do things as a team to remain positive."

Deng had 19 points and 10 rebounds and was by no means responsible for the loss.

If fingers have to be pointed, it would have to be mostly at Thomas and Noah, who blew coverage after coverage by failing to get back in transition as Horford ran out for at least five breakaway dunks as the Hawks had 20 fast break points.

"Myself, I was a little sluggish out there," said Thomas, who was one of eight shooting and after starting didn't play the last 18 minutes.

Noah, getting his first start of the season, did have eight rebounds, but just two points and was absolutely gushing about college teammate Horford.

"He played really well," said Noah. "He's a great player. He hurt us a lot. His numbers were unbelievable. He's a great player and not only is he a great player, but he's a great guy, too. We couldn't pick him up in transition for whatever reason. It was very impressive. Defensively, he hurt us as well, altering  a lot of shots. He got a lot of blocked shots. He really controlled the game today and not only is he a great player, he's a great guy, too."

Then asked about his own conditioning, Noah said: "I'm almost 100 percent. They hurt us in transition, especially Al Horford. His numbers are incredible. He really controlled the game. He's a great player and a great guy."

Huh?

Noah admitted the two didn't talk during the game, and Horford was all over the floor. Friends say the two don't get along very well and Horford seemingly wanted to make a statement.

Horford wasn't about to get into anything, saying, "It was just another game. This was a place we hadn't won in awhile (2004), so coming in it was huge to get a win for us. We knew they were a running team. Coach said run back at them and they weren't getting back, so we were getting easy points."

So, yes, it was a brutal Bulls effort in many ways.

Gordon was eight of 20, and even he conceded his shot selection was bizarre.

"I didn't really get any good looks," said Gordon, who started with Rose and had 19 points with Kirk Hinrich's thumb surgery Tuesday, which the Bulls said was a success. "I think probably the major difference was the quality of shots. A couple of forced shots. My selection was probably not that good."

You've got to give Gordon that. He's going to keep shooting. We know that. At least he knows they are bad shots. He didn't say he'll stop taking them.

There were some bright spots.

Andres Nocioni with 20 points continues to find the spacing with Rose, but is getting a bit disheartened.

"We lost control of the game," said Nocioni. "We knew before the game they run a lot. I don't know why we didn't figure that out during the game. We play well three, four minutes and after that make mistakes, turnovers, miss shots. We have some growing up to do. It's like last year. This is not good. We need to grow up. (We have) young people, but we play in the NBA a long time. We need to find a way to step up and win this kind of game."

Though he didn't start, Thabo Sefolosha finished and played his best game of the season, thwarting high scoring Joe Johnson for most of the game as Johnson was four of 16, but still ended with 17 points. His aggressive defense was one of the bright spots along with the inspired play of Rose.

Right now, I can't see how Rose won't be an East All Star this season. He's on the ballot along with Michael Beasley and in the East among guards the only sure shots I see now are Johnson and Dwyane Wade. Ray Allen probably will get picked with the Celtics doing so well and likely a Pistons guard, either Allen Iverson or Richard Hamilton. With five guards, Rose should make it.

Though the Bulls most need him to make the next game and beyond.

Drew Gooden still was out with an ankle injury and could return Thursday, and Larry Hughes might be back shortly after from a dislocated shoulder.

But taking away Rose would leave the Bulls without their sweetest flower.

Yes, I've got many more silly Rose puns to go this season.

The rookie has just been remarkable. He got to the line nine times Tuesday and was making jumpers, four of at least 17 feet, demonstrating he can make jumpers, although his range isn't out to three-point yet. He hits his free throws, eight of nine Tuesday. The kid can shoot, which was the only doubt. And he's fearless, driving over Horford early in the game, as if to say, "I'm coming at you big guy. I'm not scared."

As quiet as Rose is, he has an unusual inner toughness.

He goes after every ball when the game is on the line. He can get lost some on defense, but even with 52 rebounds Tuesday, defense has not been a strength for this Bulls team. They allow too much penetration off the dribble and don't recover to the three-point line very well.

That was evident with Maurice Evans hitting two big threes in the fourth quarter along with three by Bibby.

But there was Rose taking an outlet pass from Noah and throwing well ahead to Sefolosha who one handed a pass to a running Deng when the Bulls were still in it early in the fourth quarter and Rose taking a hard drive and putting it up with his left hand for a three-point play when the Bulls were fighting back late.

"Transition defense killed us," said Del Negro. "We're not getting back."

With Hinrich gone for three months, if Rose is aching, going back may be where the Bulls are headed.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

So How 'bout that New Bulls Lineup

There's no mulligans in basketball, but the Bulls, in a sense, decided to try against Friday against the Phoenix Suns.

After a shaky road trip and consecutive  losses to the Magic and Cavaliers, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro opted Friday for his first lineup change of his coaching career.

Del Negro, while trying to diminish the significance of the change, benched Thabo Sefolosha and Tyrus Thomas and added Kirk Hinrich and Aaron Gray to the starting lineup with Drew Gooden moving to the power forward from center.

"As I've said all along, the starting thing will change periodically depending. We have a lot of young guys trying to feel their way," said Del Negro. "How I feel the matchups and rotations work the best, that's what we're going to go with."

I like the move, even if the Suns decided to rest Shaquille O'Neal for Saturday's game. It's clear the Del Negro opted for Gray for his size against Shaq. I probably would have changed to Joakim Noah with rookie Robin Lopez starting for Shaq. But Del Negro said he decided to stick with his original plan.

"He's been playing well in practice," said Del Negro. "Not for any reason. It originally was Shaq was going to play, but he's not. Lopez will be out there. He's a big guy."

But the Bulls do need—even if Gray cannot score much and isn't particularly mobile—someone, anyone, to throw the ball to deep inside so perhaps the defense will reach and you can get some movement and pass the ball.

I asked Del Negro if there was a philosophical decision behind the move. He said no.

"You have to make decisions and go with it," said Del Negro before the game. "We'll see how it works tonight. I'd like to get off to a good start. We haven't been doing that. Transition defense will be the key the way they like to push the ball."

The Bulls have been starting in a hole in most games thus far with the same five starters. Thomas was averaging 7.4 points on 25 percent shooting and Sefolosha four points on 35 percent shooting. Though Gray has played little, Hinrich is shooting 41 percent on threes and perhaps can open the court playing off Derrick Rose.

Rose should have a big advantage in penetration as two-time MVP Steve Nash is a poor defender, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Andres Nocioni in quickly to further try to open the court.

"It didn't have anything to do with Thabo," said Del Negro, who defends his players to a fault. "I thought he played well at times. He hasn't had consistent minutes. He's one of our better defensive players. Everyone has a role on the team. It's not because of a couple of games or anything anyone said. I felt it was time to do that. It could be time (again) tomorrow to do that. I don't know. We'll see how the matchups work, where we can be most effective."

Bulls season: Act II.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.

Time for Change in America and the Bulls Lineup?

The Bulls players, like many in the NBA, were supportive of now president-elect Barack Obama. So they should understand Obama's principal message of change.

Yes, it's time for change with the Bulls and time for change now.

Though just 2-3 after Wednesday's 107-93 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers here, it appears fairly obvious that it's time for a major change in the starting lineup. Not that the latest losses here and in Orlando are the fault of Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha. They are not. But in trying to establish a defensive identity and presence, the two in the starting lineup have continued to help put the Bulls in early scoring holes with their lack of offense.

Thomas had one point in 14:49 minutes Wednesday along with three rebounds while Sefolosha was scoreless with four misses. For the season, Thomas is now shooting 25 percent and Sefolosha 35 percent. Combined, they are 17 for 60, 28.3 percent.

"It's something we're going to look at," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said after the game. "I'm not at that stage yet (personnel changes), but we'll look at it (Thursday) and make a decision."

(An aside here: Vinny was wearing his almost all black dress outfit. I don't think it was a mourning thing. Certain people can get away with that look, and he is one. Hopalong Cassidy was another. End of meaningless aside.)

"It's not one guy, two guys," said Del Negro, who, unfortunately, was right. "We've got to move the basketball, play unselfishly, play smarter defensively, spread the court better and continually learn. At times I like our ball movement side to side. (But) we're not as consistent as we need to beat a good team, to beat any teams for that matter."

Ouch.

That much has been clear in this minitrip to Orlando and Cleveland. Both teams jumped on the Bulls, and neither, really, is that good. What they do have is a legitimate big time star. The Bulls are about to have one in Derrick Rose, who had 20 points and seven assists, but he's not there yet. And he doesn't quite have the trust of his veteran teammates yet as too many players still look him off when he's returning to get the ball back and take off on their own. I'm saying bad, old habits for now. It's still difficult to get accustomed to giving up the ball and going to a spot when you've taken it and gone before, and had success. Plus, the Bulls offense, primarily side and top pick and rolls for now, is fairly basic without much weak side action and players seem to remain uncertain where to be.

Though Luol Deng did respond reasonably well Wednesday to his shooting goose egg from Monday with 18 points on seven of 15 shots with seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

"I still don't feel like I'm playing (well)," said Deng. "Tonight I made some jump shots. I had the mind set of going to shoot jumpers. I made shots. I took more shots than I did in the last game."

We'll forget LeBron James abusing him primarily for 41 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals, the sixth consecutive game James had of at least 30 points against the Bulls.

"Our defense wasn't great," Deng acknowledged.

So it's hardly like only the new Bulls administration had difficulty with him. But Deng got little help on defense, and he's no match for James' quickness. Not that anyone is. The Bulls used to joke back in the giddy championship days of Craig Hodges being Route 14 because he wore No. 14 and everyone blew by him.

I liked when the Bulls used to put Andres Nocioni on James for a bit so Nocioni could flop himself into an offense foul or just hack James so hard that Mike Brown would begin to cry. But the Bulls left Deng pretty much on an island Wednesday, and you could almost hear Deng yelling, "The plane, boss, the plane." The fantasy was how to stop James, who comes at you like a 747. And the Bulls back-side defenders had a pretty nice view of James streaking to the basket and making layups as they seemed to be watching politely.

"We weren't talking enough on defense," said Rose, who got caught on several pick and rolls and isolated trying to guard James. "That's why we were messed up switching on him. I don't care if it's Michael Jordan out there. I'm going to guard him. It was fun guarding him. But he's just too big."

Rose will have to concentrate on his guys, and that didn't go that well, either, as Mo Williams and Delonte West got free often with nice screens set by old buddy Ben Wallace, who had a good, Wallace-type game with 14 rebounds, six offensive.

So where to go?

Home to play the Suns Friday, and you should have seen the look on Drew Gooden's face when someone walked into the locker room after the game and said Amare Stoudemire had scored 49 points. Gooden shook his head and smiled, apparently thinking, "Uh oh. We can't stick Deng on him, too. That might be me."

It's generally a quiet Bulls locker room, win or lose, except for the loud headphones in the ears of Thomas, who'll sing a few words to what he's listening to. Larry Hughes generally sits with Gooden as players mostly sit with their feet in buckets of ice or had ice wraps around their knees. Players rifled through about a half dozen pizza boxes as they prepared for the short flight back to Chicago. The interviews with waiting reporters were mostly brief and matter of fact, and not defensive despite the loss.

This doesn't appear to be a defensive team in many ways. I know Del Negro's focus is to make this a defensive team first, but I just don't see the talent there to do so. I suppose you could slow it into a walk-it-up game, like some coaches do in pretending they are coaching defense. You'd see that a lot from Brown when he first came to Cleveland as well as Mike Fratello at some stops and Rick Carlisle. But with Rose you cannot do that with this Bulls team. It has to be active in the open court, scoring in transition and attacking the basket.

Though the first thing I'd do is change the starting lineup.

Perhaps five games is not fair, but this thing could go badly quickly. After Phoenix Friday is the Cavs again, the improved Hawks, the Mavs and Pacers before opening an eight-game road trip with the Lakers. Eleven of the next 13 games are against likely playoff teams.

No, it's not the fault of Sefolosha and Thomas, but a team with such a small margin for error can't afford to be falling into these big holes with two non-scorers in the starting lineup.

There are two options:

1. Go small. Start Ben Gordon, who had 31 points on 11 of 19 shooting against the Cavs, along with Rose as Gordon is the team's best long distance shooter, with Deng at small forward, Nocioni at power forward, though one who will spread the court and Gooden at center (Larry Hughes probably goes to shooting guard when he's healthy in a few weeks). It is a miniature lineup, but let Shaq try to beat you. Maybe put Nocioni on him and let's see if he can still get 20. He wasn't even supposed to play Wednesday because the Suns are trying to keep him out of back to backs, but played with the team short-handed. It's risky, but should open the court, which the Bulls want for Rose, and maybe have the Suns worrying about matching up with the Bulls.

"When we go small, we've got to push the tempo," said Gordon. "We cannot jog or walk the ball up. We've got to try to catch the other team off guard. That's the only way to be successful right now because we have such a small team. At the same time we want to get good looks. We got to push tempo but be smart at same time. Defensively, we have to be a scrambling team. We are undersized, so we have to use our speed and quickness to our advantage. (And) it's imperative we get off to good starts and put teams on their heels early."

2. Go big. This is more the lineup I envisioned before the season with Rose, Deng at shooting guard, Nocioni at small forward now though I was talking about Thomas then. Thomas probably needs to come off the bench now and be more an energy guy after opening the season shooting too much, for some reason. Then Gooden at power forward, where he belongs and can hold his own, and, gasp, Joakim Noah or Aaron Gray at center. I'm not a big fan of either, but the Bulls play with so little size. They do hold their own in rebounding even with Gooden at center, but they may need to try on some size. Though Noah has barely played of late and been yanked out of games with foul trouble and apparent difficulty being in the right place at the right time, or just about any time.

No, not great choices.

I did like a nice, subtle change Del Negro made to open the game, and it helped get Rose off to a fast start with eight of the team's first 10 points. Del Negro had the screener coming out higher on top, enabling Rose to operate with more room. It left the middle open more and made it a longer way for help defenders to come, though they did a better job trapping him later to take the ball out of his hands.

Rose hit an 18 footer, drove and dunked, his a 19 footer and scored on a fast break layup blowing by Williams.

"I talked to him (saying) when you come off the screen rolls if they go under, if they give you the shot step up and knock it down," said Del Negro "If they go over on it penetrate and make plays. Continually put pressure on defense. At times he does it; at times he's probing a little bit. So he's still trying to find his way. He'll be doing that for awhile. It's part of the maturation of a young kid at the point guard position in the NBA. Its very difficult. Sometimes he's trying to be too unselfish, but he'll continue to get better. He didn't have any rebounds, rare for him. He's got to learn to take control of the game better and we've got to do better job getting him into sets where he has the ability to do that more."

The Bulls went to their three-guard set late in the first quarter, leaving Kirk Hinrich to guard James. And James is no Hedo Turkoglu, who was firing threes Monday with Hinrich on him. James drove right at and over Hinrich, but then had to leave the game with a slight sprain. The Cavs were plus-22 with James on the floor, and without him they clearly are not even a playoff team. It's why they worry so much about keeping him with a roster that doesn't have a single other player with the chance to be an All-Star.

So the Bulls stayed close, down six after one, in a game the coaches knew they had to keep within reach to have a chance.

The Bulls were within four with about two minutes when the Cavs went on a 10-2 run to close the half with Wallace making key defensive plays, three times tipping misses leading to a West three and the Bulls coming out of a timeout with a 24-second violation—sheesh!

The Bulls then began shooting a bit too quickly and way too wildly, restored a bit of order with their small lineup again to briefly cut it under 10 with Rose and Gordon attacking to open the fourth quarter. They got it within seven midway through the fourth after a sweet quick outlet to Hinrich from Deng and pass up to Gordon for a banker.

But James started beating up Bulls then, picking up a loose ball for a three-point play, seemingly pushing off for an offensive rebound and hitting a jumper and tipping in his own miss as the Cavs pulled away. James hit 15 of 16 free throws, but missed his only two threes and is now 0-13 on threes for the season.

So how do you make him shoot more of those?

"We could have moved the ball better," said Del Negro. "We got a little stagnant. They killed us with second chance points, And LeBron is LeBron."

So maybe it's time for a change. Can't be worse, as the U.S. apparently decided.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors.