BullsEye Blog

This game in Philadelphia tonight is not just a big game for the Bulls as they make their push for the play-offs, but the 76ers have their sights set on moving up in the Eastern Conference.
Philadelphia has been red-hot - they've won 6 out of 7 games and going back even farther they've won 18 out of 23, including wins over Detroit, San Antonio and at Boston just a couple of nights ago. They are a team of young athletes who are also proving to be very good basketball players.

The Bulls' season seems on life support from game to game, but last night's win over Atlanta really helped their play-off hopes in that the win came against one of the teams they have to pass to get to the 8th spot in the conference. They've got Atlanta again on Friday, so there is hope. Of course, there's no over-looking tonight's game against Philadelphia, especially when you consider the Bulls gave up a big 4th quarter lead and lost to the Sixers at the United Center just a couple of weeks ago.

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* The road team has won the first three games in the season series between these teams, with the 76ers coming away with two victories. The Bulls are 4-2 in their last six trips to Philadelphia.
* After beating Atlanta on Tuesday, 103-94, the Bulls are 3-6 in their last nine games. They’ve lost four straight road games, and eight of their last nine away from home.
* Winners of two straight and 18 of their last 23, the 76ers are over .500 for the first time since they were 4-3 through November 16, 2006.
* Drew Gooden erupted for a season-high 31 points on Tuesday. His 16 rebounds also tied a season high.
* As a starter, Joakim Noah has hit 52.5 percent of his field goals and 81.6 percent of his free throws. Those figures were 43.7 and 61.6, respectively, when coming off the bench.
* Samuel Dalembert has averaged 15.3 points and 13.3 rebounds in three games against the Bulls this season. His career field-goal percentage versus Chicago (.609) is the highest by any active player (minimum 75 FGA).

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* The Hawks’ victory over the Bulls in Atlanta on Jan. 13 ended a 12-game losing streak to Chicago. The Bulls last lost to Atlanta at the United Center on April 9, 2004, a run of six straight wins.
* Atlanta has won four of its last five games.
* Joe Johnson is averaging 28.0 points over his last 11 games and shooting 50.2 percent from the field over that time.
* The Bulls have lost two straight and four of their last five games.
* Chicago has lost three of the last four and is only 12-11 this season when Luol Deng scores at least 20 points in a game.

Copyright 2007 STATS LLC

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* The Bulls have won the last two and six of the last eight games against the Pacers.
* Since January 25, the Bulls have dropped back-to-back games seven times, but have yet to lose three in a row.
* The Bulls could be without Kirk Hinrich, who has a right sprained ankle. Hinrich scored a career-high 38 points in the Pacers’ last visit to Chicago on Jan. 23.

Copyright 2007 STATS LLC

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* San Antonio is 15-3 versus Chicago since Michael Jordan left the Bulls. However, the Spurs are going for their first season sweep of the Bulls since the 2004-05 season.
* The Spurs have lost four in a row for the first time since November 2003 and are looking to avoid their first five game losing streak since the 1996-97 season.
* The Bulls have won four of their past five home games, scoring 100+ points in each game.
* San Antonio has an NBA-high 21 wins in games it trails after the first quarter. Its 21-10 (.677) overall record in such games is second best in the league behind the Boston Celtics.
* Manu Ginobili has made 41.2 percent of his three-point attempts on the season, highest among players averaging 20+ points per game and attempting more than 10 three pointers.
* Ben Gordon is averaging 19.6 points per game, shooting .521 (61/117) from the field and .481 (26/54) from three-point land in March.

Copyright 2007 STATS LLC

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* The Nets have won three straight and five of the last six games with the Bulls.
* The Nets have been off since Saturday. New Jersey has won two straight since the end of its six-game losing streak.
* Devin Harris is averaging 20.0 points on .491 shooting from the field in four home games with the Nets, compared to just 13.8 points on .352 shooting on the road.
* The Bulls lost yesterday in New Orleans and have dropped two straight and four of their last five. They have yet to suffer a three game losing streak under interim coach Jim Boylan.
* Kirk Hinrich has averaged 18.4 points per game against the Nets for his career, his highest scoring average against any team in the league.

Copyright 2007 STATS LLC

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* The Bulls look to even the series vs. the Hornets since the move to New Orleans for the 2002-03 season. New Orleans leads 8-7.
* Tonight will be Tyson Chandler’s fourth game against his former team. In three games, Chandler averages 5.3 points and 15.3 rebounds vs. the Bulls.
* The Hornets are looking to match a season-high with their seventh straight home win. They’re also trying to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time since a season-high three-game skid from Feb. 22-25.
* Ben Gordon has scored double figures in 54 of his last 60 appearances off the bench, averaging 21.8 points in those games.
* The Bulls are 5-7 (.417) since its 11-player, three- team trade with Cleveland and Seattle on February 21.
* 16 of Chicago’s 25 wins this season have been by 10+ points, including the last three victories.

Copyright 2007 STATS LLC

Posted by WGN Sports at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Laker trade, getting Pau Gasol, improved their record, no doubt about it. He seems to be fitting in very well. Everyone is waiting for Andrew Bynum to get back to full strength...that's when you will see the Lakers do what they can do.

I'm one of the few people who doesn't see the Jason Kidd trade as helping Dallas all that much. He's an excellent point guard, but I think their major deficiency upfront is strength down low in the half-court game that they are going to encounter in the play-offs.

As for Phoenix, they have time to work Shaquille O'Neal into their offense and once they get into the halfcourt game, that's when they'll be able to use him and his talents a lot better. In the open floor in the Western Conference in the regular season, Shaq is a bit of an anchor...but watch what he can do in the play-offs when the Suns get into a halfcourt game against a team like San Antonio.

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* Memphis has won two straight against the Bulls, but is just 2-10 all-time against them in Chicago.
* The Grizzlies have lost eight straight games and 14 of their last 15.
* Rudy Gay’s 9.3 ppg improvement this season is the best in the NBA (10.8 ppg in 2006-07 to 20.1 ppg in 2007-08).
* The Bulls are trying to avoid losing consecutive home games for the seventh time this season.
* The Bulls are 4-28 this season after trailing at halftime.

Copyright 2007 STATS LLC

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