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© Suburban Journals of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
Bulls Get
A
New Years Eve
Hangover…In Blow-Out Loss To
Orlando Magic 104-84.
By
Mark Rotor
New Years Eve Afternoon Game At The United Center
The NBA’s Southeast division leader (24-7) Orlando Magic arrived in
Chicago to
play the (10-17) Bulls on New Years Eve. A full-house
of 21,861 fans assembled
in the United Center for a rare afternoon
tip-off anticipating a battle between
the Magic’s All Star center
Dwight Howard and Bull’s rookie star Derrick Rose.
To the crowd’s
surprise, the game did not live up to the fans expectations as
the
Magic dominated the Bulls from tip-off to the final buzzer.
Tip-Off...
Magic Star Dwight Howard VS. Bull's Aaron Gray
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
Orlando’s Offense Fires On All Cylinders
The Magic didn’t waste any time with an offensive assault that could
not be
silenced by the Bulls. Orlando’s Rashard Lewis led his team in
scoring with
16 points in the first half on 6 field goals allowing the
Magic to take quick
lead of 16-6 after four minutes.
Six other Orlando players joined Lewis scoring in doubled figures
including forward Hedo Turkoglu with 18 points primarily from the
perimeter and
Dwight Howard with 15 points in the paint. The Magic
hurt the Bulls both in the
post and outside at the 3-point stripe. With
a poor defense, Chicago allowed
65-points in the first half while giving
up eleven 3-pointers for the game, many uncontested. Lewis finished
the day with 21 points and three 3-pointers.
When asked what was most disappointing about the game, coach
Vinny Del Negro
said “Probably everything. The most disappointing
is that there was a game
today (kidding). From the get go, they
jumped on us early. As you can see they
are a very talented team
with Howard up front and their shooters. They spread
you out. Today
we were running circles with low energy. They are very talented.
No
one (Bulls) played well.”
Orlando
Pours It On...Dwight Howard Score One of His 15 points
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
The Bulls Bench
By half time the Bulls were down by 30-points 65-35 and Coach Del Negro
made a
wholesale player bench substitution of Larry Hughes, Lindsey Hunter,
Thabo
Sefolosha and Joakim Noah looking for a combination that would
provide a spark.
Regrettably, Chicago found that their under sized front line
was no match for the
Magic’s front court and were down by 28 points 88-60
by the end of 3rd quarter.
“We need help up front as far as rebounding the basket ball and
protecting
the
paint. We need to be able to do different things on the defensive end.
But you
know that we have what we have. We’ve won some games so
you can’t say it’s a
total loss. For teams with some bigger guys we need to
figure what to do to
counter that”. said Larry Hughes.
Reinforcements...Bulls
Reserves Lindsay Hunter, Larry Hughes and Joakim
Noah.
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
The Match-Ups
The Bull’s inability to physically match-up with their opponent’s front
court
remains an issue both on offense and defense. Short handed without
forward Luol
Deng on the injured list and center/forward Drew Gooden
day-to-day with a
sprained ankle, Chicago is forced to go with a smaller
line-up. Only time will
tell if a trade can be made by GM John Paxton
to bolster the Bulls low post presence a
nd make a run for a playoff spot.
However, the clock is ticking with 7-week to
go until the NBA trading
deadline.
Bull's
Head Coach Vinny Del Negro and Team Talk It Over
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
The Bulls Offense
“One and done”, the phrase describes an offense that makes one pass
and shoots
without getting in position for a rebound, usually only successful
if the shooter
is on hot streak. Unfortunately for Chicago they were not on
a hot streak, shooting
an anemic 34% from the field as of the 3rd quarter
while Orlando shot 50% from
the field and 42% from 3-point range.
Like his team mates, Derrick Rose also had a tough day at the office
limited to
27-minutes as Del Negro rested him in the 3rd quarter. For
the game, Rose scored
11-points, shooting 39% from the field. Also
notable, Rose failed to hand out an
assist for the first time in his young
professional career. Rose has averages
6 assist per game.
Derrick
Rose Prepares For Orlando
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
A Ray of Sun Light
A pleasant surprise was the energetic and effective play of Joakim
Noah on both
offense and defense. Noah was relentless, as he out
hustled Orlando’s big men on
offensive boards drawing fouls
shot and hitting free-throws (11 of 13).
“Joakim was 19 and 11 that was good and he was active.” said
Del Negro. Not only
did Noah finished the night with 19 points
and 11 rebounds but played more minutes
than any other bull
(30:48).
Joakim
Noah Scores 2 of his 19 points
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
On To Cleveland
With the 4th quarter mercifully coming to an end, the Orlando
Magic were able to
dictate the final score 104-84. This was the
18th loss of the Bulls season and
their 4th loss in 5 games. The
Bulls have a challenging task at hand as they need
to regroup
when they visit the Eastern Central division leading (26-5)
Cleveland
Cavilers on Friday night.
Cleveland is 20-0 at home and Chicago is 0-2 in their prior
meetings. With the
New Year on the horizon the young Bulls
have an opportunity rebound from a
disappointing performance
and start 2009 1-0 with a victory over
the division leading Cavilers.
©
Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
Next Bulls Game:
At Cleveland Cavilers
Friday January 2nd at 6:30PM CT Game Time
Radio - ESPN AM 1000
TV - Comcast Chicago Sportsnet
Home VS. Minnesota Timber Wolves
Saturday January 3rd at 7:30PM CT Game Time
Radio - ESPN AM 1000
TV - WGN
Home VS. Sacramento Kings
Tuesday January 6th at 7:30PM CT Game Time
Radio - ESPN AM 1000
TV - Comcast Chicago Sportsnet
©
Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
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