2010-11 Game Preview #26: Bulls at Washington Wizards

by torch on Dec 22, 2010 2:20 PM CST

[Thanks to torch for today's game preview. Early start, 6pm, on The U -ed.]

Tonight's game pits two teams with new-look rosters coming off of big wins. The Bulls (17-9, 6-6 away) are entering Game 3 of the sans-Noah era and might miss Taj Gibson as well, who is day-to-day due to the concussion he suffered against the Clippers. Likewise, the Wizards (7-19, 7-6 home) are entering their 3rd game PGA (Post Gilbert Arenas). Washington will also be incorporating forward Rashard Lewis, who was acquired during the recent Orlando fire sale, for the first time since the trade.

At first glance, this should be an easy win. We beat them earlier this year by 11, when they had both Arenas and John Wall playing. Wall is likely out tonight, due to a bone bruise beneath his kneecap that has kept him sidelined for some time now. The upside (for Washington) is that absent Arenas and Wall, Chicago's prodigal son Kirk Hinrich has played extremely well, not having to defer ball handling duties to the franchise's past or future star. [bonus link on that -ed.] Captain Kirk put up 18-6-11 Monday night in their blowout of Charlotte and 13-6-12 in their almost-upset of Miami last Saturday night. The Wizards seem to be enjoying a Ewing Theory boost, but now they have to work Lewis into their rotations. Will they play him as a stretch-4 to open up defenses or will they go big with a front court of Lewis/Blatche/McGee? How will Andray Blatche, Al Thornton, and Josh Howard handle reduced minutes due to Lewis playing? And can Nick Young keep pouring on the points when he's on the court with Lewis, who needs the ball to be effective beyond a corner-3 spot up shooter?

The Bulls are going through a roster transition of sorts themselves. In the two games since Joakim Noah had his surgery, this has seemed like two completely different teams. In Saturday night's loss to the Clippers, the Bulls looked like they took the Noah news as a sign of despair, playing a lot of turnstile defense in VDN's return to the United Center. Last night the Bulls looked like a championship caliber squad, destroying the surging 76ers in Kurt Thomas's dip in the fountain of youth. I would like to think we worked something out and have our feet beneath us going forward, but anything can happen on the road in the second night of a back-to-back.

I'll be enjoying this game from Section 202 at the Verizon Center, hoping to see Brian Scalabrine posterizing former Bulls' draft pick Kevin Seraphin in garbage time.

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Game time: 6:00 PM Central
TV Coverage: WCIU (Chicago), Comcast SportsNet (DC), NBATV (National)
Radio Coverage: ESPN Radio 1000 (Chicago), 106.7 The Fan (DC)

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Comments

torch, I'm dissapointed.

I was hoping you would fail to post this write-up so I could say that runningman passed the previewing-skipping torch onto you.

Teams without Chapu lost 1173 games during the 2009-'10 season.

by chapuforyou on Dec 22, 2010 2:44 PM CST reply actions 3 recs

LOL

Derrick Rose is a motherfucking ninja.

by sin on Dec 22, 2010 4:35 PM CST up reply actions

I hope they beat the crap out of the Wizards

Otherwise my girlfriends (she hails from DC) planned Bull-Mitzvah might be put on indefinite hold.

"What do you think, I just dunked my whole career?" Jordan asked Henderson after making a 3.
"You’ve got to miss eventually," Henderson told him.
"That’s what Cleveland said," replied Jordan

by MRubio52 on Dec 22, 2010 2:52 PM CST reply actions

LOL, a Bull-Mitzvah.

by BullsFan22 on Dec 22, 2010 3:09 PM CST up reply actions

Wish it was mine

paddyfairview wrote a real nice fanpost that uses it. It is pretty epic.

"What do you think, I just dunked my whole career?" Jordan asked Henderson after making a 3.
"You’ve got to miss eventually," Henderson told him.
"That’s what Cleveland said," replied Jordan

by MRubio52 on Dec 22, 2010 3:12 PM CST up reply actions

Put a body on Nick Young and keep their bigs off the boards

and this game is cake.

Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. says:

"4 our of 5 of us recommend Devin Hester. The 5th dentist has gone missing. He was last seen wearing green and yellow."

by Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. on Dec 22, 2010 3:18 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

Hey, the Bulls just tweeted this:

chicagobulls Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls’ “Twelve Days of Christmas” just debuted on @SportsCenter. Full version on Bulls.com of course

Did anyone see this? Was it really on THE Sportscenter? If so, why?

Until Keith Bogans is taken out of the starting lineup, it's: Tommy Del Thibo

by Juiceboxjerry on Dec 22, 2010 3:31 PM CST reply actions

Because it's ESPN

They’re kinda dipshits.

"What do you think, I just dunked my whole career?" Jordan asked Henderson after making a 3.
"You’ve got to miss eventually," Henderson told him.
"That’s what Cleveland said," replied Jordan

by MRubio52 on Dec 22, 2010 3:32 PM CST up reply actions

Well, whatever, but why did they show it?

And who?

Until Keith Bogans is taken out of the starting lineup, it's: Tommy Del Thibo

by Juiceboxjerry on Dec 22, 2010 3:38 PM CST up reply actions

Well

typically ESPN likes showing things that are “off the beaten path.”

You know, the water skiing squirrel.

I guess this qualifies as that.

The second part of your question I don’t quite get, pardon my ignorance.

"What do you think, I just dunked my whole career?" Jordan asked Henderson after making a 3.
"You’ve got to miss eventually," Henderson told him.
"That’s what Cleveland said," replied Jordan

by MRubio52 on Dec 22, 2010 3:42 PM CST up reply actions

I thought they only showed the Heat

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by your friendly BullsBlogger on Dec 22, 2010 3:43 PM CST up reply actions

and the Knicks

for some reason.

"What do you think, I just dunked my whole career?" Jordan asked Henderson after making a 3.
"You’ve got to miss eventually," Henderson told him.
"That’s what Cleveland said," replied Jordan

by MRubio52 on Dec 22, 2010 3:50 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah, maybe I'm being a little confusing

I just find it odd that ESPN, a National Sports news show, would play a silly little internet video by the Bulls. Like yfbb just said, maybe if it was the Heat or something, I could understand it, but the Bulls don’t really have that kind of star power nationally. When I said “who?”, I mean, like, what players were they showing? They didn’t show the whole 2 minute video, did they?

Until Keith Bogans is taken out of the starting lineup, it's: Tommy Del Thibo

by Juiceboxjerry on Dec 22, 2010 3:46 PM CST up reply actions

Ahhhh

I agree. It is confounding as to why they would show it.

I dunno, maybe we are all underestimating Derrick’s star power, he is a likeable star.

"What do you think, I just dunked my whole career?" Jordan asked Henderson after making a 3.
"You’ve got to miss eventually," Henderson told him.
"That’s what Cleveland said," replied Jordan

by MRubio52 on Dec 22, 2010 3:52 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

The Bulls are more popular than anyone gives them credit for.

And it’s fun to see athletes do stuff that takes them out of their “grr basketball is serious” mentality.

by Ozzie Montana on Dec 22, 2010 3:56 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

No, don't get me wrong, I LOVED that video

I thought it was great. But it felt like something that only Bulls fans, or Chicagoans would get a kick out of. For example, if someone showed me a video of the Bucks doing the same exact thing, I wouldn’t really care. That’s all I was getting at. But, like you guys are saying, maybe the Bulls are more popular nationally than I thought

Until Keith Bogans is taken out of the starting lineup, it's: Tommy Del Thibo

by Juiceboxjerry on Dec 22, 2010 4:07 PM CST up reply actions

I agree with your original premise.

If the Bulls were really more popular, they’d get more airtime on ESPN and get discussed more by whatever idiots they have on whatever NBA segment they air.

by dakoose on Dec 22, 2010 4:44 PM CST up reply actions

saw this at the Clippers game

Bogans sucks at other things than basketball

by diedaily23 on Dec 22, 2010 3:33 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

lol, yeah, Bogans looks like someone is putting a gun to his head

Until Keith Bogans is taken out of the starting lineup, it's: Tommy Del Thibo

by Juiceboxjerry on Dec 22, 2010 3:39 PM CST up reply actions

You mean Bogus, righ? His name isn't really Bogans.

by BullsFan22 on Dec 22, 2010 3:47 PM CST up reply actions

Meh, I don't hate on Keith

I blame the coach

Until Keith Bogans is taken out of the starting lineup, it's: Tommy Del Thibo

by Juiceboxjerry on Dec 22, 2010 4:08 PM CST up reply actions

i saw it

they showed it after a 30 second recap of our domination last night

Derrick Rose is a motherfucking ninja.

by sin on Dec 22, 2010 4:34 PM CST up reply actions

and this was following a 5 minute chat with the espnboston.com guy about how the celtics are raping everyone

Derrick Rose is a motherfucking ninja.

by sin on Dec 22, 2010 4:35 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

I'm a little worried about this game

A few observations from what little Wizards basketball I’ve seen this season:

Nick Young doesn’t believe in passing. This is not a problem when you score at will.

Kirk Hinrich apparently likes to get into the paint now and is doing a decent job at finishing at the rim, drawing fouls or hitting the open man. Would’ve been real nice to have more of this last year and less terrible facial hair.

I only saw Josh Howard play in the heat game, but he didn’t really look all that rusty. Then again, my expectations for a healthy Josh Howard have been tempered by his ability to underachieve for most of his professional career.

Javale McGee is really raw and sometimes stupid but plays solid defense.
Andray Blatche is really polished, but also sometimes stupid and is iffy (at best) on defense.

All of this should add up for a fairly below average team, but they seem to be playing harder and a bit harder since Gil got moved. The silver lining here is the possibility that Rashard Lewis plays for them tonight, in which case, smart basketball will be of no concern.

by darksmokepuncher on Dec 22, 2010 4:38 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

that first "harder" should be a "smarter"

I should work on posting “smarter”

by darksmokepuncher on Dec 22, 2010 4:39 PM CST up reply actions

We should win this one fairly easily,

but I feel like Javale McGee is going to be damn good tonight. He’s a good rebounder(8.2 in 27mpg), and we’re without Noah and Taj(probably). He’s too athletic for Kurt or Omer, so ~12-15 boards and a bunch of easy putbacks and dunks are distinct possibilities. Hopefully Kurt can bait him into some stupid fouls and get him out of the game.

by dakoose on Dec 22, 2010 4:49 PM CST reply actions

Taj is back!

But Thomas is starting.

He’s so starting the next 4 weeks.

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by your friendly BullsBlogger on Dec 22, 2010 4:54 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

Beat me to it...

By a second..good news though, I like what Thomas brought last night, and Taj has been good in the role of first big off the bench.

Is this even a basketball game anymore, or am I watching a referee themed television show? -Juiceboxjerry

by Dionysus2.0 on Dec 22, 2010 4:55 PM CST up reply actions

yeah, but he won't bring it ever again

I’d just start Asik.

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by your friendly BullsBlogger on Dec 22, 2010 4:57 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs

As would I.

I like his size and interior D…and it will only help his development to play against the opposing team’s front line…though, the Wiz front court is probably the worst in the NBA.

Is this even a basketball game anymore, or am I watching a referee themed television show? -Juiceboxjerry

by Dionysus2.0 on Dec 22, 2010 4:59 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs