LeBron James
Bulls Continue to Frustrate Fans with Erratic Play
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Bulls are on a 3-game road winning streak, but they are still making life miserable for their fans in Chicago. The Bulls embarked on a 7-game road trip last week with an 18-20 record. They started off the trip with “winnable” games against the Warriors in Golden State and the Clippers in Los Angeles. The team knew that they needed to get a win or 2 right away because the back end of the trip was much more difficult with games against 5 teams with winning records.
So – after dropping the 1st 2 games against the Warriors and Clippers with lackluster performances, it looked like the Bulls might go winless on the trip. But then the improbable happened – the Bulls defeated the Suns in Phoenix, the Rockets in Houston and the Spurs in San Antonio. If the Bulls can win one more game on the road trip, they will match the total number of wins that the Bulls had on the road in the first 3 1/2 months of the NBA season – 4. Pretty incredible.
Now that they have Bulls fans believing again, I’m sure they’ll find a way to crap the bed against the Thunder in Oklahoma City and the Hornets in New Orleans to finish the road trip a “successful” 3-4.
The recent keys to success have been the dominating play of Derrick Rose and the consistent play of Luol Deng. In the last game before the road trip, Rose scored 37 points to lead the Bulls to a double-overtime win against the lowly Wizards. Since then, Rose has scored 19, 23, 32, 20 and 27 points respectively, and his average is now up to 19.6 points per game. Throw in a 5.9 assist average and a 3.7 rebound average, and you can see that Rose is getting better with each game. Rose has also limited himself to just a 2.6 turnover average on the current road trip, an excellent stat for a 2nd year player still learning the NBA game.
Luol Deng is the picture of consistency for the Bulls during the 2009-2010 NBA season. Deng is averaging 17.5 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game. Since a November 19th loss at the Lakers in which Deng scored just 6 points, he has scored in double-digits in every game save for 3. Deng too has been limiting his turnovers and his renewed energy around the boards has Bulls fans salivating.
A final piece to the puzzle has been the consistent play of Joakim Noah. Noah is averaging 12.1 rebounds per game – a fabulous stat in and of itself. But the more telling stats are his minutes – 33:06 per game – and his scoring – 11.3 points per game. Noah has fouled out of only 1 game all season long so he is contributing crunch time and giving his coaches the ability to use him during all parts of the game.
With these 3 players proving their worth over the long NBA season so far, if I were one of the big free agents looking to make a move following the 2010 season, I would seriously consider the Bulls. Especially for a Chris Bosh or Amar’e Stoudemire, being able to play next to Noah on a nightly basis would elevate each player’s games to no limit. As long as President John Paxson and GM Gar Forman can get rid of Vinny Del Negro before the end of the season (or shortly thereafter) so that a free agent player will know that he has a legitimate NBA coach leading the way, I would think that the Bulls should be able to land one of the big free agents in the class of 2010…
Celtics a Different Team Without Kevin Garnett; Bulls Top Celtics 96-83 in Boston
Friday, January 15th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, NBA, Sports | No Comments
The Boston Celtics are a much different (worse) team without Kevin Garnett. Last night’s 96-83 loss to the visiting Bulls clearly showed that. Now granted, the Celtics were playing their 4th game in 5 nights so the team was clearly not as energized as they typically are in front of their home crowd at the TD NorthBank Garden in Boston. But you can see how the absence of Kevin Garnett in the paint really affects the way other teams attack the Celtics on offense. With no Garnett (and no Rasheed Wallace too), Paul Pierce has to play that much harder on the defensive end of the court (not his string suit). Minutes also go up for Pierce (39+ minutes) and Ray Allen (35+ minutes). Over the course of a long NBA season, that can take its toll on the aging Celtics especially with the lack of depth on the team’s bench.
The Chicago Bulls should also be given some credit. They knew they had to attack the Celtics right from the start (as they did so many times in the epic 1st round, 7-game playoff series that the Celtics won last year). The Bulls jumped out to a 29-18 1st quarter lead and even though the Celtics continued to chip away at the lead (8 points at halftime; 7 points at the end of the 3rd quarter), the Bulls never let the Celtics get closer than 4 points in the 4th quarter. Even when that happened, the Bulls rattled off 3 straight baskets to up the lead right back up to 10 points.
It was a total team effort for the Bulls as each Bulls starter scored double digit points. Luol Deng led the way with 25 points and 4 assists. Derrick Rose overcame early foul trouble to score 17 points, grab 8 rebounds and dish out 4 assists. Joakim Noah notched his 19th double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Kirk Hinrich chipped in 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Taj Gibson played through his foot injury to score 14 points and grab 6 rebounds. And in just 17 minutes off the bench, Tyrus Thomas grabbed 7 rebounds – 6 offensive – and had 4 steals.
Don’t look now, but the Bulls have won 7 of 10 games. At 17-20, they are the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, but just 2 games out of the 5th seed in a top heavy conference. If the Bulls can somehow pull off a mid-season trade for an upper echelon player or make a run at one of the top tier free agents in the much-coveted 2010 class (Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire, Joe Johnson) their could be good things to cheer about for Chicago Bulls fans in the very near future…
Christmas Day NBA Action – Celtics @ Magic & Cavs @ Lakers – Enjoy!
Friday, December 25th, 2009 | Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, General, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Orlando Magic, Sports | No Comments
Merry Christmas from your friends at Ticket Chest – we hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable holiday season and a great 2010!
Enjoy some great NBA action today:
The defending Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic host the 2008 defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics at 2:30PM Eastern time on Christmas Day. Paul Pierce leads the way for the 21-5 Celtics who have the best record in the Eastern Conference to date. Vince Carter and Dwight Howard lead the way for the Magic who are 21-7 overall and right no the heels of the Celtics.
At 5PM Eastern time, the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Kobe Bryant is averaging over 28 points per game and has had some incredible game-winning shots of late to lead the 22-4 Lakers. Lebron James will be making his last appearance in a Cavs uniform in L.A. (unless the 2 teams meet in the NBA Finals this year) and continues to lead the way for the Cavs by averaging over 28 points per game.
Can’t ask for better NBA game action than this…
LeBron James Dunk video
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 | LeBron James, NBA, Sports | No Comments
Here is the video of LeBron James getting dunked on. Update: We found a great copy of the video and here it is.
LeBron James MVP no one is surprised
Monday, May 4th, 2009 | NBA | No Comments
I don’t think anyone is surprised that LeBron James was announced the NBA MVP for 2009. The Cleveland Cavaliers are about to begin their second-round series against the Atlanta Hawks after they swept the Pistons in the first round. He averaged 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists during the regular season and help take Cleveland to a record breaking 66 wins this year. LeBron is the first Cavalier to win the award at 24 years old and is the youngest player ever to win it.
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | Cleveland | 79 | 79 | 39.5 | .417 | .290 | .754 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 1.6 | .7 | 20.9 |
| 2004–05 | Cleveland | 80 | 80 | 42.4 | .472 | .351 | .750 | 7.4 | 7.2 | 2.2 | .6 | 27.2 |
| 2005–06 | Cleveland | 79 | 79 | 42.5 | .480 | .335 | .738 | 7.0 | 6.6 | 1.6 | .8 | 31.4 |
| 2006–07 | Cleveland | 78 | 78 | 40.9 | .476 | .319 | .698 | 6.7 | 6.0 | 1.6 | .7 | 27.3 |
| 2007–08 | Cleveland | 75 | 74 | 40.4 | .484 | .315 | .712 | 7.9 | 7.2 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 30.0 |
| 2008–09 | Cleveland | 81 | 81 | 37.7 | .489 | .344 | .780 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 28.4 |
| Career | 472 | 471 | 40.6 | .471 | .328 | .738 | 7.0 | 6.7 | 1.8 | .8 | 27.5 | |
| All-Star | 5 | 5 | 30.2 | .516 | .382 | .545 | 6.6 | 5.2 | 1.4 | .4 | 23.4 |
LeBron 52 points at MSG
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 | LeBron James, NBA | No Comments
It was LeBron James 21st career triple-double and a 52 point game for him at Madison Square Garden. He is only the second player to score 50 or more points two times at MSG, Michael Jordan is the other. Two night before Kobe Bryant scored 61 points to break the current record for most points scored at the Madison Square Garden. With LeBron’s amazing scoring Cleveland only barely won the game 107-102 versus the Knicks. “I don’t go out there for the numbers, I just play my game,” James said. James added 11 assists and 10 rebounds, becoming the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to have a triple-double in a 50-point game. LeBron could turn out to be the best all around player of all time by the time the young stars career is over, each year he gets better and better.
Lebron Who? Bulls Top NBA’s Beast 102-93 in OT
Friday, January 16th, 2009 | Chicago Bulls, NBA, Sports | No Comments
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.
Kobe who?
Saturday, January 10th, 2009 | NBA | No Comments
It seems like almost every day we read a story about LeBron James and his amazing skill of taking over any game. Last night was no different. The cavs star had an amazing 38 point game ageist the Celtics and are now 19-0 at home. Boston who had a 27-2 start having been on a downward trend since that amazing trend. James had 23 points in the second half with seven rebounds, six assists, four steals, and three blocks in 35 minutes. This ended up being the second worst loss for the Celtics all seasons. Paul Pierce who is averaging 19.5 points a game was held to 11 by James on 4 of 15 shooting. James who many think is this years MVP sure looks like it after this game. The other Boston stars didn’t have a stellar game with Garnett scoring 18 points and 15 rebounds Rondo adding 13 assists but only shot 41 percent. People have always been talking about Kobe and how he is the next MJ, I’m no basketball expert but LeBron has looked a lot better the last few years.
LeBron Can Dunk
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 | NBA, Sports | No Comments
So LeBron James showed us why he is the next Michael Jordan last night with this amazing dunk. He is already on fire this year and the season has just started. Man I wish the Chicago Bulls had this guy. Cleveland won the game 99-93.
