Derrick Rose leads the streaking Bulls (30-8) into Philadelphia this afternoon to take on first time All-Star, Andre Iguodala, and the 76ers (22-15). In their second matchup of the season, the Bulls look to bounce back from a rout in which the 76ers dominated the entire game and won 98-82.
Everything about that game was unacceptable for the Bulls who let up 29 points off of 17 turnovers. The Bulls lost in just about every statistical category including field goal percentage (47.6%- 43.2%), free throw attempts (19-16), rebounding (43-37), assists (26-22), and turnovers (17-10).
The Bulls were certainly not happy about their worst performance of the season and will fight to get better shots against the team who gives up the fewest points per game.
The projected starters are as follows.
| Chicago (PPG) |
Philadelphia (PPG) |
|
| PG | D. Rose 22.3 | J. Holiday 13.6 |
| SG | R. Hamilton 12.4 | J. Meeks 8.9 |
| SF | L. Deng 15.9 | A. Iguodala 12.5 |
| PF | C. Boozer 15.4 | E. Brand 10.2 |
| C | J. Noah 9.6 | L. Allen 5.3 |
The Bulls will have their hands full tonight facing a team with a fantastic bench. Lou Williams leads the 76ers in scoring (15.7) points per game off the bench. With Spencer Hawes out, Thaddeus Young, rookie Nikola Vucevic and Chicago native Evan Turner may present some problems for the Bulls.
In order to win, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng will have to anchor the defense and lock down the 76ers. Carlos Boozer will have to come up with a big game so look for the Bulls to feed him early and take advantage of his inside scoring ability. Deng and Richard Hamilton did not play in the last matchup so look for them to give the Bulls some production on both sides of the court.
Derrick Rose will have to take on the majority of the scoring load as per usual but look for him to start off by setting his teammates up as opposed to having his foot on the gas pedal the entire game.
Despite the fact that the 76ers have lost 6 out of their last 8, expect an exciting battle between two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
All stats courtesy of Espn.com