The Chicago Bulls are back at home from their annual circus road trip but ending 1-6 was not their plan. Now, back at home in the United Center, they receive the New York Knicks who have their rematch against the Bulls. Chicago snapped a 6 game losing streak to make it 4-9 at the Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
The Bulls’ vicious early schedule featured 10 of the first 13 games on the road, including nine against teams that made the playoffs last season. Now they'll get a chance to regroup with nine of the next 10 games in Chicago, starting with the 5-10 Knicks. The Knicks hit the road for visits to Chicago on Tuesday, Cleveland on Wednesday and Detroit on Friday before returning home to face Toronto on Saturday.
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Saturday night, a second-half lineup change re-energized the Knicks, but they were unable to undo the many previous mistakes committed and lost 106-95 to the Chicago Bulls at home at the Madison Square Garden.
Coach Isaiah Thomas was forced to shake things up after Channing Frye and Quentin Richardson were injured. He decided to bench an unproductive Stephon Marbury and go with the high-energy group of Steve Francis, Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry, Renaldo Balkman and David Lee. That group went on a third-quarter run but lost momentum.
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The Bulls got off to a fast start, led from start to end held it in the fourth quarter and finally broke their losing streak with. Two ex-Bulls played well for the Knicks. Guard Jamal Crawford led New York with 26 points, while center Eddy Curry scored 20.
The Bulls were ahead by 20 points with nine minutes remaining, and then New York trimmed the lead to 98-93 with 1:46 left and took possession, after a few more exchanges, game over. Luol Deng led the Bulls with 24 points, while Hinrich had 21 and Nocioni 19.
The Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks are both struggling on and off the court it seems. A growing controversy between a key player and the coach may be giving each team an even bigger headache.
New York's Stephon Marbury and Chicago's Ben Wallace each spent significant time on the bench Saturday. Wallace was benched for breaking a long-standing team rule on the ban of headbands, while Marbury's lack of effort seemed to be the reason for his benching.
Wallace finished with five points and seven rebounds. Saturday's show came a day after Wallace was held without a rebound against Philadelphia, the first time he's failed to grab one in a game he started.
Like Wallace, Marbury's clashes with the coaching staff aren't unique to this season. Marbury had his share of problems last season with coach Larry Brown, but was considered a favorite of Isaiah Thomas and vowed to be more active on offense, but that seems to be changing.
The Knicks will be playing without Channing Frye, who sprained his left ankle on Saturday and is expected to miss three to six weeks. The injury depletes an already short-handed Knicks frontcourt. Forward Quentin Richardson is probably after straining his left hamstring on Saturday, and Jared Jeffries is still out with a non-displaced fracture in his left wrist.
The Bulls are home favorite, laying 8½ points a surprisingly high line but still workable. Tease it or take it straight if you have the sand for it. Bet under the total of 202½. This game will have to be slow paced; Knicks cannot afford one more injured player to the up-tempo.
