GT: Bulls vs Nets @ United Center 9pm

[R3AL1TY]

Brooklyn plays a lot of 1 on 1 basketball. If the Bulls limit drive penetration and they cover them well at the 3 line, they can win this one. Definitely need both Zach and Vooch's A game in this one too.

[StunnerKO]

No Draymond for the Bulls game

[nitric0]

No Draymond for the Bulls game

That’s Friday. Let’s focus on todays game.

[StunnerKO]

No Draymond for the Bulls game

That’s Friday. Let’s focus on todays game.

Ok possibly No Kyrie and harden tonight

[chifan1798]

I think the Nets are going to come at the Bulls hard. They've been playing really poorly against inferior teams, and here's an upstart East team that's already beaten the twice and is looking down on them in the standings. We're gonna have to hope for that tenacious defense we saw in the second half last night. Perhaps the starters' lackadaisical play in the first half was them holding back their energy for tonight's clash?

I'm actually happy at such a late start time - I will be able to be home from work for at least the second half, if not much of the first. I sure hope Stacey and Adam are more engaged in the game tonight, as last night their giddy giggle fest reached their nadir as a pairing.

Watch it on ESPN, so you don’t have to worry about Adam and Stacey. That’s why the game is starting so late anyway.

[bearadonisdna]

vuc should be wide open all day with blake griffin starting.
down low offense should be automatic.

The nets board is interesting.
most dont have confidence, its true the nets are struggling.
Lets not let them off the hook !

the guy who has confidence says let vuc get his. zach is only a tough shot maker , live with what he does.
Thats sounds advantageous to the bulls to establish 2 of their big 3.

Edit: would not recommend going over there to cause trouble , don’t wake a sleeping bear .

[mtron32]

Getting all my work done early and got my pot roast in the slow cooker. It's on tonight baby, 7PM PST

[Prokorov]

Some interesting data:

Nets are 14-4 on the road, 11-10 at home.
Nets are 1 point favorites headed into tonight.
Nets are 4-6 in their last 10.

Surprised the Bulls are dogs considering the Nets aren’t exactly playing well, and the Bulls are 2-0 against them. Wonder if the back to back has anything to do with it.

"The Nets" are a different team every night.

The Kyrie-Harden-KD Nets are an offensive jauggernaut and a lock to score 118+ points

The Harden-KD nets are a below average offense that struggles to defend, has no spacing, and gets killed in transition

The KD-only or Harden-only Nets feature a ton of youth and score a ton in transition and rely less on ball watching

The Nets on the second of a back to back are a winless, lifeless team sure to get blown out (might be why some dont put much stock into 2 bulls wins over nets so far)

If one of Harris or Kyrie doesnt play the Nets become a below avg to bad offense that needs to win on the defensive end. It looks like the oddsmakers are expecting all of KD/Ky/Harden to play based on the line and the over under

I'd have Nets -2.5 if all the big 3 play and the Nets +8.5 if one of Harden/Kyrie is out

[IamSam]

I took a quick look at Zo vs Kyrie historically to see if there might be any advantages there; I guess we had better hope that tonight history doesn't matter.

[mtron32]

I took a quick look at Zo vs Kyrie historically to see if there might be any advantages there; I guess we had better hope that tonight history doesn't matter.

We just gotta slap Ayo on Kyrie and tell the rook to get in his jersey for a few minutes.

[Prokorov]

vuc should be wide open all day with blake griffin starting.
down low offense should be automatic.

The nets board is interesting.
most dont have confidence, its true the nets are struggling.
Lets not let them off the hook !

the guy who has confidence says let vuc get his. zach is only a tough shot maker , live with what he does.
Thats sounds advantageous to the bulls to establish 2 of their big 3.

Edit: would not recommend going over there to cause trouble , don’t wake a sleeping bear .

I didnt say Zack was "only" a tough shot maker. it was in response to "dont let Zack get open looks". My point was you cant prevent such a great shot maker from getting his looks. play him straight up cause he is going to get his off either way, live with the result.

I have an extremely low view of Vuc as a player going back to Orlando. I view him as a very empty stats player and negative on both ends despite production. The Nets have consistently won despite big games from vuc going back years and often its because they forced a switch and get a ton of easy buckets that way.

I view the Bulls as "pretenders" which will be taken as negative but its the same as i said about philly the last 2 years. very good team, some great players, but not build for playoff success beyond round 2 IMO. Derozan having playoff success and finding a defensive backup for VUC would go a long way to changing my mind and agian, these are just my opinions

[BeatDaCavs420]

edit

[Prokorov]

I took a quick look at Zo vs Kyrie historically to see if there might be any advantages there; I guess we had better hope that tonight history doesn't matter.

We just gotta slap Ayo on Kyrie and tell the rook to get in his jersey for a few minutes.

Kyrie breaks the game as a second option. He cant be guarded 1 on 1 by anyone. He had his way with smart, had his way with PG, with Kawhi, with Bledsoe, with Ball, with Thybule, with Simmons, with Lowry, with Butler, with Jrue....

As a 1 you can focus and contain and even make him look bad. as a #2 especially if Harris is on the floor he is going to get his.

Stopping the Nets is actually quite clear since we dont adjust and there is a playbook on it.

-Make Harden give up the ball. he will do so willingly. double him on a trap on all high screen and rolls. he will give it to blake or claxton at the FT line. you have won at that point, that will result in inefficiently offense over 4 quarters.

Double KD hard on all post ups. he is the leagues worst passer our of double teams and the majority of his turnovers come here. with no Harris, it wont burn you.

Live with whatever Kyrie gets. one of the big 3 is dropping an efficient 30 and of the big three you force the least turnovers and "bad" shot sending help at kyrie.

Harden/KD are turnover prone and more willing to take "bad" shots. If KD is hitting those just tip your cap and better luck next time. more liekly they turn over a few, hit a few tough ones, and defer. Kd/Harden have been awful late due to high minutes. grind them and make them work.

[TheGOATRises007]

Why is this game at 9?

[ducler]

Read on Twitter

[mtron32]

I took a quick look at Zo vs Kyrie historically to see if there might be any advantages there; I guess we had better hope that tonight history doesn't matter.

We just gotta slap Ayo on Kyrie and tell the rook to get in his jersey for a few minutes.

Kyrie breaks the game as a second option. He cant be guarded 1 on 1 by anyone. He had his way with smart, had his way with PG, with Kawhi, with Bledsoe, with Ball, with Thybule, with Simmons, with Lowry, with Butler, with Jrue....

As a 1 you can focus and contain and even make him look bad. as a #2 especially if Harris is on the floor he is going to get his.

Stopping the Nets is actually quite clear since we dont adjust and there is a playbook on it.

-Make Harden give up the ball. he will do so willingly. double him on a trap on all high screen and rolls. he will give it to blake or claxton at the FT line. you have won at that point, that will result in inefficiently offense over 4 quarters.

Double KD hard on all post ups. he is the leagues worst passer our of double teams and the majority of his turnovers come here. with no Harris, it wont burn you.

Live with whatever Kyrie gets. one of the big 3 is dropping an efficient 30 and of the big three you force the least turnovers and "bad" shot sending help at kyrie.

Harden/KD are turnover prone and more willing to take "bad" shots. If KD is hitting those just tip your cap and better luck next time. more liekly they turn over a few, hit a few tough ones, and defer. Kd/Harden have been awful late due to high minutes. grind them and make them work.

No one is stopping Ky, but the rookie needs his reps and I can't think of a better assignment for him. His only job is to make Kyrie feel him whenever he guards him.

[BeatDaCavs420]

Why is this game at 9?

ESPN game

[OldSchoolNoBull]

I think Kyrie and Harden's statuses will not be known for sure until closer to the game.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

Why is this game at 9?

tv $$$.

really weird, don't remember east/central time home games ever being the second game on national tv prior to this season. there are 3 other games like that this season: timberwolves, grizzlies and bucks. the first two are in the western conference but still central time.

wonder how such a late start impacts players...advantage to the younger team? afternoon games have been the bane of bulls teams for as long as i can remember, what about super late starts?

[bearadonisdna]

vuc should be wide open all day with blake griffin starting.
down low offense should be automatic.

The nets board is interesting.
most dont have confidence, its true the nets are struggling.
Lets not let them off the hook !

the guy who has confidence says let vuc get his. zach is only a tough shot maker , live with what he does.
Thats sounds advantageous to the bulls to establish 2 of their big 3.

Edit: would not recommend going over there to cause trouble , don’t wake a sleeping bear .

I didnt say Zack was "only" a tough shot maker. it was in response to "dont let Zack get open looks". My point was you cant prevent such a great shot maker from getting his looks. play him straight up cause he is going to get his off either way, live with the result.

I have an extremely low view of Vuc as a player going back to Orlando. I view him as a very empty stats player and negative on both ends despite production. The Nets have consistently won despite big games from vuc going back years and often its because they forced a switch and get a ton of easy buckets that way.

I view the Bulls as "pretenders" which will be taken as negative but its the same as i said about philly the last 2 years. very good team, some great players, but not build for playoff success beyond round 2 IMO. Derozan having playoff success and finding a defensive backup for VUC would go a long way to changing my mind and agian, these are just my opinions

we've seen bad vuc a few times but he has been uber productive lately.
And presently we cant just them dismiss them as empty stats because the bulls are producing a lot of wins right now.