Can We Win A Title Being This Ordinary At Home?

[kingkirk]

Pretty simple question.

We're not half way through the season and we've lost 13 games so far this season. That's not overly alarming in itself, but 8 of those losses have come at home.

Of those 8 loses at home, which is far too much this early on, 5 have been to teams under .500.

We all have championship hopes for this team, but is this realistic given we're having a really tough time protecting home court, even against teams that are at the bottom of the league.

I had a look at the last 10 NBA champions, their W/L record, and specifically how many losses they gave up at home over the course of an 82 game season.

Some interesting numbers.

2014-15 - 26-13, Bulls lose 8 games at home for the season

2013-14 - 62-20, Spurs lose 9 games at home for the season
2012-13 - 66-16, Heat lose 4 games at home for the season
2011-12 - 46-20, Heat lose 6 games at home for the season (prorata)
2010-11 - 57-25, Mavs lose 11 games at home for the season
2009-10 - 57-25, Lakers lose 7 games at home for the season
2008-09 - 65-17, Lakers lose 5 games at home for the season
2007-08 - 66-16, Celtics lose 6 games at home for the season
2006-07 - 58-24, Spurs lose 10 games at home for the season
2005-06 - 52-30, Heat lose 10 games at home for the season
2004-05 - 59-23, Spurs lose 3 games at home for the season

I've posted about our offensive and defensive efficiency not being good enough in comparison to past NBA champions, and whilst i accept that their is still a lot of basketball to be played, at what point do level of concerns start to rise about our championship hopes?

Our next 3 games at home are against the Wizards, Hawks & Spurs.

With the Bulls in a serious slump right now, no game is an easy one.

[SimonFish]

This team isn't gonna win a title anyway with a flawed roster.

[ralphisBullsFan]

nope...but we could if our front office was proactive...i mean the heat and the hornets and the clippers are interested in making a move on Arron Afflalo....memphis makes a move....we don't make moves during the season unless it is to unload a huge contract...its starting to make me sick...

[TimRobbins]

These stats strike me as completely random. I don't think they mean anything at this point.

The right question to ask is can we beat GS in a 7 game series and my answer right now is flat out no. GS is better than us and everybody else in the league at this point. Unless they come in injured or Rose comes back to Allstar level, I can't see us winning. Not without a trade.

[siriusjames]

Bulls have been a weak team in terms of protecting its home court in last few years. It's not only about this year.

2014 Playoffs: 0-3 at home.
2013 Playoffs: 2-3 at home.
2012 Playoffs: 2-1 at home.
2011 Playoffs: 6-3 at home.

We lost 6 straight home games in playoffs. Even in our best year we were 6-3 at home. That's not a good sign to win a championship. You would expect a better home record in such a good arena. I don't know the fan support, of course, since I've never been there.

[jacoby1us]

A trade is warranted but who goes and who stays? Why?

[Mobby]

These stats strike me as completely random. I don't think they mean anything at this point.

The right question to ask is can we beat GS in a 7 game series and my answer right now is flat out no. GS is better than us and everybody else in the league at this point. Unless they come in injured or Rose comes back to Allstar level, I can't see us winning. Not without a trade.

Agreed here. I think we still need to pray that Jo gets fully healthy and Rose learns to gel better (or starts nailing the 3s at a Korver-like clip).

[musiqsoulchild]

These stats strike me as completely random. I don't think they mean anything at this point.

The right question to ask is can we beat GS in a 7 game series and my answer right now is flat out no. GS is better than us and everybody else in the league at this point. Unless they come in injured or Rose comes back to Allstar level, I can't see us winning. Not without a trade.

GS isnt coming out of the West.

No chance.

[TimRobbins]

These stats strike me as completely random. I don't think they mean anything at this point.

The right question to ask is can we beat GS in a 7 game series and my answer right now is flat out no. GS is better than us and everybody else in the league at this point. Unless they come in injured or Rose comes back to Allstar level, I can't see us winning. Not without a trade.

GS isnt coming out of the West.

No chance.

Doesn't matter if its them or the Spurs. We don't have enough. Regardless, barring injuries, GS is coming out of the West and it won't even be close. They are so much better than everybody else on both ends.

[musiqsoulchild]

These stats strike me as completely random. I don't think they mean anything at this point.

The right question to ask is can we beat GS in a 7 game series and my answer right now is flat out no. GS is better than us and everybody else in the league at this point. Unless they come in injured or Rose comes back to Allstar level, I can't see us winning. Not without a trade.

GS isnt coming out of the West.

No chance.

Doesn't matter if its them or the Spurs. We don't have enough. Regardless, barring injuries, GS is coming out of the West and it won't even be close. They are so much better than everybody else on both ends.

I see Golden State being decimated by Memphis/Dallas.

Rockets have some chance.

Spurs are next.

[TimRobbins]

I see Golden State being decimated by Memphis/Dallas.

Rockets have some chance.

Spurs are next.

I don't see it.

[musiqsoulchild]

I see Golden State being decimated by Memphis/Dallas.

Rockets have some chance.

Spurs are next.

I don't see it.

What I agree with you on is that no matter who comes out of the East, the West is winning this year.

[TimRobbins]

I see Golden State being decimated by Memphis/Dallas.

Rockets have some chance.

Spurs are next.

I don't see it.

What I agree with you on is that no matter who comes out of the East, the West is winning this year.

Bulls are a trade away from being on par with the Western teams.

[musiqsoulchild]

I don't see it.

What I agree with you on is that no matter who comes out of the East, the West is winning this year.

Bulls are a trade away from being on par with the Western teams.

Nope.

You are assuming all the other variables magically fall into place (Noah, Rose, defense, rebounding).

No other team, sans Cleveland, has the same degree of question marks as we do at this point in the season.

[DRoseCantStop]

GS isnt coming out of the West.

No chance.

Doesn't matter if its them or the Spurs. We don't have enough. Regardless, barring injuries, GS is coming out of the West and it won't even be close. They are so much better than everybody else on both ends.

I see Golden State being decimated by Memphis/Dallas.

Rockets have some chance.

Spurs are next.

I see the Rockets getting eliminated AGAIN in the 1st round by another Lillard buzzer beater.

[Shill]

I don't quite know what this team is. I think our home and road records are anomalous. If we had the same record but home/road results were flipped, it would make more sense. It seems like we're feeding off being road warriors more so than feeding off the home crowd. We have no energy at home. I think if we solve our defensive issues, we'll start seeing better results at home.

[coldfish]

I don't think its a home / away thing. I think its an effort thing and it has randomly manifested itself at home. It just seems that the team is taking it easy and REALLY taking it easy at home against mediocre to bad teams.

I still believe that if everything clicks I think the Bulls can be a title level team.

However, things just aren't clicking and we are pretty deep into the season. This team just doesn't have the fire that most title level teams have. That combination of desire and a mean streak. I'm not sure I have seen one game all season where the team actually brought consistent effort the entire game and they have taken many, many full games off.

The teams that can just turn on a switch are extraordinarily rare. Usually teams try to do it and the lack of practice at that level makes it so that it doesn't go well. Instead of executing on offense and defense, guys just try to play hero ball and it plays into the other team's hands. The Bulls players are playing a dangerous game.

I think the primary reason why the issue is so bad is that the principle offenders are the team leaders. Noah and Rose. The trickle down effect is palpable.

[fleet]

I think Vegas may downgrade us soon. We were on top for a microsecond.

We used to think all we needed was Rose to play decently to put us over the top. He has to be superstar level now though. The rest of this team needs a superstar to cover for them. They don't have a chip on the shoulder. Mean streak not there as coldfish says. There is no edge, and I don't think you can grow an edge midseason if it has not shown up by now. I see the Bulls getting knocked off by the first mentally tough team they face that has some talent

[Mech Engineer]

This is a random stat for now. Usually, championship teams win on the road which the Bulls do even against good teams.

Second, many of their home losses are against bad teams which shows the mentality of "who cares if we lose a few December games".

Third, there have been very few blowouts at home. Usually, when they won in the last few years, the Bulls would be leading in the beginning/second quarter and let other teams come back.

This year, their level of play seems to be sleep through 3 quarters and then try to win in the 4th quarter. That doesn't work always and that's why they are losing.

It's a long season and the Bulls will be fine as long as they are a top 3 seed, every one is healthy and Derrick /Joakim show improvement.

[dice]

I think the primary reason why the issue is so bad is that the principle offenders are the team leaders. Noah and Rose. The trickle down effect is palpable.

i can't go that far at all. first of all, the only guy with an attitude/effort question is rose. noah is clearly debilitated. secondly, there's really nobody else on the team that has played poorly. there are a number of guys who have exceeded expectations, actually, including a candidate for most improved player EVER

but back on topic, the intensity of the team and the crowd at home will be dialed up come playoff time. whereas the "road warrior" mentality will only be a good thing in the playoffs. so i'm not as concerned as some