IGT: Portland vs BULLS Friday Dec 12 at 6PM on ESPN and CSN

[Crystallas]

Game 21

vs

Friday, December 12th, 2014 at 6:00PM

The Chicago Bulls face the Portland Trailblazers
@ The United Center, Chicago, IL

TV: CSN Chicago, ESPN National
Radio: ESPN 1000

---

Chicago Bulls Projected Starters

Player Derrick Rose Position PG Jersey Num. 1 Height 6'3" Weight 190lbs Experience 5 Years

Player Jimmy Butler Position SG Jersey Num. 21 Height 6'8" Weight 220lbs Experience 3 Years

Player Mike Dunleavy Position SF Jersey Num. 34 Height 6'9" Weight 230lbs Experience 12 Years

Player Pau Gasol Position PF Jersey Num. 16 Height 7'0" Weight 250lbs Experience 13 Years

Player Taj Gibson Position C Jersey Num. 22 Height 6'9" Weight 225lbs Experience 5 Years

*Injuries (all probable)
Doug McDermott
Derrick Rose
Taj Gibson

Questionable
Joakim Noah [ankle]

---

Portland Projected Starters

Damian Lillard

Wesley Matthews

Nicolas Batum

LaMarcus Aldridge

Robin Lopez
​

 

[Scoot26]

I say we lose.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Third choice on the poll needs to start being funnier.

 

[Crystallas]

Third choice on the poll needs to start being funnier.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Blazers seem to have our number. Maybe Taj will do a better job on Aldridge though.

 

[Scoot26]

Blazers seem to have our number. Maybe Taj will do a better job on Aldridge though.

Yeah we haven't beat them since 2010..3rd game of the season.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Yeah we haven't beat them since 2010..3rd game of the season.

So basically we haven't beaten them since Rose had healthy knees...

 

[Scoot26]

So basically we haven't beaten them since Rose had healthy knees...

Well healthy. They lost to them in 2012 before Rose tore his ACL, but he was always injured that season.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Well healthy. They lost to them in 2012 before Rose tore his ACL, but he was always injured that season.

This is all Lillard's fault

 

[Crystallas]

I just remember how Portland's whole team was in a shooting rhythm last time. Contested, uncontested, they were hitting. So my guess is Thibs over-analyzes that footage and opens up the paint for them this game.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I just remember how Portland's whole team was in a shooting rhythm last time. Contested, uncontested, they were hitting. So my guess is Thibs over-analyzes that footage and opens up the paint for them this game.

Other than Lillard though, there's not a ton of slashers on this team. Batum and Matthews hoist a lot of 3s. Aldridge likes to hang on the perimeter. Lopez is containable regardless. Their bench guys are more shooters. But I bet they can all adjust if we're overcommitting to the 3. I wonder which way Portland will slice and dice the D this game.

 

[Crystallas]

Well, they have, in my opinion, the best training staff in the league for shooting. When they got injury bugs every year, they decided to invest in shooting coaches, and it has payed off. So you have a bench of under the radar players that can hit their open shots on any given night. We're not built to match their style, but we can screw them up in a technical game, if guys like Kirk and Taj can stay cool, if Jimmy's shoulder is better and he can get to the line. Stuff like that is what we'll need.

IDK, I think this is going to be a hard to watch game for Bulls fans, but that doesn't mean I think we'll lose. It's close for sure.

 

[clonetrooper264]

We should steal some of their shooting coaches...

 

[Crystallas]

We should, or hire our own before the rest of the NBA completely depletes the elite class of shooting coaches from independent and college programs.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Bulls can easily get kicked around in this one. Blazers just came off an embarrassing loss vs. Minnesota. They will take it to the Bulls (especially Aldridge who is coming off a bad game and always lights up the Bulls).

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Blazers seem to have our number. Maybe Taj will do a better job on Aldridge though.

Noah roams a lot on defense. I'd much rather have Taj or Pau assigned to Aldridge because you can't give that guy any clear look at the rim or it will be a lob or easy J.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Noah roams a lot on defense. I'd much rather have Taj or Pau assigned to Aldridge because you can't give that guy any clear look at the rim or it will be a lob or easy J.

Noah's instinct is to protect the rim, so he tends to act as a weak side defender when he plays guys like Aldridge. Unfortunately, Aldridge just gets open jumpers off of this type of defense. However, his mobility makes him better suited to guard a guy like Aldridge compared to Gasol, who is ridiculously slow. Perhaps Gibson can be more disciplined with sticking on Aldridge instead of going over to help, but ultimately, that may be a coaching point. One of those "just don't leave Aldridge open" things.

 

[RamiTheBullsFan]

Noah's instinct is to protect the rim, so he tends to act as a weak side defender when he plays guys like Aldridge. Unfortunately, Aldridge just gets open jumpers off of this type of defense. However, his mobility makes him better suited to guard a guy like Aldridge compared to Gasol, who is ridiculously slow. Perhaps Gibson can be more disciplined with sticking on Aldridge instead of going over to help, but ultimately, that may be a coaching point. One of those "just don't leave Aldridge open" things.

I love Noah and everything, but he tends to get overly emotional when somebody he's guarding starts going off on him. He starts complaining to the refs and ultimately ends up getting benched. He is capable of sticking to Aldridge but he usually gets lit up by him. I'd rather have Gasol on Aldridge and let Noah defend the lane and the rim by assigning him to Robin Lopez (who is also just too big/athletic for a guy like Gasol).

 

[Scoot26]

I love Noah and everything, but he tends to get overly emotional when somebody he's guarding starts going off on him. He starts complaining to the refs and ultimately ends up getting benched. He is capable of sticking to Aldridge but he usually gets lit up by him. I'd rather have Gasol on Aldridge and let Noah defend the lane and the rim by assigning him to Robin Lopez (who is also just too big/athletic for a guy like Gasol).

Is that why Nene owned him?

 

[Crystallas]

Noah is out again.