Spurs vs. Bulls Previews

Chicago Bulls @ San Antonio Spurs
Morten Stig Jensen

Chicago has run off two straight with point guard Derrick Rose averaging 26 points on 63% from the field. Rose dominated with 32 points at Phoenix and then added 20 at Houston. With Bulls center Joakim Noah out of action, veteran center Brad Miller stepped up and scored a season-high 25 points on a series of jumpers and close shots.

Tonight, the Bulls are in San Antonio to take on the Spurs. Former MVP and four-time NBA Champion Tim Duncan scored his 20,000th point at Houston three days ago, and is having the second-highest scoring rate (per36) of his career.

Bulls rookie Taj Gibson played a strong game at Houston, finishing with 16 points and 14 rebounds. He'll match up against San Antonio's frontcourt of Duncan, Antonio McDyess and DeJuan Blair. All three are large bodies who can rebound the basketball and get shots at close range. With Noah out, Gibson will have to play another strong game for the Bulls to stand a chance.

Richard Jefferson got traded to San Antonio over the summer, and his numbers have dipped across the board. San Antonio shares the ball, which has hurt Jefferson's isolation opportunities, and he has instead become a spot-up shooter. Luol Deng will have to establish himself offensively, and try to take advantage of the extra energy he'll gain from not having to focus on Jefferson.

The Bulls will also need strong performances from Kirk Hinrich, Miller and John Salmons. All three have had their struggles over the course of the season, but lately, they've fallen into line and been productive.

Chicago won the first game against the Spurs in the season opener, and they'll look to sweep the season series tonight. Bulls fans will get another look at DeJuan Blair who a lot of people wanted in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Chicago Bulls (20-22) at San Antonio Spurs (25-17)

The San Antonio Spurs have a good shot at their first win on this current six-game homestand, as they take on the Chicago Bulls Monday night at the AT&T Center.

The Spurs, who are 0-2 on the residency, have won four of five and five of the past seven matchups with the Bulls. They have also won three straight and nine of the previous 10 meetings between the teams in the Alamo City.

San Antonio lost the opener of the homestand to Utah before suffering a 116-109 defeat at the hands of the Southwest Division-rival Houston Rockets on Friday night. Future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan posted 25 points and 14 rebounds, and eclipsed the 20,000-point mark for his career.

"It was good to get it out of the way," Duncan said of the milestone. "We seem to be two different teams at two different times. We need to be playing 48 minutes the right way, and right now we're no where close to that."

Tony Parker contributed 22 points and 10 assists, while Manu Ginobili and George Hill added 15 points apiece for the Spurs, losers of four of five games overall. San Antonio will also host the Hawks, Grizzlies and Nuggets on the homestand and owns a 17-8 mark at the AT&T Center.

The Bulls will resume their seven-game road trip this evening and have won two straight since opening the trek with back-to-back losses. They improved to 2-2 on the swing with Saturday's 104-97 triumph at Houston, as Brad Miller posted 25 points to make up for the loss of forward Joakim Noah, who sat out with a left foot injury and is questionable for Monday. Noah is averaging 11.3 points and 12.3 rebounds this season.

"With losing Joakim in warmups with his foot bothering him, Brad stepped in and had an excellent game," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Shooting, scoring, rebounding, doing everything for us. It was a big boost for us."

Derrick Rose scored 20 points and Taj Gibson ended with 16 points and a career-best 14 rebounds for Chicago, which got 12 points apiece from Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and John Salmons.

Chicago is 6-15 away from the Windy City and will also visit Oklahoma City and New Orleans on the road trip.

Bulls 6-15 on the road, but as we saw with the road-sucky Jazz, not a reliable indication when teams come to SA this season.

Didn't see posted

Rose a game-time call Monday: According to Bulls announcer Chuck Swirsky's Twitter feed, Derrick Rose will be a game-time decision for Monday's game in San Antonio due to an illness.
(Updated 01/25/2010).

Foot still hobbling Noah

By Nick Friedell
ESPNChicago.com
Archive

SAN ANTONIO -- The Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah is still battling plantar fasciitis in his left foot and is a game-time decision for Monday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs.

"We'll see how it goes later," a dejected Noah said after Monday morning's shootaround. "But, I'm just not moving right. It's frustrating because I've had it for a while but it's just getting worse."


Noah received a pain-killing injection before Saturday's game against the Rockets but was unable to play. He also received a deep-tissue massage on Sunday and is sleeping with a boot to immobilize the foot and accelerate the healing process, but he didn't sound confident about playing against Tim Duncan and Co.


"If I can play, I'll play," Noah said. "I'm going to take a pill, take a shot, do whatever I have to do to try to play. But I took the shot last game and it didn't help and it didn't help at all. And there's no point in trying to go when you know deep inside you're only hurting the team."


To make matters worse for coach Vinny Del Negro, Derrick Rose is battling the same flu bug that has been hovering around the team all week. The good news for Del Negro is that he expects Rose to play.


"Hopefully, we can get [Noah] out there," Del Negro said. "Brad [Miller]'s knee's bothering him a little bit. Derrick's sick, so we're just trying to get over this sickness with the team and heal some plantar fasciitis up and get our guys out there. We'll just go with what we can go with. Our body count's a little low in terms of that but we'll see. It's part of the deal."


http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nb...ory?id=4856590

Might be a great time to steal a victory with so many bulls players out or hampered. Spurs really need a win tonight.