DaBulls

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chicago picked up four road losses in five nights last 
week, but have had three nights off (like Boston) to try 
to turn their 8-game road losing streak and season around.

Rose is struggling a bit, with 3 turnovers versus just 
3.9 assists, 3.6 boards and 0.36 steals in 36mpg. He's 
shooting .408 from the field, yet averages 22 ppg. Rose 
is still a game-breaker, and needs to be shut down early 
and often. 

Donyell Marshall is averaging 15.0 points and 10.8 boards 
in only 30.8 minutes.

Pierce and Walker thus have two solid veteran NBA 
assignments to guard.

The Bulls average 14.3 offensive boards, with 
contributions from a deep frontline that includes Curry 
and Chandler usually in the starting lineup and Marcus 
Fizer, Lon Baxter and Corey Blount off the bench.

Strangely, the Bulls still have 12 roster guys averaging 
at least 13.5 minutes per game, with only Blount and 
Fizer having missed more than a few games. Every game, 
there is a different guy in the Bill Cartwright's 
doghouse.
  
Trenton Hassell has remained among the steady leaders in 
minutes (28+) despite averaging just 4.6 ppg. He's the 
Bulls' Eric Williams/Adrian Griffin type, who surprised 
us on both ends in the season opener.

Although the Bulls' team stats aren't even as ugly as 
Toronto's (our Friday opponent), the most unsightly thing 
to date has been the FT shooting: 

Jay Williams .564
Eddy Curry .529
Lon Baxter .576
Tyson Chandler .600
Marcus Fizer .611
Corey Bount .600
Jamal Crawford .667
Trenton Hassell .667

Call it a team slump, but its pretty pathetic. These guys 
actually do get to the line more often than their 
opponents on average but have failed to capitalize. 

The Bulls also average a modest 10 three-point attempts 
per game, two-thirds of those shots coming from Rose and 
Jay Williams.

Overall, the slumping Bulls are allowing 99.5 points (-
7.4) on .451 shooting. They are also being out-assisted 
by 5.0 and are 2.07 in blocks, allowing 7.0 per game.

In the previous encounter (91-69), Boston held the Bulls 
below 20 points in all four quarters on .299 shooting 
overall.

Without a doubt this is not a pretty picture for the 
Bulls, but the three days off to regroup can't hurt, plus 
the Antoine Walker hometown factor can make things feel a 
bit dicey. The Bulls have had plenty of mini-Celtics 
killers over the years. 

To me its a game worth watching, to start off the 
holiday. The Bulls have been in disarray, but they've 
beaten us already, they are on the rise, and they have 
genuine talent and athleticism on the roster (part of 
which may be on the trade market soon). The next Jermaine 
O'Neil or Steve Francis may even be somewhere on this 
roster.

Joe H. 

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