Shorthanded Bulls

The Chicago Bulls had only eight players in this one. They were missing three of their starters as Joakim Noah was out with an undisclosed foot injury. ‘‘He’s nicked up,’’ said Thibodeau. Carlos Boozer was out with a sore right hamstring and Kirk Hinrich needed to get his right elbow checked out. ‘‘He had some discomfort last night, so we sent him back to have Dr. [Brian] Cole take a look at him,’’ Thibodeau said of Hinrich. In spite of being shorthanded, the Bulls almost pulled through. The Nets jumped out to a early 12-point lead in the first quarter, but the Bulls battled back to take a 42-39 lead on Luol Deng’s 3-pointer with 51 seconds left in the first half and the Bulls led by one at the halfway mark.

Double Figure scoring

Luol Deng had 18 points as five of the Bulls scored in double figures. Taj Gibson added 18, Robinson and Butler had 12 a piece and Belinelli had 18. The Nets had five players in double figures too with Lopez scoring 20, Williams putting 11, Joe Johnson and Brooks had 13 each and Andray Blatche had 11

Nets’ bench comes through in the clutch

“It’s huge, especially when a lot of our starters didn’t have it going tonight,” Nets guard Deron Williams said. “It was good that those guys came in and stepped up for us. Without them, we don’t win this game.”

The fourth quarter is usually the time when the starters take over the reserves. Often though the quarter is started with the bench players and sometimes they play so well that the starters aren’t needed for quite a while. The Nets’ bench came through in this one for them. Andray Blatche was scoreless except in the fourth when he scored 11 points. MarShon Brooks gave them 9 points in the fourth and finished with 13.

“It felt great, it did,” Brooks said. “I just try to stay ready and just be aggressive. I was out there in the fourth quarter, trying to make plays, man.” The Nets’ bench scored the first 20 points of the fourth quarter. Nets began the fourth with a 7-0 run to take a 70-67 lead. It wasn’t until Joe Johnson’s three pointer with two minutes left, which lifted the Nets to 86-80 that a starter scored for them in the fourth. The Nets had 30 points in the fourth quarter to 89 of the Bulls.

“MarShon and Blatche, man, carried us in that fourth quarter,” Joe Johnson said.

Quoteworthy snipped from Nets coach

We ought to say interim coach, as P.J. Carlesimo is just filling in as Avery Johnson’s replacement is found. One thing in the NBA which sells is showmanship. Its why Bazemore has become a verb with his off court celebrations for the Warriors. Its why Craig Sager wears those provocatively coloured-motion sickness inducing clothing which elicits wayward responses from coaches. An entertaining coach makes for good drama. And P.J. Carlesimo must have been writing down his fun quotes with equal attention as the playbook as he tries to extend the interim job to a permanent one.

On the Nets playing the Miami Heat followed by the Chicago Bulls, he said that it was akin to ”going for a root canal a couple of times in a week’. Gerald Wallace had a quote for this one,“typical Nets basketball” he called it. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t flashy. It was workmanlike and it got the job done. He finished with 6 points and 13 rebounds and one knockdown to a ref:

Paint unprotected

The Chicago Bulls are coached by defensive mastermind Tom Thibodeau. They were third in the NBA in scoring defense (90.9 points a game), second in shooting defense (42.5 percent) and fifth in rebounding (52.8 a game). But that takes into account the presence of Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer. Without those two the Nets’ big men had their way inside. The Nets had 18 points in the paint in the first quarter alone. The Nets’ big men Brook Lopez and Reggie Evans scored 11 of their first 18 points. Brook Lopez led all scorers with 20 points on 9 for 16 shooting. The Bulls were out-rebounded 40 to 29.

Weak perimeter

In the absence of Kirk Hinrich the Bulls started Nate Robinson who had 12 points and 11 assists but shot just 4 of 16. Deron Williams had just 11 points for the Nets. He limped off with an apparent ankle injury but was back to start the third quarter.

Freeebies

Free throws are free. You ought to make at least 80% of them. The Chicago Bulls shot 91% from the free throw line, going 20 for 22, while the Nets just shot 50% going 10 of 20 and were lucky to win this one.

The Nets improved to 28-19 with a win today. Here are the highlights from the game:

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