GAME NIGHT FROM THE UNITED CENTER IN CHICAGO: Knicks (17-16, 2-10 on the road) at Bulls (11-22, 7-8 at home)
TV: NBC Sports Chicago: Neil Funk and Stacey King
RADIO: WLS 890 AM: Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington and Steve Kashul. 6:30 CT pre.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: Mirotic: 18ppg. Knicks: Porzingis: 24ppg.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Markkanen and Mirotic each with 7. Knicks: Kanter: 10.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Dunn: 5. Knicks: Jack: 6.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 9 in Chicago. Bulls 104 Knicks 102. The Bulls, having played the night before in Charlotte, looked the like the fresher of the two teams as NY came in well rested. The Bulls jumped on NY outscoring the Knicks 27-18. Kris Dunn made two free throws with 2.9 seconds left, giving the Bulls a lead. Then, they held their breath as a well designed play for Kristaps Porzingis came up empty for NY on as an open top side three point field goal attempt was off the mark as time expired.
CCI 24 SECONDS COMMENTARY: Are the Knicks a playoff team? Some say yes, others disagree. The loss of Tim Hardaway Jr. places tons of pressure on Kristaps Porzingis nightly. When he plays poorly the Knicks struggle. Enes Kanter has been a boost for NY and can finish around the hoop on post ups and put backs. The issue with the Knicks is at the point guard position. Jarrett Jack has been a capable pro but at this point in his career the Knicks may be expecting too much. Rookie Frank Ntilikina has had his good moments and his bad ones, but he was solid against the Bulls earlier this month. He’s a big 6-5 guard who in time will be just fine but second guessers are already questioning NY bypassing Donovan Mitchell and Dennis Smith Jr.
Looking forward to the battle of the reserve units. NY’s Michael Beasley has been tremendous and Doug McDermott and Kyle O’Quinn offer experience.
FINAL FROM MILWAUKEE: Bulls 115 Bucks 106
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: Mirotic: 24pts. Bucks: Antetokounmpo 28pts.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Nwaba: 9. Bucks: Antetokounmpo and Snell each with 7.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Dunn: 12. Bucks: Bledsoe: 6.
CCI STAT OF THE NIGHT: 54. That’s 54 points off the bench for the Bulls, 24 scored by Niko Mirotic.
CCI 2nd STAT OF THE NIGHT: 20. The Bucks committed 20 turnovers leading to 24 Bulls points.
CCI GAME BALLS: Mirotic off the bench with 24, but the play of Dunn and Nwaba were instrumental in the win. Nwaba pestered and agitated Giannis and his low base bothered the "Greek Freak." Dunn dropped 12 dimes on the Bucks.
CCI 24 SECONDS COMMENTARY: The Bulls won in Milwaukee for the second time this season, scoring 115 points against the Bucks matching their previous effort. Head Coach Fred Hoiberg matched up Nwaba on Giannis and it worked again as Antetokounmpo ran out of gas in the second half. Bucks Head Coach Jason Kidd may not be a believer in "pacing" but the Bulls forced tempo, and the Bucks had no answer for the Bulls accelerated style.
NBA NEWS AND NOTES
Tobias Harris with a big time game going 10-11 from the floor, scoring 30 points in the Pistons route of Indiana. Andre Drummond finished with 21 points and 18 rebounds. Detroit’s Reggie Jackson suffered an ankle sprain and will get an MRI today.
Dallas ended a six game win streak by the Raptors J.J. Barea scored 20. Eastern Conference Player of the Week DeMar DeRozan with a season low eight points, going 3 of 16 from the field.
Another game for Orlando and another "L" as the beat up Magic fell to Miami 107-89.
The Spurs in their first game of the season with every player healthy and available beat the Nets 109-97.
Tyson Chandler slammed home a Dragan Bender inbounds pass with 0.4 seconds left propelling the Suns past Memphis 99-97.</p.
Denver beat Utah by 24.
A strong performance by the LAC bench and the Clippers destroyed the Kings 122-95.
LeBron James claimed following the Cavs loss to the Warriors he was fouled by Kevin Durant in the final seconds of the game and the NBA two minute report agrees acknowledging James was fouled not once, not twice but three, times by Durant. Should be interesting when the Warriors visit Cleveland in January.
Thanks for reading CCI. Email me at cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter: @ctsbulls.
Always a pleasure. Go Bulls!