San Antonio (1-0) at Chicago (0-0) - Preview 10/29/09

[Dulce]

San Antonio (1-0) at Chicago (0-0)
By MATT BECKER, STATS Senior Writer 7 hours, 27 minutes ago


How the Chicago Bulls fare this season depends largely on the play of reigning Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose.

Suiting up for the opener will be a good start.

After missing most of the preseason due to an inflamed tendon behind his right ankle, Rose is expected to play for the Bulls in Thursday’s season opener at the United Center against the San Antonio Spurs, who should have starting point guard Tony Parker back in the lineup after he left their first game early.

Following a 49-loss 2007-08, Chicago won the draft lottery despite long odds and selected Rose with the first pick of the 2008 draft.

The hometown star took over the reins at point guard and did a solid job of directing the offense. He led all rookies with 6.3 assists per game and finished second among first-year players with a 16.8 scoring average while leading the Bulls to a 41-41 record and a playoff berth.

Chicago was eliminated in the first round by Boston, but the Bulls didn’t go quietly, losing an epic seven-game series featuring a league-record four overtime contests. Rose made an immediate impact, matching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA record with 36 points in his playoff debut.

As Rose went in the playoffs, so went the Bulls. He averaged 29.0 points on 55.7 percent shooting and 9.0 assists in the three wins, but 12.8 points on 42.4 percent shooting and 4.5 assists in the four losses.

For the Bulls to be successful this season, they need Rose to be more consistent. They also need him to be healthy.

Rose played in just the preseason opener before missing the final seven exhibition games with the nagging ankle injury. He is expected to play in the opener, but his minutes will likely be limited.

“We just need to hurry up and jell quick because we can make it far in the season,” he said.

Rose struggled a bit against San Antonio as a rookie, averaging 11.0 points with the Bulls losing both games. Chicago has dropped four straight to the Spurs and 18 of the last 21 meetings.

The core of the Bulls remains much the same as last season with Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, John Salmons and Luol Deng all returning, but they’ll need someone to take the place of top scorer Ben Gordon, who signed as a free agent with Detroit in the offseason.

Salmons and Deng appear to be the top candidates.

Salmons, acquired with Brad Miller(notes) from Sacramento in February, started 21 games for the Bulls, averaging 18.3 points. He averaged 26.5 on 65.4 percent shooting in two games against the Spurs - both while still with the Kings.

Deng averaged 17.0 points and 6.3 rebounds for Chicago in 2007-08, but missed the final 22 games last season plus the playoffs with a stress fracture in his right tibia and finished with his lowest scoring average (14.1) since his 2004-05 rookie season.

“I want to win,” a healthy Deng said. “I want to be out there. I want to compete. Whatever comes individually, I think that will take care of itself, but I think the main thing and the main mindset is just competing and playing like we did in the playoffs. I think the team that we have, the chemistry is going to be great.”

The Spurs arrive in Chicago following a season-opening 113-96 win over New Orleans on Wednesday.

Parker landed with a thud on his right side after slicing between two Hornets players for a layup late in the third quarter. The AT&T Center crowd gasped as the three-time All-Star lay scrunched up and wincing for more than a minute before walking back to the bench on his own.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Parker, who finished with team highs of 17 points and six assists in 26 minutes, simply had the wind knocked out of him.

Parker left the locker room without speaking to reporters but appeared fine.

While veteran Richard Jefferson had a disappointing San Antonio debut, scoring five points and shooting 1 of 7, rookie DeJuan Blair looked stellar in his first game, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

“He’s showing really good maturity so far,” Popovich said of the All-American from Pittsburgh. “You just have to give him credit. He’s got a great way about him and let the game come to him.”

Spurs-Bulls Preview - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

[Dulce]

[esparzar1]

Should be a little bit closer than last night's game. Still think the Spurs should have a fairly easy win.

Spurs 103

Bulls 93

[KVas]

Yeah I agree, it will be close for the first 3 quarters before the Spurs start to pull away. Spurs by 8.

[shelshor]

NBA.com - Referee Assignments
Oct 29, 2009
San Antonio @ Chicago--Scott Foster, Leon Wood, Sean Wright

[McGyver]

RJ has a good game tonight

[ProjectGSX]

Im interested to see how well the Spurs do in their first back to back. B2B's were killer for us in the past. I think with our depth this year its going to be a very different situation. Timmy only played 22 minutes last night and even then it didnt look like he was playing very hard. We should be fresh tonight.

[pjm]

Actually no one logged 30+ minutes yesterday and they had a few days rest before yesterday's game. So things should be fine for today in regards to being fresh.

[grizzly_bexar]

Yeah, if the back to back in the 2nd game already shows us with fatigue, we're not as good as we thought we were.

I think we'll be fine tonight. And we'll continue to play at least 10 men deep (I think) every night.

I don't think we'll shoot as well as last night, but we should be better defensively because though Chicago has a dominant PG like NOH, they lack a post game, so our defense should be fine sticking on the perimeter.

I'll say SA 103 Chicago 94.

[cheesehead4spurs]

I have always had a bit of foreboding with B2Bs, but with the performance last night of the bench, I am looking forward to good outcomes. We are looking pretty darn deep.

Spurs by 6

[GalloJD]

im kinda ok with Bonner playing more minutes than everyone else for the season so it doesnt take a toll on our other bigs. but come playoff time i prefer he get less.

[grizzly_bexar]

Originally Posted by Danes

im kinda ok with Bonner playing more minutes than everyone else for the season so it doesnt take a toll on our other bigs. but come playoff time i prefer he get less.

Bonner taking the brunt of this season's wear and tear would be a good thing for sure.

[SleepyAdamII]

Gonna head down to Wrigleyville to watch the game, in my Finest Duncan Jersey!

Lord be with me

[Dulce]

Good luck SleepyAdamII

GO GO!!!

[mckennaspur1]

Chi is exploiting the uncoordinated Spur interior defense. Spur bigs haven't figured out the defensive rotations yet and are doing alot of grabbing inside.

Chi looks awfully big and awfully quick.

[TheLadiesMike]

Did anyone else catch Luol Deng walking with the ball for like 5 steps before getting it to Hinrich?

[TheGent210]

I don't like that small ball they were playing the first half. Put Dice and Duncan together see what happens! Dammit Pop!

[ro_50]

Outside of TD, the entire team played like garbage.

I don't like Bonner playing major minutes but then again, I'm not a coach.

[grizzly_bexar]

Originally Posted by ro_50

Outside of TD, the entire team played like garbage.

I don't like Bonner playing major minutes but then again, I'm not a coach.

Nobody (McD, Blair) acted like they wanted Bonner's minutes

[Rzarector7]

Flat out ugly, the whole game pretty much.

[rowancv]

WELL THAT WAS DISAPPOINTING!!

[grizzly_bexar]

Originally Posted by mckennaspur1

Chi is exploiting the uncoordinated Spur interior defense. Spur bigs haven't figured out the defensive rotations yet and are doing alot of grabbing inside.

Chi looks awfully big and awfully quick.

Yeah, we're more athletic than last year, but Chicago's arguably the most athletic team in the league-- Rose, Deng, Salmons, Thomas, Noah-- then you've got savvy vets like Hinrich & Miller to balance things out.

We've definitely got to play smarter on our defensive rotations. McDyess and Blair looked bad defensively. Francisco Elson-esque, almost.

[MyKey-30]

Originally Posted by McGyver

RJ has a good game tonight

Wished he had a good game.

[rowancv]

man, if RJ could have had it going, it would have been all good. if we hit a couple more 3s, which isn't too much to ask considering how much we missed, it would have been all good. if we didn't give up so many offensive rebounds, it would have been all good too. but all these going against us? uuuuuuuugggglllyyyyyyyyyyyy.....

[Rzarector7]

Same as last year with the threes all game when missing, same as last year with the stupid D rebounding, same as last year with the one on one game and bad ball movement and TO's. I saw last year again I know this team will gel and get alot better than that team, but tonights game seemed like they took a time maching to a bad game last year and made us watch it over again.

I expect alot more with this team and know they will give us alot more when they get it going, but tonight was just painful to watch.

[grizzly_bexar]

I really think they thought tonight was going to be a lot easier after how things went last night. Pop will now have their attention in practice.

Yeah, I know they're pros, but I think especially a guy like Blair who's so young had a little trouble not buying deeply into the hype.

[SleepyAdamII]

fortunately no one in Wrigleyville cares about the Bulls too much, no flack for my Duncan Jersey lol....

Can't sleep on these guys, gotta get Bonner out of the starting Lineup, and Jefferson needs to gettyup.

[Grego]

Well for anyone who doubts Duncan, that was the one high point of today.

[Nazr For 3]

Considering that ALL of those things went wrong, it was still only a 7 point margin. That's pretty scary, if I'm the rest of the league.

What I've learned is that (1) Depth will give you a chance. But (2) that chance will be squandered without EXECUTION.

Fortunately, we have THE best coach in the league when it comes to getting execution out of his players. I'm very excited!