Spurs vs Bulls game thread

Chicago Bulls (3-5) At San Antonio Spurs (6-2)


(Sports Network) - The Chicago Bulls play the third of a seven-game road trip when they visit the San Antonio Spurs this evening at the AT&T Center.

Chicago is 0-2 on the current swing. On Thursday, Tracy McGrady posted 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Houston Rockets held on for a 101-100 win over the Bulls at the Toyota Center.

Ben Gordon scored nine points in the final minute for the Bulls, who trailed 97-95 with 15.2 seconds left. Houston's Rafer Alston then hit a pair of free throws about a second later and Luther Head added a pair with six seconds to go for a 101-95 Houston lead.

Houston's free throws were big, as Andres Nocioni scored a layup two seconds later and Luol Deng intercepted an errant Shane Battier pass before draining a three as time expired.

Gordon scored 30 of his 37 points in the second half for the Bulls, who have dropped three of their last four games overall. Deng netted 15, while Kirk Hinrich and Nocioni added 13 apiece in the loss.

The Bulls are 1-4 on the road this season. They are scheduled to visit the Lakers on Sunday and Denver on Tuesday before concluding the trip with games against Philadelphia and New York.

San Antonio attempts to get back on the winning track. On Wednesday, rookie Adam Morrison scored 27 points and Emeka Okafor netted 19 and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Charlotte Bobcats to a stunning 95-92 overtime victory over the Spurs at the AT&T Center.

Tony Parker scored 25 points for the Spurs, while fellow All-Star Tim Duncan collected 24 points and 13 rebounds. Manu Ginobli finished the night three assists shy of a triple-double, with 12 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

The Spurs are 2-2 as the visitor this season.

Chicago has lost 11 of its last 16 at San Antonio and are just 8-23 lifetime there.






Wallace set to play tonight

November 17, 2006, 3:11 PM CST


SAN ANTONIO -- Center Ben Wallace participated in the Bulls' shootaround Friday morning at the AT&T Center and will play against the Spurs tonight.

Wallace strained his right biceps late in the first quarter of Thursday night's loss to Houston. He returned to the locker room with athletic trainer Fred Tedeschi to secure a large protective wrap for his arm and re-entered action 62 seconds into the second quarter.



Wallace eventually played 35 minutes against Houston. But coach Scott Skiles said afterward that Tedeschi originally had feared a completely torn biceps muscle.

Wallace said he is experiencing some discomfort but not enough to keep him out of the lineup. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.



Copyright © 2006, ChicagoSports.com

due to early foul trouble by both Oberto and Elson; Bonner came in and hit 2 3's and brought some energy off the bench

he just hit another 3 pointer 3-3 now for 10 pts

it was ugly in the first half but it was nice to see everyone get some playing time and score in the 2nd............

Duncan leads Spurs past slumping BullsNovember 17, 2006, at 11:53 PM ET Chicago, IL USA


San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Tim Duncan dropped in 21 points on 10- of-15 shooting and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead San Antonio past Chicago, 100-83, at the AT&T Center.

Tony Parker added 13 points and dished out eight assists for the Spurs, who won for the sixth time in seven games. Brent Barry finished with 14 points off the bench and Matt Bonner chipped in with 10 points and finished 3-for-4 from long distance. "It was a good game," said Duncan. "It was one of those games we knew we had to win. We knew we would get a better response this game. We still had alot of turnovers, but all in all defensively I though we were pretty solid." Ben Gordon had 21 points for the struggling Bulls, who lost their third straight contest. Luol Deng tallied 14 points, while Kirk Hinrich netted 12 points for Chicago. "Tonight the Spurs were a better team," said the Bulls Ben Wallace. "We really need to regroup as a team and play basketball off the first dribble to the last of every game." The Spurs took a 10-point advantage into the final quarter and put things away early on. San Antonio opened the stanza with a Michael Finley three and a Francisco Elson lay-in to make it 80-65 with 9:17 left. The Spurs coasted to the finish line from there. Barry's triple, with 2:41 remaining, gave San Antonio its largest lead, 97-79. The Bulls never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way. The Spurs took a slim 28-27 edge after the opening 12 minutes. San Antonio then took control with a defensive minded second quarter. The Spurs held the Bulls to just 15 points in the frame and extended their lead to eight points, 50-42, at the half. San Antonio continued to hold Chicago at arm's length in the third and took a double-digit edge into the final frame, 75-65. Game Notes Chicago is currently 0-3 on a seven-game road swing and are just 1-5 on the road this season. They are scheduled to visit the Lakers on Sunday and Denver on Tuesday before concluding the trip with games against Philadelphia and New York.

By Aaronstampler Section: Game_Recaps
Posted on Sat Nov 18, 2006 at 01:17:36 AM EST

Game 9 vs. Chicago: Spurs 100, Bulls 83

Oh my God, enough with the whining, people. Let's grow some sack, huh? It's bad enough our power forward has to b**** and moan after every whistle, do I really have to put up with y'all now too?


I'm starting to have second thoughts about my lofty predictions for the Bulls. Their offense stinks right now, despite Luol Deng's improvement. Gordon is completely indiscriminate about his chucking and he and Heinrich combined for 12 turnovers in this one, the majority of which were of the unforced variety. Normally shooting 46% for the game (and above 50% from three) would be enough to get a team at least in the mid 90s, but they were just utterly careless with the ball.

Not that we were any better. We somehow got a 100 thanks to an above average night from the field, from downtown, and even from the stripe, but believe you me it was not our finest performance. The positives were that Timmeh only played 32 minutes and no starter besides him got 25. Oh and our bench sprung for 48 of our 100.

The negatives? Well I think I'll save the 4,000 word irrational Manu rant for Adam tonight. It's not the right time for it since we won a blowout an' all. But don't think for a nanosecond that I'm not paying attention to what's going on out there.

Your 3 Stars

3) Brent Barry- Mr. Chuckles decided to grace us (well those of us who recorded the right game at least) with his picturesque shooting stroke tonight. It's been a while. Also made several of his patented "Brent Barry I'm looking at the guy I'm going to pass it to the whole time but I'll turn my head at the last second so it looks like a fancy no-look pass" passes.

2) Tim Duncan- 21 and 11 for Mr. Roboto and his help defense has been better of late. He is turning it over at an alarming rate though. Bears mentioning.

1) Beno Udrih- Once again Beno's making me toot. He had nine helpers in 24 minutes, including seven in the last quarter. Put on a passing clinic near the end, but even I thought Sean Elliott was stretching things a bit when he said "Beno makes the game look so easy out there." Still, this is his second good outing in three games, and I'm hopeful he can string some solid games together more consistently. Especially since he's willing to pass it to Manu when they play together...

(oops, there I go...)

Record: 7-2 Streak W-1
Up Next: @ Sacramento Kings
It should be a fascinating duel between our slumping Hustlemaker and the comically inept shooting tandem of Mini-Me and Tru Warier. Which of the three (if any) will surpass the mythical 40% barrier for the game? Matthew should make a poll out of it. By my calculations there would be like eight possible scenarios, but you might want to double check with the engineer.

P.S. I won my bet today. So there.

P.P.S. The doofus on SportsCenter just identified Beno as Manu in a highlight clip. ESPN quality all the way...

Bonner shows skills: Reserve leads Spurs' effort off bench in easy victory over Bulls

Web Posted: 11/18/2006 01:05 AM CST

Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer

Matt Bonner walked off the court Friday night, took his seat on the bench and turned to Brent Barry.

"I think I just played 10 minutes," Bonner said, "and I can't remember one second of it."


The Spurs will forgive Bonner for his memory lapse. During the past five months, he's switched teams, countries and nicknames: Known as the Red Rocket during his two seasons in Toronto, he's now White Grand Prix.

There's at least one thing about Bonner, however, that hasn't changed. He can still shoot. The three 3-pointers he made in the first half helped get the Spurs on track as they rolled to a 100-83 victory over Chicago at the AT&T Center.

"That's going to be his M.O. the rest of the year," Tim Duncan said. "He's going to come in and knock out some shots for us."

Duncan led the Spurs with 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, but it was the team's reserves — for the second time in three games — who helped close out the victory. Barry made three 3-pointers, Michael Finley threw in two more and Beno Udrih ran the offense efficiently enough to give Tony Parker an extended rest.


With Chicago making its last stop on the tortuous Texas triangle, the Spurs wore down the Bulls with their depth. Duncan was the only starter to play more than 25 minutes and the reserves totaled 48 points, 21 rebounds and 16 assists.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had to look farther down his bench than usual after Fabricio Oberto and Francisco Elson both encountered early foul trouble. With Duncan also needing a rest, Popovich called on Bonner.

Bonner had appeared in only three of the team's first eight games, but he didn't need long to warm up. Less than 15 seconds after stepping onto the court, he hit his first 3-pointer. He helped start the second quarter with another. His third extended the Spurs' lead to 39-31 with 8:34 left in the half.

Having played so infrequently, Bonner said his mind was "going 1,000 miles an hour." On a couple of plays, he wasn't quite sure where to position himself.

"I already get pumped up enough and I was just really excited to be out there," he said. "The good thing is when you're in the game with Tim, most of the plays go to him. So you just have to look for him and get on the other side."

The Spurs shared the ball well, totaling 30 assists on 37 baskets. Udrih had nine assists, one shy of his career high. Parker had eight as the Bulls let the Spurs point guards, in the words of coach Scott Skiles, "basically penetrate at will."

Helping the Spurs' assist total was the fact that — unlike two nights earlier — they actually made a few shots. After making 2 of 17 3-pointers in their loss to Charlotte, they went 11 of 25 behind the arc.

The Spurs didn't clean up all their problems. They moved the ball freely enough to also commit 24 turnovers — most of which, Popovich said, were caused by "being too cute, too much mustard, skipping steps, cutting things short, that sort of thing, rather than making the simple passes."

But the Spurs' mistakes were more than offset by the 32 points they scored off Chicago's 23 turnovers. Ben Gordon, who scored 21 off the bench before spraining his left thumb in the fourth quarter, accounted for seven turnovers.

Though the Bulls were within 10 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Spurs' reserves, led by Barry, had little trouble extending the lead.

"I think we had some good combinations out there where the ball just seemed to move a bit better," Barry said. "It wasn't the prettiest game, but we did stay a little bit more focused on the job at hand."

Bonner eventually settled down as well. After playing in all but four games during his two seasons with the Raptors, his role with the Spurs requires patience. He has used the time to learn from Duncan and Robert Horry.

"They've helped me a lot since I've been here and I know I'm going to keep getting better in practice," Bonner said. "For that, I'm grateful."

A reduction in playing time hasn't been the only adjustment for Bonner. After relying on Toronto's "Red Rocket" subway system for transportation, he purchased a white Pontiac Grand Prix to help him get around San Antonio.

"You don't really see many Pontiacs on the road, let alone the average NBA player parking lot," Barry said. "Where most guys already have pimped rides, Matt's is a candidate for 'Pimp My Ride.'"



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