Bad Fourth Quarter Dooms Bulls

The Bulls had it all in place heading into the fourth quarter of their game against the 76ers on Friday night at the United Center. However, they let a big lead slip away and allowed the Sixers to score 40 points in the last 12 minutes of regulation. The Bulls lost the game 110-106. We try to remain positive here at the Bulls Blog, but there is just not a lot of good things to say about this loss. We played three really good quarters of basketball, but if you don’t finish hard, it’s going to cost you. Hopefully the Bulls will use this last game as a motivational tool, a reminder to keep focused when they should be closing out games.

Sorry to dump on all of you out there in Bulls Land. It’s a Monday, so you can start the day off in a bad mood, I suppose. We left off with you folks on Friday, anxious to get out to the United Center for the Bulls-Sixers game, and other than that, there wasn’t much news to report over the weekend. The Luck o’ the Irish will have to be with the Bulls tonight, because they play the New Orleans Hornets on the road in the Big Easy. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of you Bulls fans. Celebrate safely, and we’ll hopefully be back here tomorrow morning to report a big-time Bulls win.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Going over the Stats Before the Bulls-Sixers Game

Congratulations, Blogosphere. It’s Friday! And you know that on Fridays we like to move away from the regular grind to give you something a little different. Normally, we’d give you a mini game preview for the Bulls-Sixers game that’s going down tonight at the United Center. Hope you have your tickets, by the way. However, because it’s the end of the work week, we’re throwing some sweet stats action your way. The Bulls clearly got better at shooting from the outside when they traded Wallace and Smith for Gooden and Hughes. So the Bulls have a lot of good outside shooters. However, which one would you like to take the last-second three in an end-of-game situation? Here’s the Bulls Blog’s order of shot-takers.

1. Ben Gordon
2. Andres Nocioni
3. Kirk Hinrich
4. Luol Deng
5. Chris Duhon
6. Larry Hughes
7. Thabo Sefolosha
8. Thomas Gardner

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Bulls Schedule Conducive to Playoff Push

The Chicago Bulls are still in the race for the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, and if they can capitalize on some of their next games, they will be in a very good position to get to the postseason. This task will be made easier by three facts.

1. The Bulls are playing well at home.
2. They are playing a lot of home games right now.
3. They will be playing many of the low-ranking teams in the Eastern Conference.

You can read a quick team report at FOX Sports about the next few games the Bulls will play. Beginning with the win over Utah, the Bulls could win a home game against Philly, a home game against New Jersey and a home game versus Indiana. They will play a couple of hard teams, though. They battle New Orleans on the road and San Antonio at home next week. All of the home games against weak Eastern teams is great news for ticket buyers, so act fast to get yours.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Chicago Trumps Utah 108-96

The Bulls beat a really good team last night. If you got tickets to the United Center Tuesday you witnessed the Bulls getting a win (somewhat unexpectedly) over the Utah Jazz. The 108-96 final score was great for fans of the Bulls on several levels. They beat a good team for the first time since their home victory over the Cavs. Their offense was clicking for most of the game, and they did a great job keeping the Jazz from getting their offense together, especially in the first half. Overall, it was a great game to attend, Hope you had got your tickets.

However, there was a new article that came out at Sports Illustrated that you might not find so pleasant. The Bulls are “rudderless” according to Ian Thomsen. So it was an up-and-down day for the Bulls at Sports Illustrated. You have the win over a good Western Conference team to enjoy, but you also have a guy who can’t spell Thompson right giving you a bunch of reasons to panic.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Utah a Challenge Tonight

The Chicago Bulls are set to play the Utah Jazz tonight at the United Center. If you want to see the Bulls play one of the best teams in the Western Conference, then this is a great game to get tickets to. The Jazz are 42-22 right now, they’re playing solidly and getting all of their players back to full strength. They lead the Northwest Division, and will almost certainly get one of the playoff spots in the West again. They are anchored by Carlos Boozer, who is averaging a double-double this year. Deron Williams runs the offense, which is efficient and well-balanced. Coach Jerry Sloan has them playing some of the best defense in the league, too.

So at this point, you’re thinking that the Bulls don’t stand a chance. However, they might play well, anyways. The Jazz are only favored by four, the Bulls play much better when they are at home, and the new-look Bulls are starting to click as a team. Plus, the Bulls are a lot hungrier for a win, so if the Jazz show some weakness, expect Chicago to pounce hard.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Bulls Have Tough Weekend, Move Up in Power Rankings

The Chicago Bulls had a tough weekend. On Friday night they had to go on the road to play the Bosotn Celtics and were delivered a convincing loss, 116-93. On Sunday they were supposed to get back on track, except that they played another one of the clear playoff teams in the East, the Detroit Pistons, who also scored 116 points on the Bulls, giving them their second loss in three days. On Monday the ESPN Power Rankings had the Bulls moved up one spot, from No. 21 to 20, but probably because they played well against Cleveland and Memphis during the work week, not because they lost to two of the best teams in basketball.

Right now the road looks pretty steep for the Bulls. The just got done getting beaten by the Celtic and the Pistons on the road, and now they have to play a playoff team in the West, the Utah Jazz, at home on Tuesday. After that they will host Philadelphia on Friday, but then they will go on the road to play New Orleans. The Sixers game is a must-win right now, because the Bulls won’t get any kind of rest from the Jazz or Hornets.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Revenge is Sweet for Chicago

The Bulls got their revenge quickly. Chicago beat the Cleveland Cavilers last night at the United Center 107-96, just a few days after the Cavs beat them in Cleveland. Although LeBron James was on fire- scoring 39 points on the night, including two buzzer-beating shots at the end of the first and second quarters- he could not allow his team to get past the Bulls this time. Gooden, Deng and Gordon all had good games for the Bulls. Great game overall, actually. Hope you got tickets to see it.

Overall, who won in that big player trade between the Cavs and the Bulls? We might not know for a while. They each won their home games when they played each other recently, so you can’t really say that one team is much better than the other right now. If the Cavs had won both, then you might be able to make the case that the Bulls had lost out on the deal, but as such, you can’t make a good decision right now. The Bulls will play the Boston Celtics tonight on the road, and then on Sunday they travel to Detroit. We’ll see you all back here on Monday to survey the weekend of hoops.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Bulls Can Get Revenge Tonight

One thing about the FOX Sports team page for the Bulls: It might not have as simple of a layout as some of the other team pages from internet sports media outlets, but it does have a huge countdown to show you how many days, hours, minutes and seconds the Bulls have until they play again. This is a good thing for Bulls blogs like this one, because we’re always interested in telling you guys to go out and see the games. Here, you will know exactly how much time you have to get tickets. Or, if you are Joakim Noah, you know exactly how much time you have to try to gather your ‘fro and stuff it into the hardest-working hair band in basketball. Just kidding, Noah!

There’s not much time left to get tickets to see the Bulls play the Cavaliers at the United Center tonight. Tip off is set for 7:00 Eastern, but if the Bulls had their way they’d probably like the game to start right now, at the time of this posting. If you will remember, the Bulls lost to the Cavs this past Sunday, so now they’re out for revenge. You can help the Bulls to get that vengeance by cheering for them. They’ll need the support of the home crowd tonight, because the Cavs (the team which was involved in the Hughes, Gooden, Wallace, Smith trade) are very good. It should be a great one tonight. See you there!

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Bulls Easily Dismiss Grizzlies

The Chicago Bulls beat the Memphis Grizzlies last night 112-97. For the Griz, this game marked their ninth loss in a row. For the Bulls, this is hopefully the first win of a streak that will last nine-straight games. Drew Gooden had a monster night. He scored 21 points, snagged 14 rebounds and blocked 3 shots. Luol Deng is taking some time to get back into top shape, but last night was one of his best performances since coming back from injury. He scored 21 points on 8-17 shooting in 43 minutes. Thabo was out with an injury for the third-straight game, but the Bulls did not need his defensive moves to get past the Grizzlies at home.

You’ve got to feel good about what the Bulls accomplished last night, but from now on this kind of game needs to be put into context. This was one of those “gimmes” that you need to win consistently. The Bulls have to start winning the hard ones- that’s when we know that this team is really ready to get a playoff race underway.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Chicago Favored to Win vs. Memphis

The Chicago Bulls will play the Memphis Grizzlies at home tonight in the United Center. Make sure you’re at the game, because the Bulls are expected to lay the smack down on Memphis. The Griz are currently going on seven straight losses, and the Bulls, despite being on a cold streak themselves, have been playing well enough to stay with good basketball teams. Memphis, at 14-44, has not been so great this season. Add it all up and you get a Bulls victory- or so thinks the Accuscore Projection. You can see that the Bulls have an 81% chance of winning tonight according to this computer simulation if you go to the CBS Sports Game Preview.

Of course, it’s not as simple as looking at the stats and then calling it a night. The Bulls will still have to bring a lot of effort into the game. They have to get into playoff hunt mode before things get out of hand. An easy way to get some momentum is to beat up on the lowly Griz. However, Rudy Gay is always dangerous, and Memphis is starving for a win as much as the Bulls are, if not more.

To get Chicago Bulls tickets, go to StubHub.com.

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