Nov
6
Los Angeles Clippers 97, Chicago Bulls 91
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
The defensive urgency and overall effort were much better tonight for the Chicago Bulls; unfortunately, the end result was the same. Chicago dropped to 0-4 on the young season as the surprising Clippers rode the hot hand of Cuttino Mobley (33 points on 13-17 shooting from the field) to its third victory in three games this year without injured superstar Elton Brand and promising point guard Shaun Livingston.
In simple terms, Chicago’s offense stagnated when it mattered most in the fourth quarter, and the Clippers were able to put together a late run in the final minutes after struggling for most of the second half following a red-hot first 24 minutes that featured the team shooting at a staggering 60 percent clip.
From the game’s tip off, the Bulls came out with a different intensity than in the first three games. Luol Deng started the game with much promise, attacking the rim with no regard after really struggling both physically and mentally during the last two games against Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
However, the Clippers hung in the game via the three ball until the second quarter, when Mobley got really hot and helped Los Angeles go on a 11-0 run with the game tied at 31. Despite the double-digit deficit midway through the second quarter, Chicago remained composed and cut the score to five, 57-52 at halftime.
The second half was a grind fest with Chicago leading by three points for seemingly forever in the fourth quarter until the final minutes while locking the Clippers down with some tough defense. However, Chicago’s offense did nothing to build on the modest lead as Head Coach Scott Skiles had a questionable lineup out on the floor for too long at the start of the period.
While veteran forward Joe Smith played excellent all night, ending up with 17 points, Chicago’s surrounding lineup of Chris Duhon, Thabo Sefalosha, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng left a lot to be desired for the first four or five minutes in the fourth.
While holding the Clippers down on defense, this unit did nothing on offense. Duhon failed to get the offense into anything while Deng did nothing to establish himself as a closer after an excellent first half. Chicago went to the well one too many times with Smith, who kept the Bulls in front with his free throw shooting but tired out.
And when Chicago’s starters got back on the floor, something was missing. Chicago had no flow on offense. While a Ben Gordon three gave the Bulls an 89-85 lead with a little under four minutes to go, the Clippers would quickly rattle off a 7-0 run and never look back. As been the case in the last three losses, Chicago couldn’t even muster a semblance of a comeback in the final minutes.
While disappointing, tonight’s game showed that the Bulls have fight in them and grasp the immediacy of digging out of this hole. Chicago’s effort could not be questioned tonight; its execution once again could.
It’s strange to say but Chicago’s veteran lineup at the end of the game looked like a bunch of rookies unsure of what to do next or where to go. There was no rhythm at all, and you could see where this game was going, to the Clippers.
It’s hard to remember Deng and Gordon playing such uneven games in the last couple of years as they have at the start of this season. Hinrich and Ben Wallace played with much more urgency tonight, but only so much effort on defense from Hinrich will go towards stopping a player as hot as Mobley.
To be brutally honest, Wallace has looked very old in the first couple of games this season. He’s really struggling to do anything on the offensive glass and has been unable to clear the defensive board. Tonight, Clippers center Chris Kaman dominated him in the lane, scoring whenever he touched the ball.
With that said, Smith and Noah were positives off the bench, playing with a lot of energy. And Tyrus Thomas continued to play with his normal gusto; however, he’s still too raw to be starting for this team. As for Andres Nocioni, he has not played a good game since the first round of last year’s playoffs. Nocioni is too good to be playing so low; leaving one to wonder if he has any confidence at this point.
In conclusion, the Bulls fought back tonight but couldn’t pull away after taking the lead. A stagnant offense once again cost the team in the end.
Winning ugly would have been beautiful tonight. Losing ugly hurts even more, considering that this was the Bulls’ best effort of the year (which is not saying much at this point). With that said, it’s only four games, and this core still has time to figure it out. However, will some members of the Chicago media let them (raise your hand if your first name is Jay Marrioti)?
According to the idiotic Mariotti, the honeymoon is over for Bulls General Manager John Paxson. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the talking head and piece of junk that is Mariotti.
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Los Angeles Clippers 97, Chicago Bulls 91
Good defense by the Los Angeles Clippers drama boys, if only we could patch up the difference, this will be a Los Angeles good season. They are running, switching in defense, rebounding see those efforts. We don’t have yet the Clippers team down.
I which I could see some Clippers games live. I was looking for tickets all the good seats on ticketmaster were taken I had to check broker. And man you don’t want to do that especially for the Los Angeles Clippers. Thanks god there sites like Ticketwood which work as comparators here is the site
Clippers Tickets
http://www.ticketwood.com/nba/LosAngeles-Clippers-Tickets.php.
I like slam dunks that take me to the hoop my favorite play is the ally-hoop,
I like the pic n roll,i like the given goal its basketball yo, yo lets go!
Go Clippers Go!!!
It’s that time of the year when 16 of the 30 NBA teams are geared up for the postseason. Unfortunately for the teams that didn’t make the playoffs; they will be forced to watch the playoffs from their homes.
Also, the teams that failed to reach the postseason will most likely make some sort of off-season changes to try and improve their team for next season. It doesn’t matter if the team is doing well in the season but people always are attending their games. For ex, Bulls tickets are always in demand and in 2007 season the
Chicago Bulls tickets were sold out so early. This is due to the great number of the team’s fans and this explains that the Chicago Bulls is one of the major NBA teams.