Duhon makes point in relief of Hinrich
Just the other day, Bulls coach Scott Skiles was saying he doesn't want to base lineup decisions on what happened in the previous game.
Focusing solely upon the box score from Tuesday's 90-78 victory over Atlanta, one might suggest it's time to turn the point guard job over to Chris Duhon.
Duhon finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds. He took the court a minute into the third quarter after Kirk Hinrich picked up his fourth foul, and the Bulls immediately went on a 21-8 run. Hinrich ended up sitting out the final 23 minutes.
"We had some really quality point guard play there for eight minutes or so, and our offense looked really good when we had that," Skiles said after the game.
"Chris really had a calming influence on us. Not that we were erratic or anything like that, but he opened up the floor for people and things happened. In past seasons, that's what we got from Du. This year it hasn't been that way."
That's the problem with promoting a "Bench Hinrich" theory today. Duhon's totals against the Hawks were season highs.
Perhaps the most baffling question to the Bulls' 3-10 start is why has Hinrich played so poorly? Overall, though, Hinrich's shooting percentage actually is better than Duhon's. Granted, there are no true winners in a 34.6-33.8 comparison.
"Kirk is our guy. He's our captain," Duhon said Tuesday. "He's been doing it for a while. He's just off to a slow start struggling. We know that day in, day out, that (Skiles) is going to go with Kirk and I'm just there on nights where he's kind of struggling a little bit, just to give the team a lift."
Duhon's greatest strength is running the team, and he has an edge over Hinrich in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.2 to 1.8) and a slim margin in assists per 48 minutes (8.7 to 8.3).
On the other hand, the Bulls count on Hinrich to defend opposing shooting guards. Atlanta's Joe Johnson, who averages 22.6 points, scored just 7 in the first half Tuesday, while Hinrich played his regular minutes.
Duhon used to get freakishly hot from 3-point range every once in awhile, but that hasn't happened in more than a year. During the 2005-06 season, Duhon knocked down 5 or more 3-pointers in a game five times.
He made 5 of 6 attempts from long range at Philadelphia on Feb. 25, 2006. Since that night, Duhon has never made 5 3-pointers in a single game and hit 4 just once.
One thing Hinrich should have learned Tuesday is he can't get away with mocking the referees. The fifth-year guard appeared to be the victim of a questionable call when he got his third foul late in the first half. Hinrich reacted by raising his arms above his head and walking across the court in disgust.
It may be no coincidence that Hinrich garnered his fourth foul exactly one minute into the third quarter.
"I could stand up here and for several minutes and kind of go step by step through things, but I don't know if that's helpful," Skiles said of Hinrich's slow start. "He's got to relax a little bit, keep up his defensive intensity, but all around be a little better at that spot."