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Kelly Dwyer, you are a dumbass

I'll get to the recap of last night's 103-94 loss to the Spurs but I wanted to mention something I read today.

Kelly Dwyer's Behind the Box Score which I regularly read but this article made me laugh. Kelly is a Bulls fan and a huge Derrick Rose hater based on past articles. Dwyer basically goes on to say that Rose shot the Bulls out of the game last night. I find this hilarious considering Derrick Rose was the only Bull last night that could make a shot and he finished with a nice 15-27 shooting while guys like Taj Gibson shot 0-7 and Luol Deng shot 6-17. But yeah, Derrick Rose shot us out of this game last night. Shut up Kelly. If I had one complaint about Rose last night, he only got to the line once last night (on a Tim Duncan technical in the 4th quarter) and he took 27 shots. Can't even blame the refs for this because I think Rose only drove to the rim twice last night. One of which Tim Duncan whiffed on a foul attempt. Another complaint on Rose last night was his defense on Tony Parker was less than ideal. His defense has improved a lot since his rookie season though but I thought he was below average last night on D.

"After two hot games from long range he's still below the league average on three-pointers despite taking nearly four a game" Hey Kelly, have you watched the last 2 games where Derrick Rose is like 5-8 from 3? Way to take an eight game sample size and say he sucks because of it.

"I love Derrick Rose" No, no you don't. Shut up.

In terms of yesterday's loss, I'll give you my good, bad, and ugly.

Good:
Derrick Rose (But of course he shot the Bulls out of the game!!! No he was one of the few who actually showed up)
Ronnie Brewer (As I said yesterday, he's quickly becoming one of my favorite players. Had a pretty sick dunk in the 2nd quarter)

Okay:
Kyle Korver
Joakim Noah
Omer Asik (Didn't do it on the offensive end but he was fantastic on the defensive end)

Bad:
Luol Deng (Continue to hate this guy more and more. You look at his stats and think he's solid but he's much worse than his stats say. This guy is just completely worthless)
Taj Gibson (Another horrendous game from Taj)
CJ Watson (Wasn't all that bad but he's my Jannero Pargo of this year. A selfish guy that isn't good and hurts this team more than he helps them. Not a fan at all and would love to see someone else come in and back-up Derrick)

Chicago Bulls @ San Antonio Spurs 11-17-10 Preview (8:30 CSN and ESPN)

The Bulls travel to San Antonio tonight on a back to back to take on Eva Longoria-less Tony Parker and the Spurs. The Bulls went 2-0 against the Spurs last year winning on opening night 92-85 behind 17/9 from Luol Deng. The Bulls also won in San Antonio later in the year when they went on a West Coast tear winning six in a row in games including all .500 teams.

This year, the Spurs look very good early on as they are 8-1 and currently on a 7 game win streak. Manu Ginobili is averaging 21 points per game on 46.5% shooting. Tony Parker is averaging 18 points per game and 8 assists per game on 51.2% shooting. Tim Duncan hasn't been as impressive as usual early on averaging 13.4 points per game and 9 rebounds per game in 30 minutes per game.

The starting lineups will look like this:
PG: Derrick Rose (Bulls) vs Tony Parker (Spurs)
Should be an easy matchup win for Rose. Rose has struggled in his career against the Spurs though averaging only 15.5 points per game on 43.3% shooting and 7 assists per game in 4 career games against the Spurs.

SG: Keith Bogans (Bulls) vs Manu Ginobili (Spurs)
Former San Antonio Spur Keith Bogans takes on his former team. Should be an easy match-up win for the Spurs here. Keith Bogans has to defend the 3 point line well and not let Manu take easy 3's.

SF: Luol Deng (Bulls) vs Richard Jefferson (Spurs)
Jefferson has had a pretty impressive season thus far. I'd label this matchup as a slight win for the Spurs although it's very close between these two.

PF: Taj Gibson (Bulls) vs Tim Duncan (Spurs)
Easy matchup win for the Spurs. Taj Gibson needs to play much better than he did last night (1-9 shooting) if the Bulls want to take a win tonight. Tim Duncan absolutely owned the Bulls in both games last year making every bank shot he took.

C: Joakim Noah (Bulls) vs DeJuan Blair (Spurs)
The guy I wanted to draft instead of Taj Gibson is playing just abysmal this year. Blair is a fantastic rebounder (7.9 rebounds per game in 23 minutes per game) but he's only shooting 30% from the field this year which is beyond horrendous for a Center. This is an easy matchup win for Joakim. Hopefully he abuses a pretty good defender in Blair.

Bench: Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, CJ Watson, Omer Asik (Bulls) vs George Hill, Matt Bonner, Antonio McDyess, Gary Neal
Looks like an edge for the Bulls especially if the Bulls bench plays as well as they did last night. Look out for George Hill who seems to always play well against the Bulls.

Coaching: Tom Thibodeau (Bulls) vs Greg Popovich (Spurs)
Obvious win for the best coach in the NBA.

Prediction:
I think the Bulls stumble on the 2nd half of a back to back. Should be a close game and I wouldn't be surprised if the Bulls do end up taking this one. Spurs are tough to beat though when they aren't on back to backs.

Bulls 93 Spurs 101

Rose carries the Bulls in Houston

The Bulls start the Circus Trip on a good note beating the Houston Rockets last night 95-92 behind a great effort by Derrick Rose. Rose was fantastic in the start of the 4th quarter leading the Bulls back from an eight point deficit finishing with 33 points, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds on 13-20 shooting including 4-5 from beyond the arc. Rose scored 17 of his 33 points in the 4th quarter. The Bulls increase their win streak to 4 games and move to 6-3 on the year.

Good:
Derrick Rose
Kyle Korver (Was questionable to play with a leg injury. Had he not played, the Bulls don't win this game)
Ronnie Brewer (Didn't play at all in the 4th quarter but was incredible in the 1st half. I'd love for him to start over Bogans at this point)
Omer Asik (Couple of great dunks and great defense. Really loved his play in this game.)

Okay:
Luol Deng (Hated the way he played in this game shooting 6-21 but overall he had a solid game. Still not a fan of him at all this year despite what his stats say. Really needs to learn how to complete a fast break.)
Joakim Noah (Was rather underwhelming in this game compared to how he's played the rest of this season. Kind of worried all the minutes he played in the first few games of this season are catching up to him because he looks flat out tired on the court.)

Bad:
Taj Gibson (First bad game of the year for him. Shot 1-9 from the field and was abused by Luis Scola. Need him to play much better tonight in San Antonio if we want to pull out a win.)

Chicago Bulls @ Houston Rockets 11-16-10 7:30 PM CSN Chicago

The Bulls begin their seven game circus trip tonight in Houston taking on the Rockets. The Rockets will be without Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks in this game so this gives obvious advantages to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in this game. The Rockets are pretty much underachieving this season with a record of 3-6 but all of their losses this season have been within 13 points or less and they have played one of the toughest schedules in the NBA to this point. Kevin Martin is averaging 24 points per game this season on 47% shooting and is one of the best players in the NBA at drawing fouls. Luis Scola is averaging 22 points per game and 10.8 rebounds per game and will prove to be a tough matchup for Taj Gibson. Still, the Bulls should take this game because their two best players (Noah and Rose) have huge match-up wins with Yao and Brooks out. Swapping Lowry/Ish Smith for Aaron Brooks helps their defense out a little but it dramatically hurts their offense.

Here's a look at this year's circus trip and some predictions:
11/16: @ Houston---This should be a win with no Aaron Brooks and Yao Ming. Brad Miller will not be able to defend the quick Joakim Noah and Ish Smith/Kyle Lowry will not be able to contain Derrick Rose. Only way the Rockets win this game is if Kevin Martin goes off for 30 points or more and Luis Scola has a big game. (1-0 on trip)
11/17: @ San Antonio---1st back to back of the roadtrip and against a Spurs team that will be well rested (Won't have played in 3 days). I'm going to mark this as a loss. (1-1 on trip)
11/19: @ Dallas---Probably the 2nd best team in the West behind the Los Angeles Lakers. Dirk is going to be a tough match-up for Luol Deng and the Mavericks have way too much depth compared to us. Loss. (1-2 on trip)
11/23: @ LA Lakers---4 days in between games will be a huge relief for us. We haven't beaten the Lakers in the Derrick Rose era so we're well due for a win. Still going to mark this as a loss but I wouldn't be surprised at all if we end up taking this one. (1-3 on trip)
11/24: @ Phoenix---2nd back to back on the trip. The Phoenix Suns aren't really top heavy other than Jason Richardson and Steve Nash but they have a ton of depth top to bottom. They will be without Robin Lopez in this game which is a break for the Bulls. The Bulls are 4-0 against the Suns in the Derrick Rose era so using the logic from the Lakers prediction, the Suns are due for a win. I'll mark this a win but same with the Lakers, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we lose this won. (2-3 on trip)
11/26: @ Denver---The Bulls beat Denver last week 94-92 at the United Center and the Bulls haven't performed well at the Pepsi Center at all in the last few years. Think Carmelo and company get revenge and take a win here not to mention they'll be playing on 3 days rest. (2-4 on trip)
11/27: @ Sacramento---Easily the easiest game on this trip so the Bulls have to take this one. I'd love to blow them out as well in response to this disaster last season. This will be our 3rd and final back to back game on this trip. (3-4 on trip)

A 3-4 trip would be welcomed greatly by Bulls fans and would take the Bulls out of this with a 8-7 record. I'll take that. We go back home after this trip and Carlos Boozer probably returns for the December 1st game at home against Orlando. We still have a tough six game stretch after the Circus Trip which includes the Thunder, Lakers, Celtics, and Magic but after this point, the rest of the season is full of easy stretches.

Welcome to "The Circus Trip"!

Conveniently started as the Bulls are starting their annual 7 road game trek tonight in Houston. As you know, since the departure of Michael Jordan, the Bulls have sort of struggled on the Circus Trip. To put that in perspective, the Bulls are 10-61 on the Circus Trip since 1998 including 37 straight losses on the trip during the fantastic Tim Floyd era.

On this blog, I will put up previews of games the day of them and recaps either after or the next day more than likely depending on a win or loss. Also news and discussions will be featured as well. Check back often!