Chicago Bulls Year in Review
Everybody else is doing it, so why not the Bulls Blog? In the spirit of the last day of 2007 we’re going to give you a short little Year in Review Blog dedicated to the highlights of the 2007 season. There were a lot of great stories for Bulls fans, but here are just a few that you should remind yourself about:
—The Bulls won 49 games in the regular season and then swept the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2007 NBA playoffs. Although the Pistons ended up knocking out the Bulls in the second round, 2007 was the third year in a row that Chicago was a factor in the postseason.
— Luol Deng won the NBA Sportsmanship Award.
—Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas participated in All-Star Game festivities. Ben Wallace and Kirk Hinrich were named to the NBA All-Defensive second team. Thomas was a second team All-Rookie selection.
— The Bulls drafted Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray, JamesOn Curry, and Dimitris Nichols before the 2007-’08 season.
—Scott Skiles was recently fired as the head coach.
—The Bulls sold out all 41 of their home games in 2007, leading the league in attendance.
We look forward to bringing you more great news about the Bulls in 2008. Happy New Years to all of you out there in the Blogosphere. Be safe tonight, and make sure to go to StubHub.com for all of your Chicago Bulls tickets.
Bulls to Play Milwaukee Tonight
The Chicago Bulls are set to play the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at the United Center. We hope you have your tickets, because this one looks like it will be a sweet one to see at home. The Bulls have a chance to chip away at a team that’s directly above them in the Central Division standings. With a new interim head coach, who knows how the Bulls will react. The Bucks aren’t that good, so this would be a great time for Chicago to try to bounce back from a lot of off-the-court issues.
The Bucks will hobble into the game without Desmond Mason, one of their best shooters and drivers. Look for wing guys like Luol Deng, Nocioni and Gordon to try to take advantage of Yi Jianlian’s defensive immaturity. The Bulls Blog predicts a win here for the home team, let’s call it 103-95 Bulls. The Bulls’ backcourt should outplay their opponents on the Bucks.
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Skiles Fired!
The Bulls Blog hasn’t been here to give you the latest news on Chicago NBA basketball, but there was a huge story to cover. Forgive the lateness, but Scott Skiles was fired from his head coaching job with the Chicago Bulls. Chicago has started the season terribly slow, again- most likely the reason for the sudden departure of Skiles. It’s a head coaching gig in professional sports, so if you don’t succeed right away, your head is on the chopping block. Even though the Bulls have been to the playoffs each of the past three seasons, the franchise management thought that one more bad start was enough to call for Skiles’ head.
Skiles might end up with another job soon, as he has a lot of NBA experience, both as a player and as a coach. Assistant coach Pete Myers was in charge of the team when the Bulls played San Antonio the other day. However, another assistant, Jim Boylan, has been named the interim head coach of the team until a more permanent coach can be found.
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Chicago Bulls to Play Mighty Boston Celtics
The Chicago Bulls are set to play the Boston Celtics, possibly the most talked-about team in the NBA this season. The Bulls will have their hands full tomorrow. The Celtics are sporting the “Big Three” of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. They are currently leading the NBA with a 20-3 overall record, are on the top of pretty much every power ranking, and basically look like a frightening team right now. Combine that with the fact that the Celtics are coming off of their first home loss of the season, and you have yourself a great team that’s hungry to prove something.
The Bulls enter the game after beating the wounded Washington Wizards, and have had almost the complete opposite start that the Celtics had in the first twelve games of the season. The Bulls are hungry for a win, too. We might have ourselves a pretty good game to watch on TV. This battle will take place in Boston, but hopefully there are some Bulls fans in New England who can get some tickets to attend the game. The Bulls will need all the help they can get in this one.
To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Bulls Beat Wizards
The Chicago Bulls didn’t need Ben Wallace to get a win in last night’s game against the Washington Wizards. Aaron Gray, the rookie center who has been playing reserve role all season long, got a great opportunity to shine in his first NBA start. Gray put together 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists and got accolades from coach Scott Skiles and all of the commentators on the television and radio broadcasts of the game. Wallace wasn’t playing due to soreness in his left foot. His absence is not expected to last too long, but with Gray playing like he has been, Big Ben should feel comfortable getting enough rest to return at full strength.
The Wizards were playing without Gilbert Arenas, who might have been able to put a better clamp on Ben Gordon, who led the Bulls with 22 points. With Arenas out, Caron Butler stepped up as the go-to scorer for the Wiz, though he was unable to lead the team to a win all by himself. The Bulls won it 95-84, one of their most impressive defensive efforts of the year. After starting out the year 2-10, the Bulls are working on a 7-4 record since November 27th.
To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Lakers Defeat Bulls
The Bulls dropped last night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers 103-91. Although Kobe was allegedly “hobbled” by a nagging groin injury, he still managed to score 18 points, including several on some acrobatic oops dunks and layups. Lamar Odom filled in for Kobe- who appeared to feel the affects of his injury only while trotting back on defense- by adding 17 points and 16 rebounds. The Lakers have now swept the season series with the Lakers.
One of the worst things about this loss is that the Bulls were one of the teams that was supposed to be courting Kobe Bryant during the offseason. There were even some lame “Kobe” chants that started up at the United Center when the Bulls got off to their bad start. If there is one thing that the Bulls Blog detests more than Kobe and the distractions he causes, it’s the people who think that cheering for the opponent is a way to help your team. I’m not sure of the logic in cheering for Kobe Bryant when you’re in a Bulls jersey at a Bulls game, but perhaps you know something that we don’t. I have a feeling that people will forget about the Kobe trade rumors once the Lakers inevitably implode due to Kobe acting like a brat, and the Bulls eventually start acting like the Bulls.
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Bulls to Play Lakers Tonight in Chicago
Before the season began, you would have though that the situations would be reversed for the Bulls and the Lakers. Los Angeles is dealing with injury problems with Kobe and Kwame Brown, but they have managed to shoot out to a 13-9 record in the first two months of play. Meanwhile, the team everyone thought would be at the top of the league, the Chicago Bulls, has struggled early on, only managing to reach 7-13 at this point. The last time these two teams met the Lakers blew out the Bulls 106-78 in a game that got ugly early. The scrubs played from most of the game. This time, the Bulls are hoping to exact revenge.
As you loyal Bulls Blog readers well know, Chicago is coming off of a win over New York at home, so the team might be gaining more confidence. The fact that Kobe is having trouble working at full speed is also a considerably optimistic factor to think about before you get tickets to see this one. If the Bulls can win one tonight and then another tonight in Washington D.C., then they’ll have a winning streak going. The NBA Forecasting game generator has the Bulls favored to win by “favorite” factor of 59%.
To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Chicago Bulls Hold off Hobbled New York Knicks
The Chicago Bulls got another win, one they desperately need, against the New York Knicks on Friday night last week. The Knicks were missing many of their best players, including Stephon Marbury, Quentin Richardson and Eddy Curry, making the task much easier for the Bulls. The 101-96 win didn’t come without a small scare near the end of the game when the Knicks pulled within a couple possessions. However, the combination of a surging Kirk Hinrich and a typically-stellar Luol Deng was too much for the Knicks. The Bulls are now 8-13. Hopefully this team can continue to improve their record and rebound from a slow start. The Bulls will play the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow night.
There’s a good article on the Chicago Sun-Times website about the play of Kirk Hinrich that you ought to check out. The Bulls’ young guard hasn’t been his self in the beginning of the season, but we certainly saw what he can do when he’s on his game while the Bulls were playing the Knicks the other night. Of note for you Bulls fans in attendance was that Chicago set an arena record and a record stat for the NBA so far this year with their 15 blocked shots.
To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Chicago Bulls to play New York Knicks Tonight
The Chicago Bulls will play the New York Knicks tonight at the United Center. Hopefully you have your tickets ready because this one looks like it’s going to end in a lopsided victory for the Bulls, or so thinks the game simulator at CBSSportsline’s game preview page. Picking Chicago to win this one should be an easy choice. The Bulls are hungry for an opportunity to right the ship after losing on the road to the Pacers the other night. They will be playing at home against a struggling New York Knicks team that’s only 6-15 and in the middle of a four-game losing streak. The Knicks are banged up as well, so several of their top players, including Marbury, Richardson, James and Collins will either be sitting on the bench or seeing reduced minutes.
Let’s hope that tonight the Bulls can get a confidence-inspiring win over a team that used to be their rivals a long time back. The Bulls aren’t too far from the top of their division, even though they have had very unfortunate luck so far this season. The Knicks have already beaten the Bulls this season, so this would be a great opportunity to show that this team is on the up-and-up. If you don’t already have tickets to the game, then make sure you watch it on TV. The Bulls won’t play again until Tuesday of next week, so you’ll have to get your fix of Bulls action tonight.
To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Bulls Fall to Pacers
The Chicago Bulls lost to the Indiana Pacers last night in Indianapolis. Kareem Rush lead all scorers in the game with 22 points, helping the Pacers secure a 117-102 victory over their Central Division opponents. The game was fairly close until the Pacers pushed the pace in the third quarter, scoring 40 points in the period and leaving the Bulls in the dust for good. The Pacers are now at 11-11 and in second place in the standings. The Bulls have dropped to 7-13. As we know, they are still on the bottom of the standings. Friday the Bulls will play New York, and they hope that they can get a win against the Knicks, because they need to start moving up if the playoffs are to be in their future.
This team is in need of a good win streak, but as yet they have not found one. While it is easy to be pessimistic and negative about the way that the season is starting off for the Bulls, we have to remind ourselves that it’s a very long season in the NBA. Teams that start slow can finish very fast and vise versa. If the Bulls are still waiting around at the bottom of the Central in a month or two, the panic should start to set in. Right now, let’s just hope that the Bulls are getting some kinks out before they really turn it on here very shortly.
To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.