Ah the powers of a good benching. I am glad we saw great effort from Ben and Tyson last night, It's too bad it took a benching for them to wake up.
The morning papers: Georgetown products come through in crunch time for Bulls
Love that headline in the Northwest Herald:
http://www.nwherald.com/SportsSection/pro/324700449632988.php
Bulls take care of business: Gordon comes off bench to pace big comeback
Bulls reshuffle, gain ground
Switch clicks for Bulls
http://www.nwherald.com/SportsSection/pro/324700449632988.php
Marlene's back:CHICAGO – A pair of big men from Georgetown University showed new life at a critical time for the Bulls.
Michael Sweetney held his own as a starter, finishing with five points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes Friday night against New Orleans. And Othella Harrington came off the bench to have his most productive game since early January, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Harrington had eight points combined in the Bulls' previous five games, which included a "Did Not Play – Coaches' Decision" at Washington. So what did coach Scott Skiles do to help Harrington turn things around?
"Nothing," Skiles said. "I told 'O' the other day we certainly have not lost confidence in him. I wanted to make sure he hasn't lost confidence in himself, and he assured me he hadn't. Tonight he got some good looks, and he was able to knock them down." Skiles said Sweetney, a starter early in the season before cascading all the way to the bottom of the depth chart, played well Friday night aside from getting into foul trouble. He committed five fouls.
The skinny: Only Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng remained
Bulls take care of business: Gordon comes off bench to pace big comeback
It's Hanley's turn at the Sun-Times:Drastic changes to the starting lineup didn't ignite the Bulls the way coach Scott Skiles had hoped Friday night against the Hornets—at least not initially.
The move began to pay off in the second quarter as Ben Gordon, joined by Othella Harrington, came off the bench to lead a Bulls comeback from a 13-point deficit en route to a 96-82 victory at the United Center in front of an announced sellout crowd of 21,793.
Skiles' changes were meant to jump-start the Bulls' run for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot. Thanks in part to the 76ers' loss to Orlando, the Bulls closed their gap on Philadelphia to 2½ games.
The Bulls, who snapped a four-game losing skid, were most impressive in the fourth quarter as they pulled off a crowd-pleasing 23-9 run to close the game, a rare feat for a team that typically collapses in the second half.
"When things didn't go our way, we didn't go into one of our tremendously long droughts and hang our heads and look defeated," Skiles said. "We did the reverse. We picked it up."
Bulls reshuffle, gain ground
SouthTown Paul:For starters, Bulls coach Scott Skiles used his 12th different first five of the season Friday.
Guard Ben Gordon, the team's leading scorer, and center Tyson Chandler watched the opening tip against the New Orleans Hornets from the bench, replaced by Chris Duhon and Michael Sweetney.
"We're running out of time,'' said Skiles, whose Bulls' playoff hopes hang in the balance. "We feel like we need to take some action and try to get something to ignite us a little bit. We haven't played well enough to win.
"If we had waited much longer, it would have been too late.''
That was also the case for the Bulls in their 96-82 victory.
Despite yet another uneven effort and a sloppy start, the Bulls snapped a four-game losing streak by bouncing back just enough
Switch clicks for Bulls
Forget Desperate Housewives.
Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan have nothing on Bulls coaches Ron Adams, Jim Boylan and Scott Skiles these days.
Desperate? With his team coming off four consecutive losses and its playoff hopes slip-slidin' away, Skiles on Friday even considered a demotion for guard Kirk Hinrich, a move never thought possible previously.
Whether by coincidence or not, Chandler and Gordon were more active than they had been in recent games.
Chandler had game-highs of 21 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Gordon finished with a game-high 25 points.
Gordon connected on 3 of 4 field-goal tries in the fourth quarter and 9 of 15 overall.
Seven Hornets scored in double figures, but only rookie guard Chris Paul (13) had more than a dozen points.
"What am I going to do, complain about it?" Gordon said of his return to a reserve role. "I just have to go out there and do my job and try to help my team win. That's all I'm concerned about."
Said Chandler: "It doesn't matter if I start or come off the bench. Whatever it takes. We have to get motivated and get some wins."
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Good quotes from Ben and Tyson in that last article. Tyson really doesn't seem to care if he starts our not, and with his versitility to play the 4 or 5 and his energy, he may be best suited to come off the bench.L.O.B said:Ah the powers of a good benching. I am glad we saw great effort from Ben and Tyson last night, It's too bad it took a benching for them to wake up.
yeah i saw that sideline reporter (whoever he is) interview tyson right after the game and tyson was like "hey, we need to make a push, so whatever works, i just want to help the team."
you could tell he really meant it.
ben was super focused and hitting his shots and that really made a huge difference.
at one point with pargo and duhon in there it looked like doom, but skiles put ben and kirk back in and they stemmed the flow.
meanwhile, kirk, who's having a bit of trouble with the shot in the last week since the right elbow strain or tendonitis was disclosed, hasn't been playing BADLY. why would he get benched? yeah, he's a bit beat up, so benching him would do what?
hell he spent almost the entire third quarter there, and when he came back, he did pretty well. hitting some very timely shots and frankly nine dimes isn't anything to sneeze at.
skiles!
lol.
you could tell he really meant it.
ben was super focused and hitting his shots and that really made a huge difference.
at one point with pargo and duhon in there it looked like doom, but skiles put ben and kirk back in and they stemmed the flow.
meanwhile, kirk, who's having a bit of trouble with the shot in the last week since the right elbow strain or tendonitis was disclosed, hasn't been playing BADLY. why would he get benched? yeah, he's a bit beat up, so benching him would do what?
hell he spent almost the entire third quarter there, and when he came back, he did pretty well. hitting some very timely shots and frankly nine dimes isn't anything to sneeze at.
skiles!
lol.
I'm just assuming Skiles is limiting Kirk's minutes to avoid further straining his elbow.mizenkay said:meanwhile, kirk, who's having a bit of trouble with the shot in the last week since the right elbow strain or tendonitis was disclosed, hasn't been playing BADLY. why would he get benched? yeah, he's a bit beat up, so benching him would do what?
hell he spent almost the entire third quarter there, and when he came back, he did pretty well. hitting some very timely shots and frankly nine dimes isn't anything to sneeze at.
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