Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks: Key is keeping up the rebounding dominance

The Bulls closed out their circus trip with a much-needed win on Saturday night, a victory that was forged seemingly completely by offensive rebounding. It was noted in the game preview that the Bucks, up until that game, surprisingly led the league in Defensive Rebound Percentage. By today they fell to 4th, with the Bulls shooting up a few spots in the offensive version of that category.

It was that dominant of a performance on the glass, especially late in the game, against what seemed to be a quality team the Bulls collected 40% of the available offensive rebounds overall on Saturday night. And it was much needed since the Bulls can't freaking shoot. Though that's sort of part of the plan, as BrewHoop points out:

The Bulls don't run offense. They dry heave offense. It's an ugly affair when Derrick Rose isn't around to initiate sets, and everyone on Chicago knows it. The guards typically stumble around for a couple counts and then either dump the ball down low in the waning seconds of the possession or toss up an ugly jumper. In theory, anything is better than a turnover because a missed shot presents a chance to grab an offensive rebound and (hopefully) get a better shot. The Bulls don't mind doing things by-the-book.

On a related note, Carlos Boozer posted 16 points and 14 rebounds before the fourth quarter even started. The bald-headed big man finished with 22 points, a game-high 19 rebounds, as many offensive rebounds as the entire Bucks team (8) and a huge put back dunk to give the Bulls a decisive 89-85 lead with 23 seconds left in the game. He pushed people around under the rim and didn't get called for it, so good for him. Larry Sanders didn't much care for his approach. It will be interesting to see how the Tube Men respond in the rematch on Monday night at the United Center.

The 'Tube Men' is BrewHoop's native term for the long list of power forwards on the roster, a list that doesn't even include the DNP'd Drew Gooden or insanely struggling starter Ersan Ilyasova.

Some credit goes to Scott Skiles in helping the Bulls out here. Usual starter Sam Dalembert was pseudo-suspended for being late, and instead of going to more minutes to some of these younger PFs, he did a Skilesian thing and played the vet:

Have yet to see a rational explanation for why Przybilla started and played 17 minutes last night.

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) November 25, 2012

To be fair, BrewHoop didn't so much mind the Przybilla choice (and the guy was effective in clearing offensive space for Brandon Jennings), but did have an issue with Illyasova getting so much rope. Especially strange since a suitable replacement in rookie John Henson just earned praise for his double-double in their last game. Kinda makes you wistful of the days Skiles would ride Nocioni for 3 rebounds in 35 minutes at PF, right? No?

So hopefully the Bulls can keep up their dominance tonight, or get lucky with a solid shooting performance from the perimeter. They sorta did get one on Saturday with Rip Hamilton's 22 points (10-10 from the FT line) but can maybe see one from Nate Robinson or Kirk Hi...oh, who am I kidding on that one. I'm slowly getting over the hump of just leaving the worst-offseason-ever in the rear view, acknowledging the franchise wanted to Hinrich the Hinrich out of this summer, successfully did so. So now (it's a process...) it's just keeping on with trying to win enough Rose-less games to keep things interesting.

So, just, like: get all the rebounds these guys that were brought in will miss.