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The Chicago Bulls opened their St. Patrick’s Day game Saturday against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers with an 11-point first quarter. The Bulls missed their first seven field-goal attempts and one foul shot in falling behind 11-0. All of which had some in the crowd wondering whether St. Paddy’s partying might have been a problem for the Bulls, who trailed 24-11 after one quarter.
The Luvabulls were in fine form from start to finish Saturday night for the Bulls game vs. Philadelphia.
It also had some wondering whether basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and former baseball star Dave Winfield (a pretty fair college player at Minnesota) — who had been at a Chicago-area collectibles show earlier in the day and were watching the basketball action from a suite — might not have been able to perform better than the current crop (note: that’s with an “o” and not an “a” no matter how tempting it might have been to type otherwise) of players the Bulls had on the court.
The Bulls recovered from a 14-point deficit to outscore the Sixers 53-35 in the middle two quarters and escaped with an 89-80 victory, as reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose watched in his warmups while he recovers from a groin injury.
C.J. Watson, who replaced Rose in the starting lineup, had a team-high 20 points, including 4-of-8 three-point attempts.
“C.J. is a warrior,” said Bulls center Joakim Noah, who had 13 points (9 in the fourth quarter) and a game-high 11 rebounds. “He’s somebody who is still playing injured, but we need him to play. For him to come back like that shows the sacrifice he is making for the team.”
“I think once C.J. loosens up, he’s fine,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He was aggressive the whole second half. I was happy yo have him and John [Lucas] together [in the backcourt]. We haven’t had the opportunity to have Derrick and C.J. on the court at the same time.”
Nothing like a hard night of work. And posing with the Luvabulls is nothing like that.
With the victory, Thibodeau’s record improved to 99-30. Meaning he is poised to pass Phil Jackson as the Bulls coach to reach 100 triumphs the quickest. Jackson needed 142. Next on the list is Doug Collins (183 games; he is the current Sixers coach), followed by Dick Motta (212) and Scott Skiles (222). The NBA record for reaching 100 victories the quickest is Avery Johnson (131). Meaning a victory Monday at Orlando would surpass Johnson.
The Bulls outrebounded the 76ers 53-39, marking a league-leading 16th time the Bulls have had 50 or more this season. The Bulls are 20-0 when the held an opponent to fewer than 90 points and 15-0 when holding a team to fewer than 85. The Bulls are 9-4 without Rose and 23-7 without Richard Hamilton.
The Bulls also have gone 79 games without losing consecutive regular-season games. That’s the longest such streak in the league.
“That’s our motto, not to lose two in a row,” Watson said. “We’ve been sticking by that and we just need to keep it up.”
“It just shows the character of the team,” Noah said. “We take losses personal. We take losing real bad and that shows great character.”
Thibodeau showed great displeasure with the officiating and drew a third-quarter technical foul. Asked the effect that had, he answered:
“Well, it will have an effect on my wallet. I said something I shuld not have said. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do.”
The Chicago Luvabulls definitely brightened up the evening’s St. Patrick’s festivities with their second-half outfits. The second half also featured a topless dance routine — by the full-figured male dance team, the Matadors. You expected otherwise? Tsk, tsk. This is family entertainment, after all.
Anyway, here is some video from the pregame, game and postgame to capture the flavor of things:
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