question to the forum: bulls/knicks total

Game Overview:

The Bulls are 19-14 so far this year. Derrick Rose is reportedly working out more and more, but he’ll likely be out of the lineup for at least another month. Kirk Hinrich missed the team’s last game with an elbow injury and he is questionable for this game. The problem with the Bulls this year is that they simply aren’t good enough offensively to consistently beat the best teams in the league. Chicago is 26th in the league in scoring. Without Rose, there isn’t a player on this team who is all that good at breaking down the defense and getting open looks.

Tom Thibodeau’s team still plays very good defense, which keeps them in most games. Opponents shoot only 43.3% from the floor against the Bulls. It also helps the team that they often dominate the boards. Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Carlos Boozer lead a tremendous front court for the Bulls. Chicago will need to try to get the ball inside and use their front court advantage in this one.

The Knicks got off a scorching hot start, but they aren’t playing quite as well of late. Still, they are 23-12 and sit at the top of the Atlantic Division. Raymond Felton’s injury really hurt the team, because Felton was playing some very good basketball. Jason Kidd is now being relied on to play a lot more minutes at the point guard spot. Carmelo Anthony is having a MVP-type season so far this year. Anthony is averaging 29 points per game, which is the highest of his career. He is shooting 43% from long range. J.R. Smith has taken a big step forward this year for the Knicks. He is the team’s leading scorer at 17.1 points per game, and when he is on he can be unstoppable. As a team, the Knicks are averaging 101.5 points per game.

The Knicks started out the year playing very good defense, but they have slipped a bit of late. Opponents are shooting 45.5% from the floor against the Knicks. The big question right now for this team is how will Amar’e Stoudemire fit in now that he is getting healthy. Stoudemire is slowing starting to play more minutes, but the team will continue to be careful with his minutes.

The Bulls have a way of slowing the game down. New York’s offense hasn’t been quite as crisp of late. Look for the defenses to keep this one under the total.

Knicks 95 Bulls 91