Bulls, Cavaliers: Long time no see?
When the NBA decided to save the first Bulls-Cavaliers game of the season for a Sunday afternoon ABC broadcast in early March, it was surely expecting a battle of Eastern Conference leaders.
Instead, it's two teams meeting for the first time since exchanging regrettable free-agent additions.
Also, the Bulls are trying to bounce back from a dismal loss to Washington on Friday night, although coach Jim Boylan already apologized to the city of Chicago for that performance and is ready to move on.
"To be able to play on Sunday afternoon at 1 o'clock (Eastern time) with a whole bunch of story lines and playing against a team that made it to the Finals last year, it's going to be a great challenge for us," Boylan said.
As part of a three-team, 11-player deal on Feb. 21, the Bulls sent Ben Wallace and Joe Smith to Cleveland, while Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons came to Chicago from the Cavs.
The Bulls signed Wallace to a much-celebrated four-year, $60 million contract less than two years ago, while Hughes had signed a five-year, $60 million deal with the Cavs in 2005.
"It's going to be a little personal," Cavs star LeBron James said following their win over Minnesota on Friday. "But it's going to be good to see those guys."
The game won't be personal for Wallace, who refused to compare this reunion with the Bulls to the first time he played against his former Detroit teammates just over a year ago.
"Nah. I won a championship with those guys, learned how to win in the NBA with those guys," Wallace told Cleveland reporters Saturday. "That was a little bit different.
"I was brought here to help this team get to the next level. That's my focus right now. One thing about this game, when you start making it personal, crazy things happen. I've never seen a guy have a good, productive game when he's playing mad. If you go out there and relax, good things will happen."
The end in Chicago came suddenly for Wallace, though it wasn't a total shock since the Bulls have been a huge disappointment this year while Wallace posted his worst statistics in nine seasons.
"The only regret I had about leaving Chicago -- even though overnight I went to a playoff team -- there were some young guys in Chicago that have to learn how to play basketball at this level," Wallace said. "I was trying to do that and bring those guys along. That was the only regret I had leaving those guys."
Cleveland is 2-2 since completing the trade. Wallace has averaged 9.0 rebounds and 8.3 points for his new team, while Smith is at 9.3 points and 5.4 rebounds.
Even though Hughes hasn't been shy about expressing frustration with how he was used in Cleveland, he had only good things to say Saturday about his former teammates.
"We had a great relationship on the court," Hughes said. "Off the court, we hung out a lot, as far as off-days and things like that. Getting into cities late, we would always hang out and watch SportsCenter or play cards or things like that. I think that brought us close together. I enjoyed playing with those guys."
Hughes wouldn't even concede that he might hear a negative reaction from Cleveland fans. No matter what kind of reception Hughes gets today, it figures to be more pleasant than what Wallace will hear Thursday when the Cavs visit the United Center.
"No disrespect to the fans or anybody. I went out and played hard every night I was there," Wallace said. "Things just didn't work out for us. If we had gone out and won every game, the fans would have been cheering."