Ben Wallace News

The Boston Celtics are no longer unbeaten at home this season, but will try to rebound versus the visiting Chicago Bulls tonight at TD Banknorth Garden. via Tacoma News Tribune

“In my opinion, just from the start, he has been very skilled down [in the post] with the ball”

Forget the soft hands, nice shooting touch, ability to take up space in the post and passing proficiency.

Want the real reason teammates wore wide smiles for Aaron Gray’s surprising emergence in Wednesday night’s victory over the Wizards?

‘He’s a big-time goofball,’ guard Kirk Hinrich said with a smile. ‘That’s what makes this fun.’

Indeed, Gray is extremely popular inside the locker room. His mellow demeanor and tendency to stroll around with a dopey grin on his face mask a fierce competitiveness and a habit of harshly criticizing his own deficiencies. Read more

“It has been a struggle to sustain anything”

Even though his fascination with playing for the Bulls has faded, Kobe Bryant heard the United Center cheers, both then and now.

‘A couple of my friends played against the Bulls when [the ‘Kobe’ chants] took place [earlier this season],’ Bryant said Tuesday night. ‘They called me and said they heard something that was just crazy. I was shocked by it.’

Nothing is shocking anymore about Bulls collapses, and they offered up another substantial one in a 103-91 loss to the Lakers at the United Center. Read more

“We’re having the occasional game, occasional half. But it’s not good enough if you want to be an elite team”

One team managed to accomplish what it set out to do Wednesday in Indianapolis. After the Pacers turned a 16-point second-quarter deficit into a 117-102 win over the Bulls, guard Mike Dunleavy credited the … via Daily Herald

On Friday you said the Bulls weren’t going to win any awards for best run franchises. via True Hoop

“Somebody would just penetrate and they’d pitch it out and knock them down”

Even if the NBA is a game of runs, rare is the contest that features a team turning a 16-point lead into a 21-point deficit and eventually a 117-102 loss.

Welcome to the 2007-08 Bulls, who continue to find new ways to define underachieving.

A spectacular defensive collapse allowed the Pacers to post season-highs for a Bulls opponent in points, field goals (44), three-pointers (11), points in a quarter (40 in the third) and field-goal percentage (55.7).

The next Bull to find a Pacer in transition — here’s a hint: the three-point line — might be the first. Read more

“He’s just out there playing hard”

Kevin Durant rolls into town Tuesday, another high draft pick and young talent dripping with athletic ability and potential.

Similar words have been spoken about Tyrus Thomas, who right now would gladly trade adjectives for playing time.

Any direct comparisons of Durant’s situation to Thomas’ must contain qualifiers: Durant is plying his trade as the centerpiece of a rebuilding effort for a bad SuperSonics team, while Thomas is trying to crack the rotation of a returning playoff team. Read more

By Matt Posted on Wed Dec 12, 2007 at 10:43:12 PM EDT I was taking some notes during that game, but they mysteriously get sparse in the 2nd half. via Blog a Bull

The Seattle SuperSonics continue their five-game road trip when they visit the Chicago Bulls tonight at the United Center. via SanLuisObispo.com

“He’s got to keep working, stay positive and wait for his next opportunity.”

Comments DEERFIELD The Bulls look great, then gruesome. Marvelous, then macabre. via Kane Co. Chronicle

Eddy Curry wasn’t exactly the ideal centre given his rebounding deficiencies, but the since he’s left Chicago, the Bulls haven’t been able to find anyone who can score down low. via RotoRob

OK, I saw where Philadelphia 76ers forward Andre Iguodala tried to explain the ineptitude of his team when their record was 5-11. ‘’We suck in practice, too,'’ he said. via Chicago Sun-Times

Rajon Rondo scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and added five assists to lead the Boston Celtics over the Chicago Bulls, 92-81, at the United Center. via Press of Atlantic City

“I don’t particularly care for playing anybody 48 minutes, generally, unless they’re really, really playing well”

Veteran power forward Joe Smith didn’t play at all in Monday’s loss to Dallas and logged just four minutes against Charlotte on Saturday. via Arlington Heights Daily Herald

By halftime of the Bulls’ 103-98 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Monday, coach Scott Skiles head had to be shaking more than one of the Luol Deng bobblehead dolls given to fans at the United Center. via Chicago Sun-Times

Josh Howard scored 27 points, Dirk Nowitzki added 25 and the Dallas Mavericks hung on to beat the Chicago Bulls 103-98 on Monday night. via Chicago Sun-Times

Ben Gordon scored 34 points, Luol Deng added 29, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Charlotte Bobcats 111-95 on Saturday night to win consecutive games for the first time this season.

Ben Wallace grabbed 19 rebounds and added 10 points for the Bulls.

The Bobcats have dropped five straight after an impressive start. Jason Richardson scored 22 points and Emeka Okafor added 21 points and nine rebounds.

The Bulls took control in the third quarter, building a 15-point lead behind a 22-5 point run. Gordon hit three consecutive 3-pointers during that stretch, the last of which he converted into four points after being fouled by Richardson. Read more

The Chicago Bulls will resume a three-game homestand when they take on the Charlotte Bobcats tonight at the United Center. via CW Arkansas

“We’re going to play together and play hard and believe we can win”

At this rate, Bulls fans are going to need patience, and perhaps pacemakers, to survive this season.

And the players might need earplugs if coach Scott Skiles’ game-long glare meant anything.

Touted as Eastern Conference championship contenders, the Bulls ruined their home opener with an uninterested and ragged performance that brought boos from the sellout crowd of 22,034 Friday night at the United Center.

Simply put, the Bulls’ 96-85 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers is the kind teams with title aspirations don’t suffer. Read more

The Sixers jumped out early on the Bulls Friday night, taking the first quarter 28-20.A After only scoring 14 points in the second quarter, they jumped out again with a 29-20 advantage in the third.A That set … via MVN - Recent Articles

“If you’re a team in this league, and somehow you hear that a player of that caliber could be possibly on the market or whatever”

There would’ve been a lot more buzz last night in the newly renamed but still decoratively challenged IZOD Center, if only the Bulls had walked into the building with another guy wearing No. via Newsday.com

“The reality is that right now, it’s done.”

Kobe Bryant won’t be joining the Chicago Bulls anytime soon. General manager John Paxson basically squashed the notion that the Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar will wind up in Chicago, saying the teams were never … via StarNewsOnline.com

Unwanted Antoine Wright scored 14 of his career-high 21 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 112-103 victory over the distracted Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.

Richard Jefferson added 29 points and 10 rebounds, Vince Carter had 24 points and a big steal late and Jason Kidd handed out 13 assists to lead the Nets to their 12th straight win over Chicago in New Jersey.

Ben Gordon had 27 points and Luol Deng added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who have been distracted in recent days by rumors of a possible major trade for Kobe Bryant. Read more

“Definitely that’s in the back of our mind”

For a Bulls team tired of getting stuck in the mud to start a season, the NBA schedule-makers could have picked a better place for them to open than the swamplands of New Jersey.

Call the Nets’ home court Continental Airlines Arena, the old name, or Izod Center, the new one. The Bulls simply call it something unprintable.

Not since April 17, 2001, when A.J. Guyton tossed in 24 points, have the Bulls defeated the Nets on the road, a span of 11 games.

That includes two crushing defeats last season. The Bulls somehow blew an 18-0 lead to lose 91-86 on Jan. 5. They then topped that with a 106-97 loss in the regular-season finale April 18 that cost them the Eastern Conference No. 2 seed. Read more

“This a growing team, growing into a veteran group of guys”

Once again, the Detroit Pistons will have the best starting five in the Eastern Conference. via Ann Arbor News

“Knowing where we went last year, I think we could do a lot better”

The last time the expectations were this high, two guys named Jordan and Pippen were hoarding championships as if it were their birthright. via The Daily Illini

“Whatever’s asked, I’m ready for, whether it’s to be in the starting lineup in place of Ben or if Ben comes back and I’m coming off the bench”

Even Saturday’s 2-hour, 45-minute practice couldn’t solve the Bulls’ starting lineup puzzle because coach Scott Skiles still doesn’t know what pieces he will have Wednesday against the Nets. via Detroit Free Press

His name is trash in Colorado, where he was tried for rape and is considered guilty by a populace oblivious that the charge was dropped. via Chicago Sun-Times

“The day before the first game, the starting shooting guard steps on my foot and then I get to start in his position. It gave me an opportunity.”

Before the Bulls elected team captains Wednesday, coach Scott Skiles asked which players were interested in running for the office. via Daily Herald

“There are a lot of times where I’m out of position where I should still be in the play. It’s a feel for the game that I still have to develop.”

It’s hard to overlook a 7-footer, but nobody seemed to consider Aaron Gray in one of the few unresolved issues from Bulls training camp - the battle to be the fifth starter.

There were good reasons.

Gray, an unheralded second-round pick, was behind veteran Joe Smith, second-year forward Tyrus Thomas and high-profile first-round pick Joakim Noah on the depth chart.

Benny the Bull might be faster baseline to baseline.

And then there was the little matter of coach Scott Skiles scoffing at virtually every mention of Gray’s productive early-preseason play. Read more