By Kyle Soppe
With every one caught up in Linsanity, I’ll leave the Knicks breakdowns to every other national media outlet available. Instead, I’ll take a look at a shootout in Chicago, where the home team won 121-115.
The Bulls increased their point production quarterly, their lowest scoring quarter being a 27 point first quarter. The Kings had two quarters in which they scored fewer than 27 points.
Chicago’s bench shot 68% from the field and 71.4% from deep for 44 points. This is a bench that is shortened due to the absence of DRose.
Seven different Bulls attempted at least seven shots, as filling the void of their leading scorer is truly team effort.
Speaking of the MVP, he averages 22 points a game this season. The Bulls top three minute getters last night combined to score 25 points. The also handed out 12 assists (thanks in large part to John Lucas’ nine), meaning that they produced the exact same amount of points as Jeremy Lin (27 points and 11 assists) on Tuesday night. The big difference, besides the Bulls having three players combine for a single players stats, is that the Bulls outscored Lin’s Knicks by 31 points.
Every Chicago player that entered the game recorded an assist.
Luol Deng had himself a great night, proving himself as a 2012 All Star. He handed out a season high 11 assists: the forward only had 15 assists in the month going into last nights game. He also made nine free throws, the first time he has made at least nine freebies in 106 games. He converted on all of his free throw attempts, only twice in his 545 game career has he made more free throws without a miss.
Great free throw shooting a was theme among the Bulls starting five, as they knocked down 19/20.
As a team, Chicago was remarkably efficient, with 2.54 assists for every turnover.
Despite a losing effort, the Kings had some stat sheet stuffers of their own. Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thorton, and DeMarcus Cousins (who I still think will be the best pro from his college team) all took at least 18 shots. The trio accounted for 64% of the Kings total field goal attempts.
Cousins poured in a game high 28 points and 17 rebounds, and even hit a three pointer for good measure. This is the fourth game in which Cousins netted a long ball, with the Kings dropping all four of those games. His 17 rebounds marked the fifth time this season in which he has snared at least that many boards, and the third time in 10 days. Coming into this season, 16 rebounds was his career high. On the negative side, the aggressive big man has recorded a John Brennan like 18 fouls in his teams last four games.
Tyreke Evans, considered by many a great play maker, added eight assists and only three turnover. This is the first time in five games in which his assist total has been more than one better than his turnover total. He tallied 30+ minutes for the 17th consecutive ball game, seven of which he has logged over 40 minutes. Evans has a LeBron James type build (or at least as close a human can get) and the athleticism to make plays on defense. He blocked a shot in this game, the 12th he has done so. Sacramento has only won four of those games.
The Kings had six players who made a three pointer.
Sacramento lit up the fourth quarter, scoring 38 points in the games final 12 minutes. The point total outdid four individual quarters (total points, for both teams) in the NBA last night. Good luck finding another game in which the losing team had that type of production.
John Salmons’ struggles continued, as he shot 12.5% from the field. He has scored 14 points in his last 108 minutes of action, not the type of production the Kings are looking for from a player who has averaged at least 14 points in six different seasons.
Tonight we’ve got the 76ers traveling to Orlando to battle the two faced Magic. Predictions for the night? Requests moving forward?
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