Magic on the 2nd night of a back to back, coming off a big win against the Heat last night. Bulls bringing along a Butler for the ride this trip, coming off a loss to the Hawks that I doubt Thibs was happy about.

I want to see more of Asik in this game, esp. if Howard is doing damage down low.

The Bulllies really handled these guys last time at the UC, but Jameer Nelson only played a quarter due to getting injured.

Everyone who posts on this board knows how to beat Orlando: Defend Howard one on one (don't double), close out on all of their shooters and make them put it on the deck.

We're going to win tonight.

great game

I really enjoyed tonight's game. Not just because we won (well that's mostly why), but because we handled a quality team in their place for the last three quarters. The Magic looked helpless at times and did more crying at the officials than they did competing.

*Balt touched on it in this thread and I touched on it during the post game Atlanta notes- Asik NEEDS to play more. Well he played more tonight and more than held his own against the best Center in basketball. Joakim did fine against Howard, but Asik was better. I enjoyed Hubie Brown's praise of Asik all night. Every little thing Asik did you would hear Hubie "oooo and ahh" or "NICE!" It was actually pretty funny how biased Hubie was towards Asik and the Bulls in general. Great game tonight, Omer!! Anyone upset about the Bulls not dealing Asik should silence their complaints and acknowledge the Bulls were 100% right in keeping him.

*Luol absolutely destroyed Turkaglu AGAIN. I know Turkaglu hasn't played well all year, but that was ridiculous...Orlando traded to pay that guy a ton of money AND Arenas? Ouch Otis Smith! As if Howard wasn't already going to leave Orlando the way it was- I'd be shocked to see him in Orlando past 2012.

*Hubie Brown mentioned how the Bulls "ran Orlando off of the 3pt line" on numerous occasions...and he was spot on with his assessment. Not only were our perimeter ballhawks in Lou, Ronnie and Keith successful in "running them off the line", but they closed out well and just didn't give up an easy blow-by and give up an easy lob or dump to Howard. I feel like we have the best perimeter defense in the entire league and we show it nightly. We also spoke about single covering Howard and allowing him to do his worst....not only did we do that most of the night, but we also offered timely help when he would roll middle. Individual defense was phenomenal and our team defense was even better.

*Anybody notice Rose has been coming in later and later in the 2nd and 4th quarters the past week or so? I wonder if they're intentionally cutting Rose's minutes because he may be hitting a bit of a wall. That's just pure speculation on my part, but his jump shot would indicate such is true. A lot of his shots are short and are even more of a line drive than they were earlier in the season. I don't think it's a huge deal as Watson has played extremely well, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

*I will fully acknowledge Dwight Howard is the best C in basketball...I don't think it's debatable. I also don't think it's debatable to suggest Dwight Howard is dirty. He's really dirty. He's a big strong physical guy and I would expect him to be aggressive. However it is completely another thing to get in a shoving match at half court or start backing a guy in with out the ball when the ball hasn't even arrived at the time line yet. The refs could help prevent a scuffle, fight or technical by simply calling a 3 second violation on Howard every once in a while. It would protect a lot of players including Howard.

*If we ended up playing Orlando in the playoffs- I wouldn't see the series going any longer than 5 games. These last two games between the two clubs have been very telling. Orlando has done everything they could to play their game and the Bulls wouldn't let them get into a rhythm in either game. If the Bulls were somehow able to pull down the 1 seed (I don't believe they will as long as Boston stays healthy) a trip to the conference finals would be more than probable IMO, it would almost be a certainty.

That was a Ballsy defensive performance, especially by the big guys. Every time Howard got the ball he outmaneuvered them, but they did an excellent job controlling the boards and keeping him from getting the easy entry pass.