Probable starters: Injury updates: Bulls.com has Donyell Marshall starting at power forward tonight, but DailyHerald.com reports that Tyson Chandler will be playing. There's also a slight chance that Jamal Crawford could play, but don't get your hopes up. I don't think we should rush anything. Key matchups: Jalen Rose vs. Rashard Lewis- They've both played very well as of late. I don't expect either to affect eachother defensively. It's just a matter of who's offense outshines the others. Kirk Hinrich vs. Ronald Murray- Kirk's had some very tough defensive assignments since his first game. This one won't be an exception. Last meeting: Bulls lost 101-94 at home, in over time, despite Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford's monster games.
Ronald Murray in the third killed you. Other than that, a really good game that could have gone either way midway through the last. Hard, hard foul by Baxter and Daniels we well there...
Recap & Boxscore Ick. One of the Bulls' biggest problems last season was giving up waay too many open shots on defense. That's exactly what happened last night. Some of this only involves common sense.. When you have a team that likes to shoot more than go inside, you better defend them ont he perimeter. Also, Eddy Curry should have owned Calvin Booth. I think Bill should have given more minutes to Gill. Scottie seemed a little slow to everything last night.. And, once again, the Bulls have proved that the are probably the worst 3rd quarter team in the league.
Sonics are usually pretty poor in thirds too, but Flip got hot there last night. Booth playing well on Curry isn't a massive surprise - obviously I'd expect Curry to be way too strong down low, but Booth is have a fairly good season and is very athletic/quick which allows him to snare rebounds and block shots he perhaps should get. Seattle, for all their inside definciencies, are actually a hard team to defend on the perimeter too. Lewis and Murray can both beat their man off the dribble and are both very quick, and Radmanovic creates a lot of mismatches with his tendency to float around the perimeter and ability to put the ball on the floor. How long for Bill Cartwright though? I think he's a good coach, but a poor record is usually hung on the guy in charge...
I don't see Pax getting rid of Bill any time soon. It's not as if there are any good coaches on the market right now. I've heard rumors of bringing back Doug Collins.. but I just don't think that would be right.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting slamduncan21:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't see Pax getting rid of Bill any time soon. It's not as if there are any good coaches on the market right now. I've heard rumors of bringing back Doug Collins.. but I just don't think that would be right.</div> doc rivers?
Doc's a Chicago boy, but at the same time Paxson is usually against making big changes mid-season. I see Rivers going to NY.
