Magic Defeat Bulls 96-93
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 | NBA, Sports
The Chicago Bulls road woes continued during the 2008-9 NBA season. Although the score might indicate a closer game, the Magic truly dominated from start to finish. The Magic led by as many as 17 points on 2 separate occasions, and although the Bulls made spirited runs at the end of the 1st half and once again during the closing minutes of the game, the Bulls really didn’t deserve to come away with the road win. In the end, Dwight Howard proved too much for the Bulls to overcome with his 22 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. All 5 Magic starters and bench player Keith Bogans each scored in double-digits. Rashard Lewis put forth one of his best nights of the young season – 21 points, 11 rebounds and a token assist.
As for the Bulls, Drew Gooden led the way with 21 points, but only 3 rebounds. For a good portion of the game, Gooden was setting solid picks for Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon, and that probably cut into his rebound total. Derrick Rose chipped in 14 points and 4 rebounds, but the rest of the starters were largely ineffective – Tabo Sefolosha (3 points, 4 rebounds), Luol Deng (1 point, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), and Tyrus Thomas (7 points, 6 rebounds). Bench players Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni were keys to the Bulls success. Nocioni scored 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, while Gordon added 17 rebounds, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. At the end of the game, Gordon missed a fadeaway jump shot with 15 seconds that would have tied the game. After the Magic only made 1 of 2 free throws after a Bulls foul, Nocioni’s 3-point shot at the buzzer failed to find the hole, and the Bulls were saddled with the 3 point loss.
On the road, the Bulls will need to start quicker if they expect to be able to win important road games. So far, the Bulls have had to battle from behind early, and that becomes even harder to do on the road. Down the stretch, the Bulls need to put the ball in Derrick Rose’s hands more often. Gordon is more of a scorer than a creator of the dribble, especially with his smaller size. Instead of letting him go one-on-one with his defender, the Bulls need to let Rose do his thing, and find Gordon or the open man to take the perimeter jump shot. This is something Head Coach Del Negro and his staff will have to get comfortable with as the season progresses, or else we will continue to see these close losses.
The Bulls play the Cavs in Cleveland on Wednesday, November 5th. Then they open a big 5-game home stand at the United Center before they open a long west coast road trip that has the team playing 6 games in 9 days. Assuming a loss to the Cavs, the Bulls will need to go at least 3-2 at home to get back to .500 before the 7-game road trip.
