Bulls beat an old team at home after catching them at the end of a back-to-back, but hey, it's the Spurs, so you have to be happy about that. Duncan certainly didn't look old, dominating the Bulls bigs for 28 points and 16 rebounds. Jefferson is not starting out well with the Spurs. Whether he pans out for them or not will make or break their season. Parker and Ginobili were off as well and the Bulls definitely hussled more, especially for rebounds on the offensive end.
Rose wasn't quite up to par, but he was still quite good. Fortunately, Hinrich played very well, so Rose was able to keep his minutes down. Noah had lots of hussle plays and wound up with a double-double. Salmons couldn't find his shot, going a dismal 3-15, but he played decently otherwise. Miller was solid. Deng still plays bad defense, but he shot pretty well. If he can play at least this well every game I'll stop ragging on him so much.
Gibson played with energy, but still like a rookie. And our top pick, Johnson, got a DNP. How bad does our drafting look now when the Spurs can pick up a guy (Blair) who we passed over twice in the draft and are able to have him in the rotation? Of course it is way too early to judge last year's draft, but at least initially, the Spurs look like they skunked us.
Tyrus was absolutely horrible in the first half. I'm surprised Vinny didn't send him home, but he played about as well as he can in the second half; that is to say, not terrible. He scored 13, all in the second half, but he did it mostly on jumpers, which scares me a lot.
Bulls now have the first of their all-too-many back-to-backs, traveling to Boston. Celtics are looking good this year too. Barring another injury to Garnett, they are my pick to get to the Finals.
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