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By Malcolm
Merritt
Last night, the New York Knicks barely made it out
alive. The Bucks were able to
storm back in a game that was a tale of two halves. With the Knicks piling up
turnovers and becoming lackadaisical on defense, they squandered a 25 point
lead making a blow-out a contest to the end.
The Bulls were in a similar
predicament but on the other side of things. They took their first road loss at
the hands of the defending champion Miami Heat as they tried to claw their way
back into the game in the Fourth. Derrick Rose showed obvious rust, finishing
with 12 points on poor shooting. The Bulls play their home opener, hoping to
change the direction of their morale after Tuesday’s game.
It’s the Knickerbockers second game of a back to back, and
the result is tiredness. My prediction is that the Knicks will lose this one
106-97. There are positives and negatives coming out of this loss. First,
Carmelo Anthony will somewhat find his groove again after last night’s outing,
with the simulator predicting 40 points from the superstar on 16 mad attempts.
Also, the Knicks shooting will be a glimpse of last season, shooting over 50%
from behind the arc for 14 3s, five of them coming from Pablo Prigioni. Tyson
Chandler will be in foul trouble in the first half, but will finish with 12
points and 13 boards, still bringing the intensity he had the night before.
Andrea Bargnani will also turn his performance around, shooting 75% on 4 shots
for 7 points.
Derrick Rose will lead the Chicago Bulls in scoring tonight.
It’s simply something about the United Center that brings out the best in the
Bulls. The Bulls went 50-24 at home over the last two seasons (the first of the
two being 66 games in which they won 26 of them). Personally, Derrick
Rose has scored an average of 22.9 points, 7.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds when
playing at home in the last two seasons and against
the Knicks has averaged 24.8 points, 7.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds. The
stats only tell part of the tale as he goes against a defense that has changed
in many ways the last time he played them. He is predicted to keep steady with his stats finishing wit
31 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds while shooting over 50% from the field and
60% from beyond the arc. Carlos Boozer will follow suit, picking up where he
left off, scoring 23 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.
The match-up to watch out for in this game is Tyson Chandler
versus Joakim Noah. How will Chandler be able to handle the motor of Noah? This
looks to be a great game offensively and defensively.
Boldest Prediction:
The Bulls will have a higher 3-point shooting percentage than the Knicks.
Stats generated by whatifsports.com
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