The Chicago Bulls can probably think of many excuses for losing 100-85 to the Charlotte Bobcats last night. It was the last game before the All-Star break. This was the second game in a row for the Bulls. According to an article at www.bulls.com, the Bulls didn't arrive in Charlotte until 3 a.m. because the snowstorm in Chicago delayed their flight. All of them would have been good reasons except for the fact the Bulls were facing the Bobcats who entered the game on a four-game losing streak with a record of 18-33. This was a game that the Bulls could of, should of won, but they didn't. On December 23rd, the Bulls crushed the Bobcats by a score of 115-76. It was the Bobcats worst loss in their three-year history according to www.bulls.com. It seemed likely that the Bulls would win again especially after leading 29-24 at the end of the first quarter. However, Gerald Wallace's three pointer at the buzzer gave the Bobcats a 49-45 lead going into halftime. A basket by Kirk Hinrich got the Bulls within three points with under nine minutes left in the third quarter, but that would be the closest the Bulls would get to getting the lead back. The Bobcats outscored the Bulls by 11 points in the second half. Ben Gordon led the Bulls with 20 points. Emeka Okafor of the Bobcats grabbed 21 rebounds and scored 15 points with six blocks. Wallace of the Bobcats had a game-high 32 points.
Here are the post-game quotes provided by www.bulls.com:
On the loss:
“It was definitely an embarrassing effort, and an embarrassing loss. Right from the beginning we started slow. We hung in there for a while, but they just wore us down, and we weren’t able to get anything going. We're not playing like a high-level team. No reason to run from that, it's true.''
On Luol Deng:
“I thought he gave a great effort. We just didn’t provide any support at all. He was alone with Wallace, and didn’t get the help over there. Overall I think he gave a great effort.”
On Gerald Wallace and Matt Carroll:
“Our game plan against them was to get up on them to try and create turnovers, which we’ve been very good at. [We wanted] to get out on the open floor and disrupt their offense, and we just didn’t do those things. We were really soft on Felton and soft on the ball out in front. When they went into their high pick-and-roll game our traps were soft, and allowed them to split us a little bit. We were in a rotation game, and they made open shots.”
On the second quarter:
“Even though we were staying with them points-wise, we could tell from the bench we weren’t totally here tonight. That doesn’t mean you can’t go on and win the game. You know… its not we felt totally defeated. We felt like we could get something going, and somebody could spark us. At one point we were one for ten off the bench, so going to the bench wasn’t working. We just were not really able to find anyone to spark us.”
On missing Andrés Nocioni:
“We missed him for sure. I mean not only do we miss his shooting and his points, but there are also certain match-ups he can really exploit. When we go small, and he’s the four spot he can guard the fours, as well as get into his pick-and-pop game and make shots. So we definitely miss him. "
On Okafor’s effectiveness:
“There’s no question. He gave us problems all night long. I thought he was aggressive early. His rebounding was a big factor in getting in getting some easy hoops. Then there are his blocks. A blocked shot usually leads to an easy basket. He put up six tonight, and in the third when we seemed to be getting momentum he blocked a few.”
On getting the bench going:
“We knew when we put Ben Gordon in the starting line up that there was a risk of taking points away from our bench. Your putting a guy in the starting line up that, at the time we did it, who had just got 40 points off the bench a couple weeks before that. That’s why we put Andrés back there to get some points coming off the bench. Those are the points you miss off the bench. I mean guys on the bench are getting an opportunity. They need to seize that opportunity, and they’ve struggled with that so far. We’ve just got to do a better job off the bench, and find ways to be productive.”
On his shooting:
“I’ve just been shooting with confidence and trying to take good shots. It’s been a normal movement for me, it’s never been a guess of whether or not I should or should not shoot this. It’s just been going in."
On the game:
“It is hard to explain. It is very disappointing. We know we are a better team than what we are displaying. We haven’t been able to play to a high level. Its like we coast and coast and we wait until we are down and then try to put out one last burst to win the game. We just need to do more than that to win.”
On the game:
“It is definitely not a high point. We talked about getting some momentum going here before the break. We wanted to get a couple of games. But it just did not happen tonight.”
On the first half of the season and upcoming break:
“It was the complete opposite. I’m just disappointed. With the first half we had opportunities that we just missed. It is easy to think back about all of the opportunities we had to win games and we just didn’t take advantage of the situation so far. After the break we just have to come back and defend more consistently, get more consistent on offense and finish our games.”
On the game:
“It was tough. We didn’t play with a lot of energy. Maybe the trip had something to do with it, I don’t know. We really tried to find our offense and our defense wasn’t where it was supposed to be. We just didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game.”
On the second half of the season:
“We are an energy team so the break is really going to be good for us. When we come we have to realize that we need to play with a lot of energy like we have done before.”
On the game:
“I thought the guys defended their shooters consistently and made them earn it. The Bulls are a very good basketball team. They execute well and put pressure on you. I thought it was a very consistent performance; we had 24 assists and 36 field goals. You have to go from strong to weak side against them.”
On Emeka Okafor:
“We told him he ended up with 21 rebounds, and he still thought that wasn’t enough. He had six blocks, and they were at critical times in the game. Other than his rookie year, the thing with Emeka is that he still has to learn how to play 82 games.”
On team efficiency:
“We were pretty good tonight. We did all the right things, all the hustle things, and we shared the ball. We moved the ball from strong to weak side, and that’s the only way you can play against Chicago.”
On going into the All-Star Break with a win:
“I think it’s good. Hopefully we can get healthy so that we can come back and get busy.”
On the first half of the season:“We’re probably a little ahead of schedule compared to last year. There were a couple games along the stretch I thought we could pick up. When you consider everything, I still take my hat off to the small group of guys who held us down on the road trip. We had other guys out, and we really could have been buried. Those guys stepped up, and kept us playing in Los Angeles and Denver. They saved the day for us.”
On the first half of the season:“We’re probably a little ahead of schedule compared to last year. There were a couple games along the stretch I thought we could pick up. When you consider everything, I still take my hat off to the small group of guys who held us down on the road trip. We had other guys out, and we really could have been buried. Those guys stepped up, and kept us playing in Los Angeles and Denver. They saved the day for us.”
On the game:
“(We played) the way we want to play every game, but especially right before the All-Star break. We’re coming off a little slump, so we came out and tried to be aggressive. We knew they played last night, and we remembered what they did to us in Chicago on our back-to-back.”
On Chicago playing the second game of a back-to-back:
“(They were tired), but they’re still a good team. We figured that we could run them and take them out of what they were doing. They’re primarily a jump-shooting team, so we knew that with them playing last night in a close game, their legs would eventually get tired and they would start missing. The thing about that was that we had to rebound. We knew we couldn’t give up rebounds, but we kept giving them second chances. Once we buckled down on that and got our offense going, they weren’t able to do what they wanted to do.”
On getting a win going into the All-Star break:
“It’s good to get momentum going into the second half of the season. We had lost four games in a row, so we didn’t want to go into the second half of the season on a five-game losing streak.”
On their play:
“They made me play one-on-one because they don’t like to rotate. They like to get up on you and press you, then rely on Ben Wallace to clean up the penetration. We got the ball swinging, found open looks, guys got drives to the basket on their close-outs and we had great rotation. We took them out of what they did and approached the game with more aggressiveness than they did tonight.”
On the second half of the season:
“We want to finish strong. We need to come out and make a playoff push. We may not make the playoffs this year, but (it would be nice) to make a push and have something to play for in April instead of playing just for pride like the last two years. (It would be nice) having a goal that we can try to reach for and accomplish.”
On getting a win before the All-Star break:
“It’s very important to go into the break with a bang so that when we come back, we come back on a positive note because we got a win. Then, we’ll try to come back from there and make the second half of the season a good one, try to make a run for the playoffs.”
On Emeka Okafor:
“That’s what Emeka (Okafor) does. I feel much more comfortable out there playing defense when I know I’ve got a big man down there that’s going to clean up like that. I can pressure like I want to, I can be physical like I want to, and I can reach, because I know if I make a mistake, he’s going to clean it up. It’s a lot of fun playing with him.”
On playing in the Rookie-Sophomore game in Las Vegas:
“I’m looking forward to going out there because it’s a wonderful experience. Our team and our players are getting some publicity. That means a lot to our team and to our fans. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Adam and I are going to represent the Charlotte Bobcats the way we’re supposed to. (Adam and I) are teammates, but when we’re out there, there’s going to be a lot of junk-talking. We’re going to have fun with it, and somebody’s going to get bragging rights.”
On the season so far:
“I’m not satisfied, but I’m happy with where the team is at right now. I see a bright future for us.”
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