Projected Starters
Chicago Golden State
PG – Derrick Rose Stephen Curry
SG – Richard Hamilton Monta Ellis
SF – Luol Deng Dorell Wright
PF – Carlos Boozer David Lee
C – Joakim Noah Andris Biedrins
Scope the opposition: Get your Bulls fix at By the Horns.
Preview: The Chicago Bulls will stroll into Oracle Arena tonight, fresh off a last second win against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. They will be playing game number two, of their four-game California road trip that will have them make stops in Sacramento on Thursday and Los Angeles (LAC) on Friday.
The Bulls used last season’s recipe to stymie the Lakers on Christmas day and will be looking to do the same against the Golden State Warriors tonight.
They will try and keep the game close with their tough physical defense as well as their rebounding.
On Sunday, Chicago only held Los Angeles to 47.4 percent field goal shooting, but was able to generate 14 steals to take the Lakers out of their offense and also managed to pull down 16 offensive rebounds against a team known for owning the boards.
In addition, with Andrew Bynum missing the contest to serve a four-game suspension, the Bulls barreled into the lane, scoring 42 points in the paint but only attempting 14 free throws.
Consequently, one would have to assume that the Chicago Bulls will try to replicate that exact same recipe against the Dubs.
Mind you, if history plays any part in this game, Derrick Rose’s unit may be in store for a rude awakening.
Last season, the Bulls came into Oracle and were defeated 101-90 as the Warriors put the clamps on eventual league MVP Derrick Rose. The former Memphis star was held to 14 points on six-for-15 shooting; but more importantly the Dubs forced him to commit a whopping nine turnovers.
Gone is the coaching staff that devised the game plan to contain Rose last season, but Mark Jackson’s defense so far has shown a better level of accountability and the effort displayed in one-on-one defense so far has been impressive to say the least in comparison to last season.
In their Christmas battle against the Clippers, the Dubs big men did a good job of defending the interior players of the Clips as evidenced by the 36 points in the paint they allowed. Some might point to the 38 free throw attempts that Golden State surrendered but many of them came as a result of a strategy in which the Dubs purposely fouled DeAndre Jordan to put him at the line given his inability to consistently convert freebies.
Going into tonight, there is some concern on how Stephen Curry will perform after his abysmal shooting night in the previous game, but once he gets his rhythm back (he missed considerable practice time because of an ankle injury), his shooting stroke should remerge.
Monta Ellis on the other hand is a different story. According to Synergy Sports, the Warriors guard converted one-of-13 shots in isolations, pick-and-rolls, spot ups and coming off screens. Yes, only one field goal.
Conversely, he was perfect from the field in transition and post up situations. Thus, it may behoove the Dubs to get out in transition for easy scoring opportunities (they scored 31 fast break points against the Bulls in Golden State last season) given Chicago’s tough half-court defense as well as Rip Hamilton’s ability to defend Ellis with his size.
Chicago game notes: Last season, Luol Deng averaged 22.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and four assists on 47.1 percent field goal shooting against the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State game notes: Last season, Stephen Curry averaged 20.0 points, seven assists and three steals per game on 48.5 percent field goal shooting against the Chicago Bulls.
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