Tonight's Ooogly One

[eztds]

Yes.....it's da (4-21) Bulls.....winless on the road (0-14) going south to enter the (7-20) Grizzlie cage.

The old say'n somebody's gotta win it comes to mind and here's my thoughts.....

-I harken back to an astute dnugs observation last Sunday...."This team (Memp) is finally coming together..." They sure did last week with SU wins against the Knicks and LAL. Then, the Griz go to Boston covered the -11 laid by Celts on Sunday losing 85-50.

-In fact the Griz are on a bit of a roll in the last 3 and looking at the last 6......

Memphis

Shot 34%* in a Bost loss by 5
Shot 50% in a LAL win by 6
Shot 47% in a NY win by 2
Shot 42% in a Mil loss by 9
Shot 35%* in a Sac loss by 17
Shot 41% in a GS loss by 9

(* Bulls' defense isn't close to Bost or Sac)

While Chicago in their last 6......

Chicago

Shot 33% in a Min loss by 11
Shot 45%* in a Tor loss by 5
Shot 38% in a Cle loss by 18
Shot 32% in a Atl loss by 1
Shot 48% in a Bost loss by 6
Shot 44% in a NJ loss by 14

(* Caused by Montross at center....OK I won't go there again Hoops)

-But LOOK at da Bull shooting.....even with Artest's return logging a mear 13 mins/4 pts in that Tor loss and 21 mins/10 pts in the Minn loss on Saturday!

-AND even with Fizer's season-high 25 pts vs. Minn...da Bulls still racked up their 11th dd loss this season. A game inwhich the only other Bulls who BARELY scored in double figures were Artest and Mercer with 10 and 12 respectively.

-Heck...it's no wonder the (49-190) Floyd resigned Monday afternoon! Tonight, Assist. Bill Berry will be at the helm as interim HC but he still has the same disfunctional team Floyd coached.

Looking at the stats ya have a SLIGHT edge to the Griz........

Off Pts...edge...Griz...89.7 to 83.2
Def Pts...edge...Bulls...95 to 97.4
Shooting %...even...Griz...41.6 to 41.3
Opp Shooting %...even...Bulls...46.1 to 46.6
Off Rbs...even...Griz...39.9 to 39.7
Def Rbs...edge...Griz...47.2 to 46.2

---------------------------------------------

In summary, the Griz should win this one. My only concern is that the Griz -7 is paying a bit of preimum for the Floyd resignation?

Also....

Remember when GS fired Cowen's......the Warrior's trun right around in their next game and beat this same Griz team on by 9 on Dec. 15 with their interim HC Winters!!!

New Bulls HC or not....I'll take the team on a recent "roll" with some slight edges on paper. PLEASE talk me outa it if I'm missing something.

22-15 YTD...1-1 LN ez

(Also, if McGrady doesn't go in the Ind/Orl game I really like that under. Orl has really struggled offensively without Tracy.)

 

[dnuggets]

From what i understand, tmac should be a go and im not a a totals players at all i would lean heavy on the over if tmac plays. These teams play zero d, and with tmac orlando is a scoring machine even vs good def. teams at home.

As far as memphis, there one of the 7 games im looking deeper into, vs most teams laying pts 7 or so is dangerous, not vs the bulls because they are a terrible shooting team. I cant remember seeing a worse shooting team in years. I expect curry and chandler to get a ton of minutes now and them basically to allow themselves to lose games by 25 in order to be better next year. Thats one of the big reasons floyd left, he was trying to win and the higher ups just wanted him to play the kids.

Oakley is out, anthony is probably not gonna play and while those are not great players on the bulls if ga doesnt play there pgs are horrible after him. I like memphis in this game big, not 100% sure ill play it but thats without question the side id be on. Laying big pts vs a team that cant score is not bad, rarely do the bulls have games come down the the very end so its easy to lay pts vs them. And one last thing, look at it from there point of view, your on the bulls your coach just quit on you because he couldnt take how bad you were and now you have to travel the day after christmas to play a game on a team that is going nowhere.

good luck

 

[eztds]

Sheesh dnugs......do we need to put da Bulls on "suicide watch" or what??? lol

That was some bleak outlook you painted for da Bulls team!

Heck, after tip'n it off and falling down by 8 tonight.....they just as well commit HARIKARI and end their miserable existence.

Great comment as usual d. ez

[This message has been edited by eztds (edited 12-26-2001).]

 

[TBoyrent]

looking at the shooting % off-Chi dead last at 41,Mem 27th at just over 41. Def % Bulls 26th at 46% and Mem 28th at 46.8%.Rebounds Chi at -3 Mem at -7. Nothing here to make me take Memphis.

 

[Guerilla_Ninja]

tmac is a go for ORL. game isn't circled anywhere and ORL papers don't say anything to the contrary. i like the over 04- here. looking for heavy turnovers, "up pace game" and i pray for solid 3pt% as i see many getting tossed up.

as far as the bulls, here's the local perspective. floyd wasn't playing curry and chandler enough. expect more of them now and fizer to continue to start. cartwright may be the new coach as curry and chandler have worked with him well. so, big minutes for those two mean am even lower FG% and more tunrovers. mercer is erractic at best. anthony is a CBA PG who couldn't score in a whore house. what do you want to hear about artest? except if anthony needs a whore house partner... i'm a long time season ticket holder and this shXt is frustrating. april '02 renewals are coming up...

 

[eztds]

G_N

Always nice to hear the local perspective...especially...when it matches what we're hearing here in the heartland!

->Hope the Griz aren't hibernating tonight.ez