Fri, 12/28 Bucks @ Bulls, Predictions & Comments

MILWAUKEE BUCKS (11-16) @ CHICAGO BULLS (9-17)
Regular Season Game 27, Home Game 13
Friday, December 28, 2007 – 7:30 P.M. CT
United Center
Comcast SportsNet Chicago / ESPN 1000 AM


http://www.nba.com/media/bulls/boylan_071227.jpg
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http://www.clubbulls.com/forums/12-28-bucks-bulls-t748.html
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Chicago Bulls



Probable Starters: Hinrich, Duhon, Deng, Nocioni & Smith
Record: 9-17 (.346)
5th Central Division
At Home: 5-7
At Road: 4-10
Streak: L3

PPG: 91.5
FG%: .413
RPG: 43.3

Opp PPG: 96.6
Opp FG%: .448
Opp RPG: 43.0


Player Stats
PPG: Deng 18.0, Gordon 17.6, Nocioni 13.6
APG: Hinrich 5.7, Duhon 3.5, Gordon 2.8
RPG: Wallace 8.4, Deng 6.7, Thomas 5.0
SPG: Wallace 1.42, Hinrich 1.19, Deng 0.91
BPG: Wallace 1.67, Thomas 0.83, Noah 0.71


Milwaukee Bucks



Probable Starters: Redd, Williams, Bell, Yi & Bogut
Record: 11-16 (0.407)
4th Central Division
At Home: 9-3
At Road: 2-13
Streak: L1

PPG: 95.7
FG%: .452
RPG: 41.3

Opp PPG: 100.9
Opp FG%: .466
Opp RPG: 39.8

Player stats
PPG: Redd 23.4, Williams 15.7
APG: Williams 6.8, Redd 3.9
RPG: Bogut 8.7, Yi 5.9
SPG: Williams 1.19, Redd 1.07
BPG: Bogut 1.93, Yi 1.04
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Bucks-Bulls Preview
By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA, STATS Senior Writer
Posted Dec 27 2007 7:12PM

Scott Skiles didn't even get half a season to try and steer the Chicago Bulls back in the right direction, and Pete Myers got just one game. Jim Boylan's tenure will last at least until the end of the season.

Boylan makes his debut as interim coach of the Bulls when they continue their season series with the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

Bulls general manager John Paxson promoted Boylan on Thursday, saying Skiles' former assistant will be the interim head coach for the rest of the season. Skiles was fired Monday after the team's disappointing start, and Myers filled in Wednesday night as Chicago (9-17) lost 94-79 at San Antonio.

After four years as a Bulls assistant, Boylan will make his debut as a head coach.

"We need to get our guys believing in themselves again. That's not always an easy thing to do," Boylan said.

Chicago continued to struggle offensively in its first game without Skiles, shooting 41.0 percent from the field against the Spurs and getting held to its lowest point total since November. The Bulls, who have lost four of their last five, are last in the league in scoring at 91.5 points per game and field-goal shooting at 41.3 percent.

It could be tough for them to be competitive any time soon with their coaching situation in a state of flux.

"I've been here for four years with the same coach," said Chicago swingman Luol Deng, averaging 18.0 points. "It's going to be an adjustment."

An inept offense has been the Bulls' biggest problem all season. They have been held under 80 points six times, including a 78-72 loss to Milwaukee on Nov. 3.

Another matchup with the struggling Bucks (11-16), though, might give the Bulls a good chance to bounce back from their debacle against the Spurs.

Milwaukee has lost seven straight on the road, and will now play in a venue where it has struggled in recent years. The Bucks have dropped three in a row and 10 of 12 at the United Center.


Copyright 2007 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Now we know who will be coach: Jim Boylan.

The last 4 season assistant from Skiles. At first I think about how many changes can this bring.

But then... ...first big change. Gordon to be the 6th man again.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-071227chicagobullsbengordon,1,6045747,print.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

6th-man role not easy to swallow for Bulls' Gordon
Duhon takes his spot in starting lineup
By K.C. Johnson
Tribune staff reporter

December 27, 2007, 10:57 PM CST

After the 2004-05 season, Ben Gordon made NBA history when he became the first rookie to win the league's Sixth Man of the Year award.

Yet Gordon's reaction to new interim coach Jim Boylan replacing him in the starting lineup with Chris Duhon made those days of him embracing his specialty role seem like a distant memory.

"I definitely didn't see this coming," Gordon said.

Gordon said the right things publicly. But it's clear a player who turned down a $50 million extension before the season views himself as a big-money starter.

"I've always liked to think of myself as a selfless team player," Gordon said. "Jim said we need scoring off the bench. If that's going to help us, I'll do it.

"I just have to keep the same mentality, come off, be aggressive and try to score for this team. My job is still the same."

Boylan labeled his task of breaking the news to Gordon "a very difficult conversation."

"Ben wants to be a starter," Boylan said. "But he understands at this point everybody needs to sacrifice. If we do that, it gives us better balance and hopefully the lulls we go through in certain stretches can be negated by having extra firepower."

Boylan didn't view starting Duhon and Kirk Hinrich as playing two point guards.

"I just have two guards playing," he said. "Kirk's a capable point guard. When Ben comes in, Kirk will obviously take the point guard duties. When it's Kirk and 'CDu' out there, they'll share the responsibilities."

Duhon finds himself starting after making the strongest public comments about players possibly not warming to Boylan because he might be viewed as a Scott Skiles disciple.

Otherwise, players sounded open-minded to Boylan's first day on the interim job.

This will be an interesting game tonight. If I weren't lay low with the flu I would definitely follow this game on radio and the internet.

Bulls win

Bulls 103 Bucks 99

31 points from our 6th-man Gordon...
Double-double from Deng 28 pts 10 reb
Wallace 10 reb, 4 blk, 2 stl

only 4 minutes for Thomas
no playing time for Noah

Bulls have 20 turnovers...Bucks only 11, but Bulls having big rebounding 50 to 36 from Bucks

So Bulls under Boylan 1-0. Nice start.

it was a decent game for boylan's first game. however, i was hoping to see tyrus play more, but it looks like boylan will be giving minutes to the veterans still and less to the rookies.