With the exception of the Grizzlies, winners of seven consecutive games at the time of this writing, no team in the league is in better shape than the Knicks.
In fact, the men of Tom Thibodeauwith very easy access to Bulls in Chicago last night (114-91), after a first success against them on Wednesday, signed a sixth consecutive victory.
It was a game very quickly devoid of any suspense, even if the Knicks waited the last four minutes of the first half to sign a scathing 17-3 to end the first half, and return to the locker room with the momentum (58-53).
Yet interesting in the first period before taking the brunt of this acceleration of the Knicks, the Bulls will not recover from this “run”, as if demoralized on returning from the locker room. The score of the second half was also final: 56-38 for the “Orange & Blue”, and a defeat of 23 points, the third in a row…
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Offensive rebound and outside shooting. The differential in these two categories between the two teams is quite maddening: 17 winning shots for New York against 12 for Chicago, and above all 15 offensive rebounds against… only 2! The Bulls were trampled in the battle for the offensive rebound, in particular the image of a duo Mitchell Robinson (6 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals) – Isaiah Hartenstein who compiles 10 of them and who made misery to one Nikola Vucevic (8 rebounds, only one offensive) far too alone in the battle. In summary, the Knicks had a hot hand behind the arc, and in addition could rely on a large number of second chances when they missed their target, thanks to the activity of their pivots. The recipe for a good evening.
– Something is broken at the Bulls. But what ? That is the question. In the middle of the season, when the matches follow one another at high speed, it is difficult to have the perspective necessary to highlight this evil (or these evils?). But the visual truth of the ground doesn’t lie, and something is definitely wrong with these Bulls. Sportingly, one can think of the absence of Lonzo-Ball to explain the ineffectiveness of the attack, too often predictable, without much variation. Billy Donovan could also be singled out, with rotations still imprecise after a quarter of the past season and not always very consistent, and a game plan that does not change despite clearly disappointing results. But the evil seems deeper, perhaps more structural. We think in particular of a lack of desire, aggressiveness and will, with for example this absolutely mind-blowing differential in free throws: 32 attempts for the Knicks… against 8 for the Bulls! We think of the body language of Nikola Vucevic, on this action in the third quarter when the pivot of the Bulls, in his racket, is completely dominated on the offensive rebound by Mitchell Robinson, who plants a huge dunk behind. And “Vooch” to lower his head, as if disillusioned, kicking the ball with his foot towards his teammate for the throw-in. The Montenegrin pivot, after having shown a gesture of humor after an unfair referee decision to his taste, also suffered a technical foul in the first half. As DeMar DeRozan. A sign, perhaps, of leaders starting to get seriously frustrated with the end product on the pitch. In short, something is broken with the Bulls…
– During a “garbage-time”, Chicago found its prince. It was clearly not the poor performance of their team that gave them satisfaction during this evening. So the United Center spectators who stayed until the end found comfort elsewhere. At the entry into play of Derrick Rose, as it happens. Indeed, when there were barely three minutes left to play and the Knicks were at +30, Tom Thibodeau brought in his lifelong leader, obviously showered with thunderous applause when entering the floor of his past exploits. Even scoring a winning shot a few seconds later, definitely making the sad spectacle offered by the Bulls less bitter, for the city of which he was once the prince.
TOPS & FLOPS
✅ Knicks starters. It was a great game for New York’s major five, which compiled 96 of the team’s 118 points! The movement of the ball was satisfactory, with a good balance between the phases on “pick-and-roll”, the usual phases of isolation of Julius Randle (19 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 interceptions) and the “hand -off” in the wings, resulting in good shots for everyone. In this beautiful evening of collective attack, it was RJ Barrett who stood out the most, the Canadian being well supported by his delicious backcourt (22 points at 6/9 at 3-pts, 6 assists and 3 interceptions for Jalen Brunson22 points at 5/9 at 3-pts, 2 rebounds and 2 assists for Quentin Grimes). We also remember a very important defensive volume displayed by these five holders (20 ball losses and only 8 free throws attempted by the Bulls), which set the tone when the substitutes take over.
✅ Alex Caruso. For the Bulls, difficult to find satisfaction in this gloomy meeting, but the valiant “combo-guard” deserves at least to be congratulated for his investment. Holder in the lead a little by default, he has indeed struggled as he is used to (9 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, one interception and one against).
⛔️ Immanuel Quickley. (Very) bad night for the Knicks’ sixth man, who only scored 3 points on 12 shots, including an ugly 0/7 from behind the arc… At halftime, he was at 0/7, not scoring only one point, on the free throw of the technical fault of Nikola Vucevic. A match to forget, but a failure fortunately without consequence as his team easily managed despite his clumsiness.
THE FOLLOWING
– Bulls (11-17): trip to Minneapolis, overnight from Sunday to Monday (01:00)
– Knicks (16-13): trip to Indiana, Sunday evening (11 p.m.)
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