There’s no place like home for Bulls

Sometimes the NBA is really simple. The Bulls were reeling a couple of weeks ago, losing the first five games of the annual Circus trip before lucking out and finishing the road trip at New York.

Now, Chicago has a seven-game winning streak going. The streak started with that win over the Knicks, which also happened to be the Ben Wallace headband game. On Friday night, the Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors, 93-90.

Some pundits have suggested the Wallace incident triggered the turnaround (Sports Illustrated among them) but we beg to differ. We think the reasons are simpler than that.

1) Five of the seven wins have come at the United Center. The Bulls are in a stretch of 10 games where they play nine at home. Yes, this is an extreme example, but it’s easier to win at home and harder on the road.
2) As they said on Blogabull.com this week, “The Atlantic Division is a cure-all for any team.” Five of the seven wins in the streak have come against Atlantic teams (Knicks twice, Celtics, 76ers and Raptors). This theory will be tested starting on Saturday when Chicago hosts Minnesota as the Bulls are done with the Atlantic for a while.

Wallace has played better after a poor start. But Chicago has gotten bigger contributions from two other sources: Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng. Hinrich scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter on Friday to help hold off a Toronto rally. Deng has been going off of late, scoring 25 points against the Raptors after burning the 76ers for 21 points and 10 rebounds in a 121-94 victory on Wednesday.

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