The Bulls and Knicks haven’t played since New Year’s Day. They’ll get reacquainted in a hurry with a home-and-home series on consecutive nights that starts Wednesday in Chicago. Each team’s last game was against Sacramento with the Bulls getting a win while the Knicks managed just 80 points against one of the NBA’s worst defensive units in a loss.
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SCHEDULING
It’s been a dismal road for the Knickerbockers, who seem to have taken lessons from the Sixers on how to drop games. A brief return to the Garden was supposed to energize the club after a lengthy road trip that saw them go 2-4. Over those six games the Knicks failed to score more than 94 points five times and the victories came against Los Angeles and Phoenix, the two worst teams in the Western Conference. Instead of feeling all warm and fuzzy upon their return, the Knicks were cold and stagnant, falling to the Sacramento Kings, a more dysfunctional team. The Knicks haven’t won back to back games since Jan. 20, going 6-21 in that span and 3-10 on the road. It’s been a difficult stretch and leading scorer Carmelo Anthony has sat out the last two with migraine headaches. We can only guess what caused those.
The Bulls are trending in the other direction at the right time. Chicago posted its third straight win Monday night at the UC, downing the Kings 109-102 to keep its percentage point lead over the Pistons for the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed. With Pau Gasol back from his four-game injury absence, the projected starting lineup of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Mike Dunleavy, Taj Gibson and Gasol played together for just the second time, improving to 2-0.
INJURIES
Anthony sat out the last two games due to his migraine condition and is day-to-day with hopes of improvement before Wednesday’s tip. The Knicks are 0-9 when their leading scorer doesn’t play.
The Bulls got Gasol back in the starting lineup after he missed four games with a knee injury and have their projected five ready to go. However, reserve guard E’Twaun Moore is nursing a sore hamstring that cost him the last two games and forward Cameron Bairstow remains out with a back ailment.
KEY MATCHUP
With so many injuries to key players, the Bulls have been forced to use a variety of different lineups throughout the season. And as a result, they’ve come to rely on Gasol to an extent because of his ability to score from different spots on the floor. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a consistent presence on the boards as well. Gasol is averaging 17.0 points and 11.1 rebounds, but he was playing extremely well prior to his injury, scoring 19.5 points with 14.5 boards on 46.7 percent shooting. He also averaged eight dimes per game during that stretch. Chicago did go 3-1 during his absence, including a huge win over the Raptors, but this team is far better off with him. He returned to the lineup Monday with 14 points and 14 boards in just under 25 minutes and looked like the time off was helpful.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
For just the second time this season the Bulls had their projected starting five and they delivered in a win over the Kings. It wasn’t pretty, though. The Bulls let a 12-point lead slip away against a team finishing a back-to-back and playing out the string. But it’s a win, and as coach Fred Hoiberg said afterwards, “Early in the year, I’m not sure we win this game.” Chicago has taken advantage of a soft portion of the schedule, racking up wins against three sub-.500 teams during the homestand. The Bulls have three more games against teams with losing records, including their home-and-home with the Knicks.
It’s been a struggle to score and win lately for the Knicks, who have gone four straight games without scoring more than 90 points. They all say the effort is there, but the results have proven otherwise. It sure appears as though they’ve cashed it in, and Anthony is the one leading the way. New York has yet to win a game this NBA season when their leading scorer doesn’t play and the Knicks need him on the floor. But he doesn’t need the Knicks.
Chicago 105, New York 92
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