Game Notes For Wednesday @ San Antonio
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* The Bulls have lost 10 of their last 12 trips to Utah, including three in a row.
* Utah has won all six of its home games this season and is outscoring its opponents 103.3 to 92.8 in those contests. Dating back to last season, the Jazz have won 33 of their last 34 home games.
* Chicago is 1-3 so far on its current seven-game road trip. The Bulls have allowed their opponents to score at least 110 points in each of the last four games.
* Derrick Rose has led the team in scoring five times so far this season. Rose has scored exactly 25 points in two of his last four games.
* Mehmet Okur scored a season-high 23 points on Saturday after scoring a total of 12 points in his previous two contests. Okur is averaging 19.7 points in his last six meetings with the Bulls.
* Utah is just 2-4 against Eastern Conference teams this season compared to 7-1 against the West.
Aaron Gray is getting the start in Portland tonight and for my money, he is the Bulls' best option as a low post scorer. He has size and strenght and he has good moves around the basket. All he needs is opportunity, and he is getting it tonight, and a coach to commit to him, to get 20-25 minutes a game. So now Aaron has the opportunity and he has to take advantage of it. He has to score, rebound and defend.
It's up to him to show the coaches that he can be the low post scorer the Bulls would like him to be.
I think it is vitally important for Derrick Rose to play against the top superstars in the league as he hones his skills in this, his rookie year. Earlier, Derrick saw LeBron James - twice already - and on Tuesday, he got his first look at Kobe Bryant. Rose will have these opportunities all season, especially now that Allen Iverson has been traded to the Bulls' own division.
Rose has a great basketball mind. Derrick studies these players when he is in the game and he watches them from the bench. Watching the top players in the league will make Derrick's learning curve short...well, it was already short because he has such a great basketball mind.
If a game can be considered important in November, this is one that fits the bill. That's because teams rarely play 5 consecutive games at home and this is the last of such a string for the Bulls. They have split the first 4...getting this game against the Pacers would put the Bulls over .500 on this homestand and would put them at .500 for the season.
Additionally, the veterans on this team have experienced some dreadful early West Coast road trips, so any sort of confidence-builder as they head out west will be very welcome.
Hopefully, the Bulls can get a couple of wins early on the trip and take some pressure off themselves for the rest of the trip.
One thing I see improvement in the Bulls' early games is their ability to get out on the fastbreak and get in transition. The Bulls are using their speed to attack opponents better than they did in the pre-season and in the opening week of the regular season.
The Bulls' half-court game is still not where Vinny Del Negro would like it to be, so they are using the fastbreak and their speed to take advantage of opponents.
This will come into play very well on this upcoming "Circus" road trip in almost every game, but especially against the Lakers...and Portland, who plays with a big front line...and in San Antonio. The Spurs do not like to play up-tempo, but they have size and that is trouble for the Bulls.
So, watch the Bulls get out and run, especially early in the game where they want to get off to good starts.
* Phoenix has won its last four road games against Chicago, outscoring the Bulls by more than 10 points per game (96.5-86.3) in these contests.
* The Suns have shot better than 50 percent from the field in each of their last four games.
* The Bulls are shooting 40.0 percent from the floor this season, second lowest in the NBA. This continues their struggles from last season, when they finished dead last in field-goal percentage (43.5%).
* Amare Stoudemire is coming off a game on Wednesday in which he had 49 points (on 17-for-21 from the field), 11 rebounds, six assists and five steals. He is just the seventh player since the 1986-1987 season to have a 40-10-5-5 game – and the first since Vince Carter on Dec. 7, 2001 against Denver (42-15-6-5).
* Shaquille O’Neal has 48 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists in his last two games against the Bulls.
* Fifty of Derrick Rose’s 89 total points this season have come in the paint.
What the Bulls want to do tonight against LeBron James is to limit his drives to the basket.
They want to make him shoot jump shots. He's shooting 42% from the floor this season, which is the lowest he has shot since his rookie season.
So, if the Bulls can block his drives to the basket, limit his penetration and make him a perimeter shooter, they might be able to keep him from having another monster game against them.
Stacey
Every game that Derrick Rose plays against a superstar is a learning experience. He's the kind of player who takes something away from all the great players he sees, whether they play his position or not. What he has in common will all great players - like LeBron, Kobe or Chris Paul - is that he "brings it" every night. He's not in their stratosphere yet, but that's where he aspires to be.
The Bulls want his development to come game by game...by playing and learning...not by what players he is playing against.