Road Trip

[TB#1]

full article


Road trip may be right tonic
BULLS | Next 4 games away from home could help ease pain of loss to Knicks

January 11, 2008
BY BRIAN HANLEY

As the Bulls left Thursday for a four-game road trip, coach Jim Boylan did his best to leave at home the mental baggage from the team's latest loss.

Boylan is well aware of the negative headlines and talk generated by that tough-to-swallow 105-100 home loss Tuesday to the New York Knicks -- who brought in a seven-game losing streak and 1-13 road record and were down 13 in the fourth quarter.

''Obviously, losing to New York is something everybody has jumped on as kind of a barometer of our team,'' Boylan said after practice Thursday. ''So maybe getting away is a good thing for us at this time.

''When you lose, you expect to be criticized, and we have not had the kind of season everyone thought we would. So we sit in a delicate position now. Because whenever things do go wrong and you lose a game like that, it's magnified. And then when you win some games, there are people who get enthused. Then there are people who say, 'Well, who are you playing? You're not really beating the best teams.' Our guys have done a good job this year of blocking some of that stuff out.

''Everyone's saying I'm too positive. People want me to be negative. I'm going to be myself, and I'm going to talk about things the way I see them. Our guys are playing hard and competing, so I have no problem with where we are right now.''

Where they were Thursday was last place in the Central Division at 13-20 and 11th in the 15-team Eastern Conference, 3

[TB#1]

McGraw

Bulls embark on pivotal road trip
By Mike McGraw

Luol Deng managed to find one advantage to the Bulls playing their next four games on the road.

"Having some fans boo us, but not our own fans," he joked Thursday at the Berto Center.

The Bulls realize their season could hang in the balance as they hit the road.

On one hand, they own a disappointing 13-20 record. But on the other hand, they were just 3 games out of the last playoff spot in the East and 4 games behind No. 4 seed Washington as of Thursday morning.

During this trip, the Bulls will face two teams below them in the standings (Philadelphia and Miami), the team sitting in the No. 8 spot (Atlanta) and a team that plays far worse at home than it does on the road (Orlando).

So the Bulls appear capable of going 4-0 on this trip, or 0-4 or anything in between. They could return home next week ready to make a playoff push or feeling even more miserable than before about their chances.

"This is a big week for us," guard Ben Gordon said. "We can make a nice little run. We've got some games coming up against teams we can definitely beat. We just have to go out there and play with the right intensity and the right effort."

Added Deng: "I think we've got to sit down and talk that this could really be a turnaround time. I think we worked too hard to be losing so many games."

Tuesday's 105-100 loss to New York at the United Center was a game the Bulls should have won, without question. But it's probably not a good barometer for the state of the team.

[coldfish]

The Bulls likely will revisit trade talks with the Memphis Grizzlies for 7-foot forward Pau Gasol. Chicagoan Michael Heisley, who owns the Grizzlies, was in Memphis on Tuesday for team meetings and is unhappy with the team's 10-24 record.

''I live in Chicago, and all they talk about up there is getting Pau,'' Heisley told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. ''So he must be pretty valuable. He's a great post guy. But by discussing him, I don't mean we're out there shopping him. If we trade one of our guys, we've got to get a lot back that's good.''

Sam Smith, screwing up trades for as long as you can remember.

[molepharmer]

full article

....''Everyone's saying I'm too positive. People want me to be negative. I'm going to be myself, and I'm going to talk about things the way I see them. Our guys are playing hard and competing, so I have no problem with where we are right now.''.

Where they were Thursday was last place in the Central Division at 13-20 and 11th in the 15-team Eastern Conference, 3

[tclg]

Hopefully he starts playing the young guys really soon

[bre9]

I like the confidence by Gordon and Boylan. There's still time to make some ground.

[TB#1]

I like the confidence by Gordon and Boylan. There's still time to make some ground.

Isish Thomas and the Knicks talk a good game too.

[tclg]

I cant watch this offense any more its so predictable

[Cliff Levingston]

I cant watch this offense any more its so predictable

...and absurdly mentally challenged.

[tclg]

Yeah I cant stand watching wallace on an island any more

[coldfish]

What's funny (funny as in a cry in your beer funny, not ha ha funny) is that tons of people are now calling out the offense. I have heard complaints from:
- The crowd booing Wallace when he gets the ball down low and passes it
- Local media, either Jackson or KC
- Bulls announcers
- Doug Collins commenting on it during a national game
- and of course, us

Its extremely rare for random people like this to get into basketball tactics. Its rarely a point of contention, which means what Chicago is doing is so far outside the norm that casual observers are picking up on it.

I have used this analogy for years, but its like a team with Dan Marino and Curtis Enis in the backfield calling:
- 70% run plays
- 20% roll out passes
- 10% drop back passes
You have to play to what you have. Football teams get drilled for bad playcalling much more often because playcalling is more readily understood and obvious to casual fans, but the principles are similar.

[ATRAIN53]

"Losers of a season-worst five straight, the 76ers look to take advantage of a home game against one of the NBA's worst teams when they play the Chicago Bulls on Friday night."

it just hurts to read that, esp when we expected some improvement this season.....

it depends on Deng but i think we could be lookign at a 0-4 trip and possibly a 6 game losing streak.

they see 3 playoff teams in GSW, DET and ORL

ATL is a 50/50 shot-

PHI is just as bad as us-

and as bad as MIA is - it's the last game on the trip and a back to back game after they will get hammered by ORL.

but 13-26 a month before the trading deadline could spark some movement.....[/quote]

[ptpablo]

I watched the Mavs / Pistons game the other night and realized I forgot what watching a game with pro sets on each side of the floor was like. I wanted one of the teams to set endless picks with no movement towards the hoops at all.