Could it be any worse? Just one win out of 7 games

This is a very sad time for me. I am from Turkey and the things have not settled down yet. Every morning, I learn a new heart-breaking news and not being able to solve the problems makes me nervous. I hope that each individual of Turkish society spares some time to think about ongoing issues and try to fix them with a positive attitude. The worst thing in those moments would be to loose your confidence.

The Bulls have played 7 games since my last post, and they could only beat Detroit Pistons. Their performance sucks. Bulls schedule was:

• 12/13 Tue: MIN
• 12/15 Thu: @MIL
• 12/16 Fri: MIL
• 12/19 Mon: DET
• 12/21 Wed: WAS
• 12/23 Fri: @CHA
• 12/25 Sun: @SASS

They played 4 home games, and they could not beat any team but only Detroit Pistons. I am a huge fan of Dwayne Wade so I want to see them in winning mode again; however, there is no promising sign to do that. The only argument I can propose might be the level of their game against stronger teams. Spurs and Cavs are two of the strongest teams in NBA and Bulls were able to beat both of them. On the other hand, Mavericks and Timberwolves are two of worst teams and Bulls were not able to win those games. Heat is the third worst team in Eastern Conference and Bulls were hardly able to beat them. All these examples prove that Bulls can beat stronger teams but they are not very successful in beating weak teams. However; is it really the case?

NBA is like a marathon. Teams play 82 games during the season, and standings in mid-season might be misleading. Some teams play most of their games against weaker teams rather than stronger teams so their winning percentage might look like better. In some cases, teams play more back to back games at the beginning of the season which causes more losses. Therefore, it is always better to compare current standing with the projected ones to see real performance of the team.

Before Bobcats game, Bulls was the 6th best team in Eastern Conference with 14 wins and 14 loses. ESPN uses "Relative Percent Index" (RPI) which is 25% team winning percentage, 50% opponents' average winning percentage, and 25% opponents' opponents' average percentage. According to RPI, Bulls was the 10th best team in Eastern Conference, 10th place is worse than their current 6th place. This index means that Bulls has not played against stronger teams yet by comparing to other teams.

Although RPI is a good way to see actual standing of teams, there are other ways to see it as well. Bulls played 7 times against teams which have 50% and above winning percentage. Bulls played 28 games before Bobcats game and just 7 of them were against teams which have better than 50% winning percentage. This is not a good statistics especially for a team which is just above playoff spot. The only good news is that Bulls is able to win 4 of 7 games which they played against teams which have 50% and above winning percentage.


Let's quickly recap games:

12/13, Tuesday, MIN 99 - 94 CHI

Bulls fans did their best to support their team

The game day was dedicated to the Chicago Luvabulls, the official dance team. At the gate, we received free Luvabulls posters (see pictures below). There were short video clips about Luvabull girls so we were informed about their personality, background, and their dedication to work.

The game was awkward with ups and downs. The Bulls started the game quickly. In 7 minutes, the scoreboard was 26-6. We dominated the game for a while. The scoreboard was 49-28 in the second quarter at 7:28. I was thinking to leave because Timberwolves players cannot play worse. The point difference was still 16 close to the end of second quarter. That was the time when the momentum was shifted from Bulls to Timberwolves. Bulls cannot score any points in last 3 minutes of the second quarter.

Luvabulls dance show

Timberwolves won the game by 5 points. They performed a great team play and you can see it from statistics as well. All of their starters scored double digit points. Karl-Anthony Towns did not start the game too well. Maybe, he observed the game in first half but he played great afterward. He did most of his points in the 4th quarter. He started the last quarter with 2 points and finished the game with 16 points. The biggest problem with the Wolves is about their bench which could make just 9 points. My expectations were high about Kris Dunn but he played just 13 minutes and made 3 turnovers.  

There is not so much thing to say about Chicago Bulls. Wade was poor. He could score just 12 points, 4/13 field goal. The Bulls are #1 rebounder team in NBA but they gave a lot of easy rebounds in the game. The Timberwolves took 7 more rebounds than the Bulls and 2 more offensive rebounds.

12/15, Thursday, CHI 97 - 108 MIL

This was the first meeting of two back-to-back games between Bucks and Bulls. The game was on national TV but I was not able to open it until last minutes. There were 3 minutes to go and Bulls was losing by 10 points. I did not watch the game until the end because there was no comeback sign. At the end, Bulls lost the game by 11 points.

12/16, Friday, MIL 95 - 69 CHI

Milwaukee Bucks is another promising team with a lot of young talents like Timberwolves. They started the game fast. After 6 minutes, Bucks were 10 points ahead. Then, it became 20 and Bull had no sign of life at that moment. The only thing which I was thinking about Timberwolves came back which happened just 3 days ago. I thought that since Wolves were able to beat Bulls from 20 points deficit, Bulls could do the same thing to Bucks. But no way! It was totally humiliating game for the Bulls. Bucks players enjoy the every moment of the game. Bucks were usually 20-30 points ahead during the game. Bulls could only melt the difference in garbage time.

It was a Star Wars night because of the premier of Star Wars-Rogue One. I was late to the game so I missed the action before the game but an artist drew a picture on the court during halftime. However; the drawing was not very clear. Obviously, he did it on purpose. "Come on now, you can guess what that is", I said to myself. Sometimes a missing line makes it so difficult to understand the object in the drawing. I thought that he did not draw some major lines, so perhaps that's why the viewers and I were not able to identify the image. I tried to concentrate on identifying what was missing rather than what was there, but to no avail. If you enjoy some brainstorming, then you may spare a couple of minutes to guess what the artist did that made it so difficult to figure out drawing.


And...............

The trick was he drew it upside down. Clever, right :) The painting was a portrait of Yoda.

12/19, Tuesday, DET 82 - 113 CHI

Busy schedule! Another day, another game and we were not ready for another loss. It was not a good time for Detroit Pistons as well. Before the game, Bulls had lost 3 games in a row and Pistons had lost 2 games in a row. Each team wanted to break the sequence.

Bulls started the game aggressively and scored points from the paint. All the players made a great effort but I would like to mention especially performances of McDermott and Mirotic. Both of them scored 13 points and assisted twice. I expect a bright future for McDermott. He would not be an all star player but he is very good fit to a team who is fighting for a championship. Believe it or not, I am sure that he will be a part of a championship squad in the future. Most probably not in Chicago Bulls but who knows. Time will tell the truth. Let's wait and see.

12/21, Wednesday, WAS 107 - 97 CHI

I was looking forward to this game because of Beal and Wall. John Wall joined the league with high expectations and it is hard to say that he has met those expectations so far. On the other hand, I have special interest to Bradley Beal. I am playing Yahoo Fantasy League with friends and Beal is in my squad is last few years. I always have high expectations and he could not deliver it most of the times. The problem with Beal is reliability. He might explode in a game with 40 points and then finish next 3 games with less than 10 points. For me, it is always hard to decide when I have to pick him up for the squad in my NBA fantasy squad but it is my problem, not yours :)

Bulls were better than Wizards in the first half but they could not lead the game in the second half. Wizards could beat Bulls easier if they could not miss a lot of 3-pointers. Wizards missed 15 3 pointers and Beal missed 6 of them by himself. 

 

12/23, Friday, CHI 91 - 103 CHA

I did not watch this game but according to Chicago Tribune, Wade woke up with migraines in the morning and missed morning shoot-out. It is not easy to keep yourselves healthy after that many losses :)

Bulls players need to calm down and perform better during the game instead of getting technical fouls at the end of the game.