Orlando Magic made 107-78 victory over Chicago Bulls on December 1, 2010. Jameer Nelson scored 24 points and the Magic dominated the paint and cruised to a 107-78 victory over Chicago on Wednesday night, spoiling the Bulls debut of Boozer. “We just wanted to bring a lot of intensity,” Nelson said. “Tonight we brought it from jump ball to the end.” Boozer played his first game of the season after missing all of Chicago’s preseason games plus the first 15 of the regular season after breaking the fifth metatarsal in his right hand in an accident at his home on Oct. 2. “We got beat, bad,” Boozer said. “I think our team (is) a lot better than we showed tonight. We’re going to move forward.” On the bright side, Boozer said his hand wasn’t a problem. “My hand felt great,” he said. “I went up and down. The first six minutes, the game felt much faster than practice, but I settled myself down a little bit. “I think it’s a starting point and it only gets better from here.” He looked like a player who hadn’t played in a while. Tentative most of the game, Boozer finished with five points and two rebounds in 22 minutes, shooting 2 for 5 from the floor. “That is to be expected,” Thibodeau said of Boozer’s rust. “I saw some good and not so good. I like his energy. He can only get better.” The Bulls have been playing well lately, but Thibodeau wasn’t willing to chalk up the loss to Boozer’s return. “We don’t want to make any excuses,” Thibodeau said. “The way we started the game led to our demise. We gave them too many easy second-chance opportunities.” Vince Carter scored 22 points for Orlando, Brandon Bass had 17 off the bench and Nelson added nine assists. Joakim Noah led Chicago with 16 points in 25 minutes, but failed to grab a rebound. Noah entered the contest as the NBA’s second-leading rebounder with 13.2 per game. “We were not reacting the way we should,” Thibodeau said. “We have to fight a lot harder.” Noah hadn’t gone an entire game without a rebound since Dec. 27, 2008, a contest in which he played just six minutes. In games in which Noah has played eight or more minutes, he’d never gone without a rebound. “It’s frustrating,” Noah said. “That’s my job, to rebound the basketball, and I wasn’t able to do that tonight.” Derrick Rose added 15 points in 32 minutes for the Bulls and said the adjustment period should have been expected with Boozer coming into the mix. “I knew it wouldn’t be anything pretty,” he said. “When we get our connections going, I think we should be all right.” Carter scored 20 points during the first half. The Magic finished with a 44-21 edge in rebounding, a 27-13 advantage in second-chance points and outscored Chicago 46-26 in the paint. The Bulls entered the game third in the NBA in rebounding percentage. The Bulls’ 21 rebounds established a new franchise low for a single game. The previous low was 25 boards against Miami on Feb. 18, 2002. Dwight Howard scored 13 points for Orlando and grabbed 12 rebounds. “Coach has really been getting on us lately on rebounding,” Howard said. “I think we did a good job tonight boxing out and everybody hitting somebody.” The primary “somebody” that Howard hit turned out Noah. “I tried to do a pretty good job on Noah,” Howard said. “He’s playing great for one, but he’s also rebounding at a very high level.” Orlando led by as many as 25 points in the first half and it was never close from there. The fourth quarter played out with mostly with reserves on the floor, a letdown for the sellout crowd of 21,435 in Chicago’s first game at the United Center since Nov. 13. The game ended to the sound of boos. The Bulls (9-7) last played on Saturday, a 96-85 win over Sacramento that completed a seven-game road trip during which Chicago went 4-3, and should have been well rested. Instead, it was the Magic with the fresh-looking legs. The Magic played at Orlando on Tuesday and despite the short rest—and a virus going around the team that had forward Mickael Pietrus vomiting in the hallway at one point in the first half—Orlando had little trouble in raising its Eastern Conference-best record to 14-4. “For a lot of reasons I thought this was our best game of the year,” said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy. “One of them was to take the team that’s leading in rebound margin and dominate on the glass. We’re a pretty good rebounding team.” Orlando has won five straight games overall. The Magic entered the game tied with the Boston Celtics for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Notes: The Bulls lost to Orlando 105-67 in a preseason game on Oct. 16. … Carter passed John Stockton for 37th place on the NBA’s career scoring list. Carter now has 19,714 points during his 12-plus seasons in the league. … Boozer, considered the crown jewel of the Bulls’ offseason rebuilding plan, was injured shortly before the start of the preseason schedule. He said that he fell over a bag that had been left on the floor when he rushed to answer the door of his apartment. … Magic forward Rashard Lewis left the game with a knee injury in the third quarter and did not re-enter the game, though he did return the Orlando bench to watch fourth quarter. Van Gundy said Lewis twisted his left knee and felt a bit of sharp pain, but the team trainer Keon Weise didn’t feel like the injury was serious. Lewis will be re-evaluated on Thursday.
Detroit Pistons beat the Miami Heat on Wednesday December 1, 2010. James scored 18 points, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade each scored 16 and the Heat rolled past the Detroit Pistons 97-72 on Wednesday night, dominating the second half with defense. James’ homecoming-of-sorts in Cleveland, the city he scorned in free agency, on Thursday night. “It’s going to be emotional for myself, going back to Cleveland to the fans that I still love to this day,” James said. “Lot of great memories, but I’ve got to try to put that in the back of my mind, understand that we’re coming in to get a win, and play hard and try to get a ‘W.” And to think Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was worried that the looming distractions of the ultra-hyped game in Cleveland would take away from Miami’s focus on Wednesday. Not a problem. “We can start thinking about tomorrow now,” Bosh said. “We did a good job just blocking it out and taking care of tonight.” It didn’t take long for the focus to finally turn to Cleveland, and the Heat made clear, this will—no surprise here—be more than just another game to them. This family, his new family, has his back and loves him truly and dearly,” Wade said. “And we want nothing but great things for him. So we’re going to try to go out there and get another win. We want to win three games in a row and it’s a special game for our brother … and we’re all going to play hard for him.” Detroit was taken care of easily. And following “The Decision” this summer in which James picked Miami on national television, now comes “The Return,” not just by him, but for former Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas as well. “Tomorrow will be a very competitive, passionate game,” Spoelstra said. “And we want to take care of two of our own.” Play like this in Cleveland, and Miami might be fine. It was Miami’s second-stingiest defensive showing of the season, only bettered by holding Orlando to 70 points on Oct. 29. The Pistons shot just 36 percent, and no Detroit starter reached double figures. Miami won its second straight after a clearing-the-air team meeting in Dallas on Saturday night. “We’re starting to put it together,” James said. “After that conversation we had in Dallas, we got a lot of stuff out off our chests and we’ve been playing good basketball since then.” Juwan Howard scored 12 and Eddie House added 10 for Miami. Greg Monroe led Detroit with 15 points and Charlie Villanueva added 10. “We just played with no life,” Villanueva said. “It just wasn’t there.” It was one of Miami’s best starts of the season. The Heat made 11 of their first 14 shots, James starting 5 for 6 on his own, and never trailed.
Mario Chalmers—now fully recovered from an offseason high ankle sprain that lingered for months—had four assists in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second quarter, three of them in a 1-minute span, and nodded or pointed knowingly to the scorer who was set up by his pass every time. But the theme throughout the evening for Miami was clearly defense. Detroit scored only nine points—matching a season low—in the third quarter, shooting 4 of 22. Wade only played 3 1/2 minutes in the third and nearly outscored the Pistons himself, getting seven points in that short stint. The Pistons’ previous season low for scoring was 78; they didn’t come close to that against a Miami team that came in allowing 94.4 points per game. “There are going to be some adjustments going into the next game. … There are going to be discussions on a number of areas,” said Pistons coach John Kuester, whose team failed to crack the 80-point mark on its two-night swing through Orlando and Miami. Detroit got 31 points from its starters, the eighth-lowest total by a Piston starting five in the last 20 seasons. The last time Detroit’s first-stringers scored fewer than 31 in a game was against Cleveland on April 16, 2008, when they combined for only 13—in a game where they only played one quarter. They were out there far longer Wednesday. Didn’t matter. Miami got to rest its starters for much of the fourth quarter, a slight respite before the challenge of Cleveland. “We will be tested tomorrow,” Spoelstra said. “Physically, emotionally, all the above.” The Heat led 54-42 at the break, and that was after just a one-point half from Wade, who played only 9 minutes before intermission because of foul trouble. His third was an offensive foul drawn by the Pistons’ Tracy McGrady—who may have been a bit of a target by Wade and James. McGrady was quoted earlier this week saying Wade and James are “two guys that don’t mix” and that “they just don’t complement each other.” Wade heard about the quotes and said he wasn’t bothered; James wasn’t aware of McGrady’s criticisms until Wade commented about them on Monday night. So maybe it was a coincidence that, on the first play of the second quarter — McGrady’s first appearance of the night—James drove right at him, drawing a foul call only 4 seconds into the period. And when Wade had the chance with 9 minutes left in the half, he went full steam ahead at McGrady as well, getting called for the offensive foul. Wade wound up scoring 15 in the second half, and he and James got to share a couple laughs on the bench as the final minutes ticked away. Now, on to Cleveland—and a scene perhaps unlike any other in James’ career. And Bosh said there’s one easy way for the Heat to help James through what awaits. “Give him the ball,” Bosh said, smiling. That’ll be fine with the two-time MVP. “I know that floor and I know my spots on that floor. I know exactly where I need to get to, where I feel comfortable on that floor,” James said. “Very comfortable with that court.” At least something will be comfortable for him on Thursday. The nine points by Detroit in the third was Miami’s best defensive quarter of the season. The Heat gave up 10 points in the third quarter against Orlando on Oct. 29. … Wade had a dunk with 7:58 left in the fourth quarter, the ball going through the net, off his knee—and rocketed toward Kuester, who caught it with ease. … The Pistons have lost six of their last seven against Miami. … James Jones had seven rebounds, his best total in a Heat uniform. … Ilgauskas, on his return: “We’re going to be on the different side of the barricades. But that’s life.”
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