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| Jim Urquhart - AP |
Tonight at the United Center in Chicago, the New Jersey Nets will end their first back-to-back-to-back of the 2011-12 season by taking on the NBA-leading Chicago Bulls. The Nets are coming off of a 3-game home-stand which included wins against Golden State and Charlotte in addition to a loss to Oklahoma City Thunder. Just to add, the Nets have already won 3 road games this season while they only won 5 on the road last season so I think its fair to say that the Deron Williams trade has significantly improved this team and it might even improve more by the end of the season (Trying to be vague as to not jinx anything, fingers crossed).
Background on Chicago
The Bulls are one of, if not the best, team in the NBA right now and that has been truly exemplified by how they have played their last 4 games, of which included 3 wins and 1 loss. In those 4 games, Chicago hasn't had the services of their best player and the reigning NBA MVP in point guard Derrick Rose, in addition to a bunch of other key injuries they have had to deal with. Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, John Lucas and Rose have all missed games recently and all of those players, including Luol Deng, are game-time decisions for tonight's game which is beyond wonderful news for the Nets.
The Bulls are one of, if not the best, team in the NBA right now and that has been truly exemplified by how they have played their last 4 games, of which included 3 wins and 1 loss. In those 4 games, Chicago hasn't had the services of their best player and the reigning NBA MVP in point guard Derrick Rose, in addition to a bunch of other key injuries they have had to deal with. Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, John Lucas and Rose have all missed games recently and all of those players, including Luol Deng, are game-time decisions for tonight's game which is beyond wonderful news for the Nets.
Previous Game
The Nets and Bulls have each beaten the Charlotte Bobcats in their most recent games with Chicago beating Charlotte on Saturday and the Nets triumphing yesterday. With some of the players mentioned above not playing for the Bulls on Saturday, they did what most elite NBA teams do and managed to win with who was available and got 20 points from veteran Rip Hamilton, near double-doubles from C.J. Watson and recent D-League call-up Mike James, 15 rebounds from Omer Asik, and even a few points from former Net fan favorite Brian Scalabrine. With their recent stretch of solid wins culminating in Saturday's win, the Bulls have showed that they are still a very good team even without some of their best players.
The Nets probably played their bast all-around game of the season last night against the terrible Bobcats team with a relatively easy 10-point win in a game that really wasn't that close most of the night. Deron Williams and Marshon Brooks paced the Nets last night and really showed just how explosive they can be as an offensive tandem. Deron came extremely close to his 1st career triple-double with 19 points, 9 boards, and 10 assists and Marshon had 20 points to go along with 6 boards. The Nets just played a solid, all-around game last night and hopefully they can parlay that effort into a win over the NBA's best tonight.
Probable Lineups
CHI- Rose (PG), Brewer (SG), Jimmy Butler (SF), Boozer (PF), Asik (C)
NJN- D.Williams (PG), Brooks (SG), Stevenson (SF), Humphries (PF), Okur (C)
CHI- Rose (PG), Brewer (SG), Jimmy Butler (SF), Boozer (PF), Asik (C)
NJN- D.Williams (PG), Brooks (SG), Stevenson (SF), Humphries (PF), Okur (C)
Match-Up To Watch- (PF) Humphries vs Boozer
Normally I would pick the battle of the point guards between Deron and Rose as my match-up to watch but I'm going to stay away from that today because of Rose's uncertain status. I disgress, Hump and Boozer are both big-bodied power forwards who know how to score with Kris focusing more on the paint and Boozer scoring more of his points from 15-20 feet from the basket as he has a very solid mid-range game. I feel that whoever can control the rebounds, offensively and defensively, can determine how this game ends up. If Boozer controls the glass, its a Bulls' convincing win. If Hump can control the boards, then I think that the Nets can make a game of it especially if Rose, Noah, and Deng don't play as well.
Three Keys to a Nets Victory
1. Rebound the ball- The Bulls get a ton of second-chance points off of rebounds and even though solid rebounders deng and Noah might be hurt, back-up center Omer Asik can rebound with the best of them. This is shown by his play in January alone as Asik has averaged 6.7 rebounds per game in the month even though he plays less than 20 minutes in most games.
2. Guard the perimeter- The Bulls have a few knockdown shooters on their roster (namely Kyle Korver) who can torch the Nets quickly with a few possessions of open looks from beyond the arc. The Nets have been awful at defending the three lately and if they want to win tonight's game, that can't happen under any circumstances.
3. Keep Rose out of the paint- Of course this only applies is Rose is healthy enough to play tonight but it can also apply for his back-ups as well, Mike James and C.J. Watson. All of the Bulls point guards are ok shooters but they are far better at driving to the basket for a lay-up than they are at knocking down three-pointers. Rose causes havoc both on the foul situation and scoreboard for opponent as he is extremely crafty at hitting shots among the three while drawing fouls.
Prediction
The result of this game hinges on who is available to play for the Bulls but regardless, I feel that Rose will play even if Noah and Deng are out and his presence will lead the Bulls to a 90-85 win over the Nets. I really wish that my prediction doesn't come true but I feel that the Bulls' defense will hold the Nets' streaky shooting on the inefficient side.
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