Blog a Bull - We've Contracted V.D.N.

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Record

4 - 2

Games Back: 0

Streak: Won 3

Games Left: 76

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Chicago Blog a Bull	4	2	.666	0	Won 3
Cleveland Fear The Sword	4	3	.571	0.5	Won 1
Milwaukee Brew Hoop	3	2	.600	0.5	Won 2
Detroit Motown String Music	3	4	.428	1.5	Won 1
Indiana Indy Cornrows	2	3	.400	1.5	Won 2

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Bulls Schedule

Next 5 Games

Denver Nuggets Denver Stiffs
@ Chicago Bulls Blog a Bull

Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009, 7:00 PM CST
United Center

Complete Coverage >

@ Toronto Raptors HQ	Wed 11/11	6:00 PM CST
Philadelphia Liberty Ballers	Sat 11/14	7:00 PM CST
@ Sacramento Sactown Royalty	Tue 11/17	9:00 PM CST
@ Los Angeles Lakers Silver Screen and Roll	Thu 11/19	9:30 PM CST

Last 5 Games

Charlotte Rufus on Fire	Sat 11/07	W 93 - 90
@ Cleveland Fear The Sword	Thu 11/05	W 86 - 85
Milwaukee Brew Hoop	Tue 11/03	W 83 - 81
@ Miami Peninsula is Mightier	Sun 11/01	L 87 - 95
@ Boston CelticsBlog	Fri 10/30	L 90 - 118

Bulls 93, Bobcats 90

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 8, 2009 5:57 PM CST Comment 37 comments

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Charlotte	90.0	100.0	46.5%	11.6	35.6	18.9
Chicago		103.3	52.6%	17.1	40.5	23.3

(abbreviated recap, other stuff got in the way)

Bulls took care of business on Saturday, a home game against a fairly cruddy Bobcats team that played the night before.

My initial reaction to the Tyrus injury in terms of how it would effect this team this season (the Org.-fail aspects of it have been repeated enough) is that Vinny would get more creative with the lineups and that could spell disaster. But the entire genesis of Tyrus' bad week was Vinny sitting him in 4th quarters anyway, and for the most part VDN's very comfortable putting Deng at PF with one true big man in the lineup at one time. Not saying that's a correct way to go, just that it may be sustainable to lose Tyrus since Vinny was marginalizing him anyway. (silver lining!)

It certainly didn't hurt them against the Bobcats, who despite actually having a deep group of legit centers (that's a trademarked term, I believe) didn't bother playing them much and it allowed the Bulls to even get James Johnson some time at the 4, considering the opposing 4 was Vlad Radmanovic. The 'Cats even had Radman with Boris Diaw as a frontcourt, and that may be the only worse big-man tandem than the Noc-Gooden of the Bozo Boylan clown show.

As seen by the four factors box, neither teams secured defensive rebounds well, partly due to the lack of 'truer' big men in the game, and also with both teams featuring the best in the league in Noah and ex-Bull (and former favorite Bull of mine, actually) Tyson Chandler.

And maybe it was the lack of Tyrus or opposing bigs that had VDN finally unleash Joakim Noah for 40 minutes, and he certainly delivered with 21 and 16. Noah rules. The Bulls made their big 2nd half push with Noah and Miller on the floor together, something VDN doesn't seem to like doing often

The first half was likely John Salmons best half of the season, and he even had a catch/shoot 3, which I didn't think he ever did. Salmons and Hinrich were each 2-4 from three, though it was the Bobcats doing far more launching, and their 12 three-pointers kept them in the game likely longer than they should've been.

Personal highlight of seeing this one was the WGN feed screwing up to where you could barely hear the commentary.

37 comments | 0 recs | Share

Open Game Thread #6 OVERFLOW: Bulls vs. Charlotte Bobcats

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 7, 2009 9:00 PM CST Comment 326 comments

No recap tonight, I'll be catching this one Sunday.

326 comments | 0 recs

Open Game Thread #6: Bulls vs. Charlotte Bobcats

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 7, 2009 7:00 PM CST Comment 603 comments

New thread at 9.

603 comments | 0 recs

Game Preview # 6: Bulls vs Charlotte Bobcats

by Prevenge on Nov 7, 2009 12:16 PM CST Comment 55 comments

[Thanks to Prevenge for today's game preview. -ed.]

Which Team will get over 80?

Today, at 8 EST [probably a bit later, because of the nature of NBA games], the Chicago Bulls, currently first in the Central Division [thanks, Shaq!], face the Charlotte Bobcats in what promises to be the best basketball matchup this side of the Bulls-Bucks game.

Continue reading this post »

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Tyrus Thomas fractures forearm, out 4-6 weeks

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 6, 2009 4:00 PM CST Comment 234 comments

Bulls.com:

Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas suffered a fractured radius of his left forearm during a weight training session this morning at practice. X-rays confirmed the injury and he will undergo surgery tomorrow. Thomas is expected to be out four to six weeks.

Ugh, this is pretty crappy news. Tyrus was around 50% of all my Bulls enjoyment right about now (which was at about 34% overall enjoyment as it was).

I may get more into this over the weekend, but no matter your feelings on Tyrus vs. Taj (either you prefer Tyrus, or are wrong), losing Thomas exposes the lack of depth on this team, and VDN gets to do all sorts of 'coaching' to try and compensate. This isn't good.

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Tyrus injures arm while weightlifting

["We made a decision a year ago not to retain Tyrus. This year we were never on the same page with all season, we felt Taj played well and Tyrus was injured in the preseason, the flu, and then an injury weightlifting. By the time he returned here he had no role. We feel it was best to renounce his rights to enter unrestricted free agency" - Jerry Reinsdorf, July 2010 -ed.]

Can it be? Another cover up story?!

2 days ago Option27 50 comments 0 recs

Bulls 86, Cavs 85: If winning ugly's the only way to win, I'll take it.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Nov 5, 2009 11:28 PM CST Comment 299 comments

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

Precious Orange Roundie. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Browse more photos »

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Chicago	91.0	94.5	42.6%	12.5	13.0	6.6
Cleveland		93.4	45.1%	14.8	19.6	13.2

(more on the 4 factors box score)

The Cavs have been perennially one of the top defensive teams in the league since Mike Brown took over as coach. Tonight the Bulls looked like an even better unit out there.

Though it's not like the aforementioned Brown has ever had his teams looking very fluid on offense. The Bulls only had 6 TOs all night, forcing the Cavs into their ugly half-court 'sets'. And Shaq looked way too slow to be consistently effective, and playing him and Z together never made sense, and Mo Williams takes way too many rushed shots for someone who shares the floor with LeBron, and LeBron absolutely coasted all night to the point of embarrassment.

But it was Noah making life miserable for Shaq. And Deng staying in front of LeBron so well that Mike Fratello actually claimed that Deng had the size/speed combo to do so (he doesn't). Kirk Hinrich was everywhere defensively tonight, and I loved the play where LeBron was stuck in the paint with the defense collapsed on him, and Hinrich literally ripped the ball from his hands.

LeBron spent so much time looking like he couldn't care less hoisting jumpers that I think the referees forgot who he was on his final drive, and didn't give him the call as he flailed into Noah. I think LeBron lost the ball on the way up before even making contact, so while it shouldn't be praise to make the correct call, it was indeed unexpected given the circumstances.

While the Bulls defense held together all night (they shot 30% in the 3rd quarter and stayed within 5), I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and James to pull out the win with no comparable Bulls player existing to respond. It actually looked like it was going that way, with a James three-pointer followed by a block on Salmons. But Mo Williams hesitated a bit on a kick-out 3, then took an inexplicable running layup that wasn't even close. The Bulls own late-game ineptitude (didn't score with 3 possessions in the final 1:44) allowed James to still be able to be the hero down one with the ball, but Deng and Noah did the job. In fact, lets not say James didn't get the superstar call, but Noah did get one.

The Bulls offense still, more or less, blows. They weren't even able to hit the offensive glass tonight (a Cavs strength, denying that). Deng/Salmons/Hinrich shot a good percentage, but while Deng had a corner three-pointer (huge if he can do that) Hinrich and Salmons only chipped in 2 between them.

Is this the way it's going to be all year? The Bulls incapable of being even an average offensive team and having to hustle and defend their way to mediocrity? If so, even the wins will be ugly. But they have a long time to get better, and in April nobody will care how the Bulls beat the Cavs on the road, but that it was a win.

To the bullets...

I hope you 'Rise of Taj'-ers are happy. Now he's not only taking away Tyrus's playing time, but Noah wasn't in for the final stretch of minutes either (he was subbed in late for that final stand against James). With the announcing crew pumping up the rookie ('the coaching staff tells us...' said before each laudatory remark) it sure seemed like Gibson played better than a 5-12 shooting night and a pedestrian 7 rebounds (I think his OREBs are inflated due to catching his own misses) in 33 minutes. And while you can see how he helps in other areas, he's playing way way too much.
I do thank Taj Gibson for stepping up and being the new Chris Duhon of BlogABull. I heard there was a tearful passing of the torch ceremony and everything, though Duhon ruined the after party getting too drunk.
You just knew VDN would try throwin Pargo out there early to see if he was still hot from the Bucks game. Nope, the good-games streak ended at one, Pargo was 0-4 in 11 minutes.
Yet more on VDN: that 'inside trax' feature on TNT does not serve him well. I realize that it's good to keep things simple in the huddle, but 'shoot with confidence' (huh?) and 'RUN!' don't make me think he's the next great hardwood tactician. And I don't think I ever heard a single mention of defense, which isn't as much an indictment as it is just funny given the preseason hype. All that said, what does matter is that they're playing better defense, and as much as I roll my eyes at VDN's motivational ploys, they play hard. I'd think this group would play hard regardless and deep down know he's still in over his head, but still.
Tyrus Thomas wound up playing sick tonight after flying in late to meet up with the team. Wasn't quite the Jordan flu game, he hit a couple jumpers and didn't do anything else. Sure, it stinks that Taj has now risen to take his job and he'll be dealt for nothing or left to walk at the end of the season since Vinny's tired of him, but I'll enjoy the guy while we have him, and glad he gutted out this game to maybe possibly win back some of the coaching staff's trust.
Kudos to TBJ's Tas Melas for capturing the ridiculous way LeBron addressed the refs post-game, calling one over just to give a fake-confused 'let me get this straight' face while ultimately saying nothing. It's a dick move in an argument, and I know because I've pulled that move when I'm feeling dick-ish.
Luol didn't only hit a corner three tonight, but had a turnaround jumper over a Cavs guard after a defensive switch. If he can do both of those things more often, that's a new wrinkle, and it won't matter that he can't score in isolation off the dribble. Until the end of games when he's hoisting up shots barely hitting the rim, but that will be Rose time eventually (right?).
Speaking of Rose...that seemed like a quiet 14pt, 11ast night, though once again he contributed most in the 4th quarter (10 pts), which is fantastic. Only 2 TOs with those 11assists.
I don't get how the Bulls have beaten two top-tier teams while looking this bad either. Maybe the Spurs were tired and the Cavs aren't good right now. But it's so huge that they're getting these wins in the early toughest part of the schedule.