Bulls take Lakers, continue winning ways

The Chicago Bulls got a big win on Tuesday, beating the Los Angeles Lakers, 94-89 at the United Center. Chicago has now won 12 of its last 13 games and is in second place in the NBA’s Central Division with a 15-10 record entering Friday’s game at New York.

Most of the Bulls hot streak has come against weak teams in the Eastern Conference. But Tuesday’s win comes against one of the marquee teams in the NBA, even though the Lakers are currently playing without Lamar Odom.

Chicago’s defense held Kobe Bryant to just 19 points on 6 of 19 shooting. Bryant fouled out of a game for the first time in a year. Bryant had scored 98 points in his past two games.
Luol Deng was the big man on the stat sheet with 23 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Ben Gordon added 22 points.

Now the Bulls return to the scene of the crime - Madison Square Garden. That’s where Ben Wallace wore a headband in defiance of coach Scott Skiles in a game on Nov. 25. That’s also the night Chicago started it’s current streak. The Bulls follow that game up with a Saturday home game against Charlotte, then take two days off for Christmas.

Get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub!

Bulls conclude winning homestand with Bucks

The Bulls are streaking, thanks to an eight-game homestand that concludes on Friday when Milwaukee comes to town. Chicago has won six of the first seven games and has won nine of 10 overall.

The hot spell has improved the Bulls’ record to 12-10, good for third place in the Central Division, a game and a half behind Cleveland and Detroit. Chicago is one of just four teams in the Eastern Conference with a record over .500. Orlando (15-10) is the other.

Even better, Ben Wallace has seemed to respond to headbandgate and is playing his best ball of the season. In a 99-84 win over Seattle on Wednesday, Wallace scored 15 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, both season-highs.

Bulls coach Scott Skiles said after the game that he wants Wallace to be part of the Chicago offense, saying, “We throw Ben the ball quite a bit in the course of games.” Skiles didn’t comment if it was harder for teammates to see Wallace when he isn’t wearing a headband.

As for everybody’s favorite NBA story, the Bulls are supposedly not interested in trading for Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson. But the team has been rumored to be part several three-team scenarios involving Iverson. One report has the Bulls sending P.J. Brown to Denver for Marcus Camby as part of a three-team deal with the 76ers. Philadelphia would end up with expiring contracts and draft picks, Denver would get Iverson and Chicago would get Camby. The Bulls would reportedly use the oft-injured Camby as a “Rasheed Wallace” to Ben Wallace up front.

Tony Mejia on CBSSportsline.com reported the Nuggets are the favorites in the Iverson race so the Bulls very much could be in play here.

Meantime, the current Chicago team finishes up the homestand with Milwaukee. Then, it’s a quick trip to Atlanta on Saturday followed by a home game with the suddenly vulnerable Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

Get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub!

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.

Get Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub!

Wallace, Bulls facing fallout from headband controversey

The good news for the Bulls is they’ve had a couple of days off to rest after their two-week road trip. The bad news for the Bulls is they’ve had a couple of days off after the Ben Wallace-Scott Skiles headband controversey.

If you haven’t been paying attention, Wallace was benched during last Saturday’s game against the New York Knicks when he took the floor with a headband. The game, a 106-95 Bulls win, gave Chicago a win at the end of a seven game road trip on which they lost the first six games. Chicago followed that up with a 102-85 win over the woeful Knickerbockers on Tuesday at the United Center for a two-game winning streak But nobody wanted to talk about that.

Wallace likes to wear headbands but Skiles has a team rule prohibiting them. Skiles pulled Wallace two minutes into the game and sat Wallace at the start of the second half as punishment.

AP writer Jim Litke said Skiles has to be at least as angry with Wallace because of his play. After signing a $60 million contract with the Bulls, the best rebounder in the league has been struggling. Reportedly, he misses his buddies in Detroit. In 14 games, Wallace is averaging 5.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
The bottom line was a 25-minute team meeting after a badly-needed victory.

Wallace followed up the controversey with an eight-point, 12-rebound game on Tuesday. Next up for Chicago is a Friday night game at Oklahoma City. Waiting their is Tyson Chandler, the former Bulls center whom Wallace was signed to replace. Chandler is averaging a career-high 11.9 rebounds per game. Ironic, as Chandler was considered a bit soft in the middle and Wallace was supposed to be an upgrade. It should prove to be an interesting night.

Get your Chicago Bulls tickets at StubHub!

 Page 2 of 2 « 1  2