Toronto, ON— It has come down to this for the Bulls: An 8th-place showdown with the Toronto Raptors. Both teams are tied at the bottom of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoff race at 38-41. Unfortunately for the Bulls, Toronto is 2-0 against Chicago so far this season and therefore will own the tiebreaker. If both teams end with identical records then Chicago will be “goin’ fishin'” early. The Bulls lost 89-99 to the Rapts back in November, and were dealt an embarrassing 78-110 pounding in the United Center at the hands of Toronto, as well – where the infamous moment occurred when Jarrett Jack tied his shoes while all the Bulls stood idly by, instead of going for a steal or tie-up (or, better yet, knocking Jack onto his backside for the blatant back-handed insult).
But, despite the defeats, the Bulls need to kick it into high-gear with Toronto’s star Forward Chris Bosh out of the line-up. Amir Johnson looked sharp against Atlanta, hitting 8 of his 10 shots. He helped them cut a 20-point 4th quarter deficit down to 5. Chicago needs a solid effort to keep Amir Johnson contained. Bosh may be out of the rotation but if they sleep on Johnson, he will make the Bulls’ defense pay. He is already a more active defensive player at power forward than Bosh; the last thing the Bulls need is to allow him to fill up the box score.
The key match-up in this game is probably Luol Deng-Hedo Turkoglu. Deng is going to have to get the ball out of Hedo’s hands and force other players to take long, contested jump shots. They need to deny the Raptors’ bigs of Bargnani, Johnson, and Turkoglu the ball by getting their hands up in the post out in front, and by forcing them to run high off screens and back-cuts – forcing the Raptors frontline to receive passes as far away from the paint as possible. Chicago should not put Rose on rookie swingman Demar DeRosan so he can avoid getting into foul trouble. Instead, Del Negro should run with Hinrich on DeRosan and make him take some difficult shots, while Derrick Rose watches the Toronto 2-punch combo of Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon on the perimeter. Rose’s length and quickness on defense is perfect to close out on dangerous 3-point shooters. Putting up points on Toronto should not be a big problem, but they need to get Deng involved in the scheme early, as he too often seems to go M.I.A. through long stretches of the game.
This game will be played on NBA TV on Sunday at 5:00 PM CT. It is vital for Chicago’s playoff chances that they win. Otherwise they would need to count on Toronto losing their last 2 remaining games against Detroit & New York; the Bulls, as well, would then need to win their last 2 games against the Celtics and in Charlotte the day after.
The Bulls will not have a chance at the #1 pick in the off-season due to a technical detail in the John Salmons-Hakim Warrick trade with Milwaukee. So all of us Bulls fans can rest assured that winning now will not hurt our chances of winning next season.
The Bulls head into Toronto trying to put themselves in the drivers seat to face the upstar Cavs in less than one week.
Tags: Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Hedo Turkoglu, Joakim Noah, nba, NBA TV, Toronto Raptors
Chi City Sports 
April 10, 2010 at 6:46 am |
[…] Chi City Sports The key match-up in this game is probably Luol Deng-Hedo Turkoglu. Deng is going to have to get the ball out of Hedo’s hands and force other players to take long, contested jump shots. They need to deny the Raptors’ bigs of Bargnani, Johnson, and Turkoglu the ball by getting their hands up in the post out in front, and by forcing them to run high off screens and back-cuts – forcing the Raptors frontline to receive passes as far away from the paint as possible. Chicago should not put Rose on rookie swingman Demar DeRosan so he can avoid getting into foul trouble. Instead, Del Negro should run with Hinrich on DeRosan and make him take some difficult shots, while Derrick Rose watches the Toronto 2-punch combo of Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon on the perimeter. Rose’s length and quickness on defense is perfect to close out on dangerous 3-point shooters. Putting up points on Toronto should not be a big problem, but they need to get Deng involved in the scheme early, as he too often seems to go M.I.A. through long stretches of the game. […]
April 10, 2010 at 10:28 am |
[…] Chi City Sports The key match-up in this game is probably Luol Deng-Hedo Turkoglu. Deng is going to have to get the ball out of Hedo’s hands and force other players to take long, contested jump shots. They need to deny the Raptors’ bigs of Bargnani, Johnson, and Turkoglu the ball by getting their hands up in the post out in front, and by forcing them to run high off screens and back-cuts – forcing the Raptors frontline to receive passes as far away from the paint as possible. Chicago should not put Rose on rookie swingman Demar DeRosan so he can avoid getting into foul trouble. Instead, Del Negro should run with Hinrich on DeRosan and make him take some difficult shots, while Derrick Rose watches the Toronto 2-punch combo of Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon on the perimeter. Rose’s length and quickness on defense is perfect to close out on dangerous 3-point shooters. Putting up points on Toronto should not be a big problem, but they need to get Deng involved in the scheme early, as he too often seems to go M.I.A. through long stretches of the game. […]
April 10, 2010 at 10:28 am |
I agree with comment above.
With Bosh being out, the Bulls need to take advantage down low
April 10, 2010 at 12:30 pm |
Awful awful scouting report. I’m sorry dude you really don’t know what you’re talking about on the Raptors end. It’s been ages since Hedo really created for anyone on Toronto. Your real keys are to get Amir Johnson in foul trouble. Also, you shouldn’t worry about DeRozan, it’s Sonny Weems who has been TOs best player at the wing.
April 10, 2010 at 5:08 pm |
Honestly, I believe the Raptors are a much more threatening team with the ball in Turkoglu’s hands now that Bosh is out. It isn’t the same design like it was run for him in Orlando, but he is definitely Toronto’s best all-around offensive player. Good point about Weems as well, and I believe for the amount of time he is in the game that Hinrich should be on him and cutting off penetration as much as possible.
April 10, 2010 at 6:03 pm |
Battle of the giants 🙂 here it comes…frankly both teams suck, the only reason they are fighting for the 8th seed is the weak Eastern Conference. I mean, funny as it is – even if one of those teams finishes below .500 they are still in the playoffs.
If placed in the West both of these teams would be basement dwellers – for sure.
Chicago really blew it with the losses against Bucks and Nets, and they played Cavs without LeBron.
That being said, I would like Raptors to qualify this year as they are really battling without Bosh right now, and with Bosh in the lineup are slightly better team than the Bulls.