Lebron Who? Bulls Top NBA’s Beast 102-93 in OT
Friday, January 16th, 2009 | Chicago Bulls, NBA, Sports
2 nights, 2 improbable victories. After struggling through a 3-week stretch at the end of December and the beginning of January, the Chicago Bulls put together 2 good outings on back-to-back nights. On Thursday night, the Bulls upset the NBA’s best team (record-wise at the time) – the Cleveland Cavaliers – 102-93 in overtime on the United Center hardcourt, pulling off the improbable victory after Derrick Rose’s 2 free throws tied the game with 20 seconds left in regulation.
The Bulls were helped by an “off-night” by Lebron James. James scored 28 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out 7 assists, but the focus was on the atrocious 8 of 28 shooting from the floor (including only 1 of 6 from 3-point range) and his season-high 8 turnovers. The Cavs did get a solid effort from Mo Williams, however, who scored 26 points with 5 of 10 shooting from behind the arc. The Cavs were a little short-handed after an ugly injury to point guard Delonte West while trying to block a Derrick Rose layup from behind late in the 1st quarter. The Cavs also started the game without forward Ben Wallace and center Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
As for the Bulls, it was a full team effort, with 6 different players scoring at least 11 points. Rose chipped in 16 points and dished out 6 assists. Luol Deng led the Bulls in scoring with 22 points and also grabbed 8 boards. Tyrus Thomas knocked down 15 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. The bench was the key for the Bulls – Andress Nocioni (11 points and 6 rebounds) in 37 minutes; (12 points and 5 assists) in 30 minutes; and Drew Gooden (11 points and 6 rebounds) in 18 minutes. The only negative – Ben Gordon had a 2nd straight poor game – scoring only 5 points on 2 of 6 shooting (he scored only 10 points on Wednesday night in Toronto shooting 4 of 13 from the floor).
Can the Bulls win 3 in a row? It will be a tough task against the Southwest Division-leading San Antonio Sours who have won 8 of their last 10 games. But no one expected the Bulls to beat the Cavs either, so anything is possible. Del Negro is working in a nice new rotation of players now that everyone is healthy again. If the team continues to develop together with a full complement of players (avoiding the injury bug the last half the season), the Bulls could make a run at the last 2 playoff spots in the East. A realistic goal would be to try to get back to .500 and stay there through mid-April. If they can do that, we’ll likely see the Bulls in a 1st round Eastern Conference match-up against either the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers or Orlando Magic.
