INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers looked as if they were still sleepwalking from their four-game road trip in the first half against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, but they woke up after halftime.
Dec 052012
Dec 032012
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Portland Trail Blazers pulled off a remarkable comeback on Monday night, rallying from an 18-point deficit in the final six minutes of regulation and beating the Charlotte Bobcats 118-112 in overtime.
Dec 022012
CLEVELAND — Portland forward Nicolas Batum’s 3-pointer with :00.2 remaining propelled the Trail Blazers to an 118-117 double overtime victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
Nov 282012
WASHINGTON — Jordan Crawford scored 19 points, and Emeka Okafor sank two free throws with 39 seconds left as the Washington Wizards snapped their 12-game, season-opening losing streak, edging the Portland Trail Blazers 84-82 Wednesday night.
Nov 262012
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Second-year guard Brandon Knight scored a season-high 26 points as the Detroit Pistons defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 108-101 at The Palace Monday night.
Nov 262012
Deron Williams sported a long compression sleeve on his right arm Sunday. Though he would not acknowledge it, the sleeve is a sign the All-Star point guard is banged up and it is affecting his game. Williams struggled with his shot for the sixth straight game Sunday in a 98-85 win over the Trail Blazers at the Barclays Center. He shot 4-for-13 for a hard-earned 15 points. In his last six games, he is shooting 32.9% (27-of-82).
Nov 252012
NEW YORK (AP) — Joe Johnson scored 21 points, Brook Lopez had 15 and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 98-85 on Sunday.
Nov 222012
PHOENIX — Upset with his lack of offensive involvement in the first 11 games, Marcin Gortat went public with his dissatisfaction with both his role and his play for the Phoenix Suns.
Nov 202012
Over the last decade Tom Thibodeau has established his defensive scheme as the best in the NBA, leading three different teams to sustained success. Every season, based on defensive rating, he has finished in the top six: nine times in the top three, and five times first. So how do you attack a system with such sustained success?
It’s no mean trick. In the 180 games that Thibodeau has been head coach of the Bulls, Chicago has yielded 100 points only 38 times. When teams have scored those 38 times, though, they tend to win, as the Bulls are only 13-25 in those games. That accounts for nearly half of the 52 losses Thibodeau has suffered as a head coach.
We’ll use those 38 occurrences, win or lose, to discover what teams did well to accomplish that trick.
Thibodeau‘s defensive premise is simple: get back on defense, seal off the perimeter to force bad shots, and do this without fouling.
Therefore, to attack the defense there are three things you need to do: push the defense before it has chance to get settled, be patient and find good shots by passing the ball, and when that fails, force contact to get free points at the charity stripe.
The first and most important thing you have to do if you want to beat the Bulls defense is to start your offense with your own defense. You have to push the ball. If you let the Bulls get back in their half-court defense and get settled, then you’re just not going to have much of a chance to win.
In the 38 games that the Bulls have given up 100 points they turned the ball over at least 12 times in 30 of them, and they are 10-20 in those contests. (It’s interesting to note that only three of those 28 games came after the All-Star break).
It’s not just turnovers, though; it’s also pushing the ball up after rebounds, or even makes. Watch as the Trail Blazers use 18 fast-break points to rack up a 102-94 win over the Bulls.
To reverse the Gambler’s good advice, while you need to know when to run, you also need to know when to hold when you’re facing the Bulls defense. Of the 38 games the Bulls gave up 100 points or more, their opponents shot at least .480 in 24 of them.
Furthermore, in 21 of those games the Bulls’ opponents had at least half their field goals assisted and shot an effective field goal percentage of at least 50 percent. Their opponents in those games were 17-4.
Watch below as the Celtics repeatedly use patience and passing to find good shots against the Bulls defense. (On the second shot it was called goal tending by Boozer.)
Finally we come to drawing fouls. In the Thibodeau era the Bulls give up the fourth fewest free-throw attempts per game at 21.4. In the games where they’ve given up 100, their opponents have averaged 24. In games that they’ve given up at last 21, they are only 8-14.
Teams that use players cutting to the rim are particularly successful at drawing fouls against the Bulls. Watch how the Philadelphia 76ers repeatedly used this strategy in the postseason last year.
Of course all of these things are easier said than done. If they were easily done, Thibodeau wouldn’t have the best defense in the league every year. Only three teams have accomplished all these things in the same game and all three won. The Celtics, on November 12 of this season; The Sixers on January 7 of last season; and the New York Knicks on November 4 of 2010. All three teams won the game.
At least in principle, though, this is how you go about it.
Read more Chicago Bulls news on BleacherReport.com
Nov 192012
PORTLAND, Ore. — Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum each scored 21 points as the Portland Trail Blazers defeated Chicago Bulls 102-94 Sunday night at the Rose Garden.