Sundays are a typically good day for NBA basketball. This morning we saw an overtime game between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks with Boston coming out on top. The Miami Heat and LA Lakers rivalry continued today as the Lakers came out today with a win. Another good match up I saw that isn't as popular as the NY Knicks or the Miami Heat is the Chicago Bulls going up against the Sixers. These two teams have quality young players who know how to put on a good show with Chicago at the top of the eastern conference, and Philly sitting at 4th. Philly in it's last 3 after the break have won 2 of 3 with wins over Detroit and Golden State, and a loss to Oklahoma City. Chicago on the other hand has won 3 straight after the break, and and 5 straight including their wins before. Like most match ups, this one comes down to rebounds and turnovers. Tim Thibodeau is known to be a defensive minded coach, and the Bulls as a team average 7.4 steals per game and 5.6 blocks per game. The Sixers average 10.6 turnovers per game which is actually not bad, although with tough defensive teams such as the Thunder and the Bulls the Sixers seem to struggle either keeping a lead, or keeping up with the defense. Joakim Noah is starting to shoot that outside jump shot more consistently and Luol Deng is finding his game gaining confidence after making the all star team. The Bulls average 13.2 offensive boards a game to Philly's 9.9 offensive rebounds a game. Philly as a team averages 42.9 rebounds in total and Chicago averages 45.6. If Chicago can lock down defensively which they have the full potential to do, then Philadelphia may have to rely on 3 point shooting where they're shooting 37.1%. I think Chicago takes this game covering the 3.5 point spread, but Philly keeps it close until the end.
Result: Last time at the Fargo Wells Center on February 1st the Bulls lost to the Sixers by 16 points. When Chicago loses a game by that margin, or loses a game at all they tend to hold resentment towards the teams that they've lost to. In a position like this, the Bulls came out ready to play in a back and forth game against the Sixers. The first half was close, going back and forth in scoring where at the end of the 1st quarter Chicago was up by 2 just to go down by 6 in the 2nd quarter being outscored 22-14. In the second half the Sixers went up by as much as 6 in the 1st quarter, but led by Derrick Rose's 3 point shooting going 4/7 from distance started to pull away in the 4th quarter. After splitting a pair at the line, Derrick Rose put the Bulls up by 8 in the 4th but the Sixers led by Thaddeus Young cut the lead down to 4. With 3 minutes left in the quarter, C.J. Watson hit a big 3 to put the Bulls up by 7 but the Sixers (more so Thaddeus Young) cut it down to 2. Derrick Rose scored 35 points and had 8 assists, and scored a pull up jumper to put the Sixers away. The Sixers took good care of the ball and only had 5 turnovers for the game, but Chicago is more than capable of playing straight up defense to defend Philly's shooters. Philly had a horrible night from distance shooting 1/11 which most likely determined the winner of this game. It was a fun game to watch and Chicago locked down defensively to get the win 96-91.
11-4-1
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