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The Bulls end their short string of games against NBA bottom-feeders on Saturday, playing the Thunder in Oklahoma City. After defeating the Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards, the Bulls hope to get an easy win versus the Thunder, but to do so, they need to be aware of some key issues for the game.
Injuries
The Bulls caught a nice break in their schedule for once. Three starters (Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, and Drew Gooden) have been bit by the injury bug and wont be playing in the game. Luckily, one of the best ways to heal those wounds is playing teams whose records are . . . how can I put this nicely . . . below mediocre. This is just like junior high, when the dads for the horribly defeated team would always tell their sons, Hey, you gave great effort.
In defense of those teams, they have had their share of bad luck in terms of injuries as well. They are also just poor teams to begin with, but my New Years resolution is to be kinder this year.
Guard Domination
With Gooden being out for the Bulls and the Thunder being a height-challenged team, look for the guards on both sides to get out there and push the ball down court more. Gordon and Rose, as is the case in most games, will take charge for the Bulls. Rose is leading the team in assists, but also in turnovers. His turnover-to-assist ratio is still over two, which is very respectable.
Rose and Gordon are the two main weapons, and theyre starting to build chemistry with one another due to the unfortunate fact that Hinrich and Deng arent there to help mold Rose. It wont be apparent until later in the season the impact that Gordon will have on Rose.
Youth Movement
Its no secret that both teams are in a developing stage. This isnt necessarily a bad thing, though. The developing stage is quite different than the rebuilding stage. The rebuilding stage means a team was at its peak but has recently come down from atop the league and is now trying to re-identify itself. In the developing stage, a team is young and has many players who are full of potential. Usually the team is marked by one superstar (like the Cavaliers with LeBron early on) or a crew of players who are still trying to find their way in the league and are learning to use each of their skills for the teams betterment.
With all that being said, the developing Bulls and Thunder might have their superheroes in place with Rose and Durant, but these heroes need sidekicks to help them along the way. Seeing as Chicago has nine players who have been in the league for four years or less and Oklahoma City has 10 players who have logged four or less years of service, there are plenty of potential candidates out there for both teams to see who will step up and become that vital accomplice.
Due to the inexperience on both sides, look for a high-scoring affair with an up-tempo pace leading to many miscues and a decent share of turnovers. As I said earlier, these teams are just learning to play with one another, so mistakes happen.
Russell Westbrook
Westbrook is a rookie guard from UCLA who has recently been playing some very good basketball. Hes been called one of the best rookies in this years class (along with Rose, of course). Already this season he has two 30-plus point games and has been averaging more as the season has progressed.
Hes not all about scoring, either. Westbrook already has two double-doubles to his credit as well. But before I go singing the praises of the youthful ex-Bruin, it should be mentioned that he is in the top 10 for most turnovers per game as well.
Whether hes continuing his solid scoring display or throwing an errant pass, Westbrook will be a factor in the game and will gather the attention of the Bulls defenders.
Ben Gordon and Kevin Durant
The stud rookies on both teams will make their presences known, but the key players will be Gordon and Durant.
Durant, the reigning Rookie of the Year and former Longhorn, is maintaining his incline of potential and is learning to take games over. A few games back, he hit the go-ahead jumper against the Nuggets with less than four seconds left. If it wasnt for Carmelos three-pointer with a tenth of a second left, Durant would have been the hero of the game. Although it wasnt the game-winner he hoped, it does show that he is fully capable of burdening the crunch-time pressure when his team needs him most.
Besides that game, Durant has been producing all year. Hes averaging about 24 points a game and is among the league leaders. The scariest part is that he is scoring at all facets of the game. He leads the Thunder in scoring, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and three-point percentage!
To counter Durant, the Bulls have a pretty decent scorer in Ben Gordon. The ability to generate points has never been hard for Gordon, but ever since Deng and Gooden went down with injuries, he has raised his game to a new level. No longer the sixth man, Gordon looks to establish himself in the game early and often. In the month of December, Gordon didnt score less than 15 points per game. Like Durant, Gordon leads his team in three-point and free-throw percentages. His three-point shooting has been most impressive this year. In fact, Gordon leads the conference in treys by a shooting guard, even above Ray Allen, one of the best shooters of all time.
Overall, I think it will be a very fun game to watch: Lots of scoring, some highlight dunks, but little defense. If I were a high school coach, this game would not be used as a blueprint for fundamentals. However, I would like to put this game in a capsule, seal it up, and then in about seven years review it and compare those players of yesteryear to how theyre playing at that time. By then, LeBron will be working on MVP number six and the expansion Seattle team will be two-time defending champs.
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