Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Boozer Takes Over, Bulls Blow Out Magic 85-59

By Sean Mackey

The Chicago Bulls continued their winning ways Monday night with a huge victory over the Orlando Magic, winning 85-59. The Bulls were once again without their MVP Derrick Rose or Richard Hamilton. Carlos Boozer lead the way for Chicago with 24 points, 14 rebounds and 4 steals. John Lucas III came off the bench to score 20 points on 8-13 shooting. Dwight Howard lead the Magic with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

This game was some serious payback for the loss the Magic handed Chicago a few weeks ago. The Bulls defense was completely suffocating. The game also set two NBA records as well. Tom Thibodeau became the fastest coach in NBA history to win 100 games and Chicago holding the Magic to 59 points was a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a regular season game (this includes the entire Jordan era...WOW).

Carlos Boozer was able to manhandle Ryan Anderson (who really isn't a PF). These are the kind of games Booz relishes because of the advantage he has in the post and makes it look easy. Boozer is averaging 15 points and 8 rebounds a game this year which in opinion is pretty damn good compared to the last few guys who held down the PF spot for the Bulls.

The guy who I've been most impressed with lately is John Lucas III. Lucas came out and hit 3 straight 3 pointers to begin this game. This guy thrives on confidence and if he hits his first few shots, he can go the entire game. It's simply amazing to see a 3rd string point guard come out and give the performances he's giving. He's making us all forget about Linsanity.

The Bulls play the next two games against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday and Saturday. Hopefully, they can take advantage of such a lackluster team and not have a repeat of that bizarre loss to a very depleted Portland Trail Blazers team this last week.

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