Ready or not, time for Chicago Bulls to take on Golden State
The Chicago Bulls' defense took a step in the right direction during Saturday's victory at Atlanta.
Next up is one of the great defensive challenges in NBA history, as the Golden State Warriors make an early-season visit to the United Center.
The Bulls, missing four key players with injuries, will do what they can to slow down Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and company.
Needless to say, it's a daunting task.
“Obviously, we're facing one of the greatest rosters of all time,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said Sunday at the Advocate Center. “Their constant movement, it's a work of art what they do out there on the floor.”
In the past few days, Curry scored 51 points in three quarters against Washington, then Durant delivered a 25-point fourth quarter against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
The Warriors defeated the Nets 120-114 on Sunday in Brooklyn, Curry hitting seven 3-pointers on his way to 35 points.
Bulls point guard Ryan Arcidiacono will be playing against the Warriors for the first time. He said a year ago he watched the Bulls play the Warriors on television from Florida, during a Windy City Bulls road trip.
“I think my awe factor of playing against dudes is kind of gone from last year,” Arcidiacono said. “Even in preseason, playing against the Cavs and warming up and on the other side you see LeBron (James) and stuff. I try not to get too high or too low and bring that same energy regardless of who we play.”
Arcidiacono played the entire fourth quarter Saturday in Atlanta and fared well against Hawks rookie Trae Young. Arcidiacono scored a career-high 13 points, while Young went 0-for-6 from 3-point range.
Young is a similar style of player, but there's no one like Curry. He's averaging an unheard-of 12.3 attempts from 3-point range per game and connecting on 53 percent.
“I just try to be aggressive,” Arcidiacono said. “I know if you get too aggressive, you might be on a highlight video, but that happens to everyone. I'm up for the challenge and I think it's going to be a team challenge, not just one-on-one, so we're all have to be locked into the game plan.”
After playing on back-to-back nights, NBA teams traditionally take a day off, but Hoiberg chose to hold a light practice Sunday. He said the biggest reason was because the Bulls took a day off Thursday and the following night gave up 135 points in a loss to Charlotte.
“We feel we have too much work to do to take a day off at this time,” Hoiberg said. “You've got to come in, get your legs moving, get a sweat. We won't do a lot. We'll do a good long film session and walk through some things that we'll see tomorrow and work on some execution.”
The Bulls made a 50-point improvement in points allowed, since they gave up just 85 in the victory over the Hawks. With so many key players injured, Hoiberg said the goal has been to simplify the game plan.
“We're trying to do a good job executing a small amount of plays,” he said. “Sometimes it's good and sometimes it does not look very good. We had 25 assists in 36 baskets (against the Hawks). That's a step in the right direction.”
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