NBA Christmas What to Watch: Rolling Thunder host reeling Bulls

Call it a Christmas mini-miracle. Despite that, the Bulls’ 105-96 win over the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Friday does loom large for Chicago. “We trusted the game plan”.

Entering the contest on the heels of a three-game losing streak, the Bulls demonstrated the effort that was lacking in previous outings.

That being said, regardless of how well the Bulls play from time to time, if they are unable to find a way to be consistent at both ends of the floor every night, they will continue to be their biggest obstacle during a season in which they felt they were legitimate title contenders.

“If we guard the opposing team the way we guard each other in practice”, he said, “that’s what it looks like”.

With Stephen Curry looking like a lock to win MVP, a lot of great performances are going unnoticed.

“Did he coach differently?” There’s still plenty of talent in Chicago’s locker room and the defense has unexpectedly improved, but there are serious issues here.

The fact that a struggling team can perform that well should be proof of the talent that the Bucks have and how unsafe they are if they put it to good use.

Bledsoe was hurt on Saturday in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, an embarrassing defeat to a team that had won just one other game this season. Pau Gasol also had a solid line – 21 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

Oklahoma City bounced back from its sluggish start with a 17-8 run that cut the Bulls’ early lead to three in the closing seconds of the first quarter. Joakim Noah is out for two weeks with a shoulder injury.

Gibson had an episode with Nick Collison while boxing out on a free throw. In the next 16 minutes of play, the Thunder offense regained their footing by outscoring the Nuggets, 49-39. “My jawline is still hurting”. The Bulls vice president addressed the team in the aftermath of a listless home loss to the Nets that marked their third straight defeat.

Durant likes to say that hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard, but the truth is, sometimes talent is good enough. “(There has been) too much buddy-buddy. “We just have to get in the weight room and get a little stronger”.

Bulls: Ran out to an 11-0 lead….

Durant finally figured out the Denver defense in the third quarter.

“It starts with Derrick and that initial thrust”, Hoiberg said. Oklahoma City was able to supplement those points with some solid jump shooting while the Nuggets just don’t have players on the roster that can consistently knock those shots down. This is still the Durant Westbrook show, but when the team’s winning, it seems they don’t have to resort to playing one or two on five basketball which is seen as the root cause of their failure to win an NBA championship or even make the Finals since their disappointing trip in 2012, the last time James Harden was on the team. “I think keeping all these guys engaged is important because you never know when you’re going to need to make some changes”.