By Jordan Long
There are 5 NBA games tonight before the season is stopped for the All-Star Break. For the rest of the NBA, they are already at the break. All-Star Saturday Night probably has the best events during the weekend with the skills challenge, 3 point contest, and the slam dunk contest. On Sunday of course is the All-Star game itself. With that, it’s time to look at the most surprising team as well as the most disappointing team at the All-Star Break.
The Chicago Bulls are the best team in the Eastern Conference this year. They are the most surprising team. Last season, Chicago ended at 31-41, 10th in the Eastern Conference. They just missed out on the play-in tournament by two games.
This year they added DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, and Lonzo Ball. With these players they were hoping to improve the team. The offense wouldn’t just go through their star, Zach LaVine. The goal was to earn a playoff spot. The Bulls hadn’t made the playoffs since 2017. With these additions, they are on top of the Eastern Conference with a record of 38-21.
DeRozan leads the team in points, averaging 28.1 points per game. The Bulls as a team are one of the better scoring teams, averaging 112.6 points per game 7th in the NBA. On defense, teams seem to score but they aren’t letting opponents run away with games, giving up 110.4 points per game 18th in the NBA.
The area they need to clean up is rebounds. They total 43.4 rebounds per game. The problem is they are allowing teams to box them out and they permit 43.2 rebounds per game. The Bulls are just lucky that hasn’t cost them that many games. If they can box out more, that will limit rival teams’ chances to score.
Overall though, the Bulls are in great shape. This was a team that had to be in the top 6 with what they did in the offseason. They have exceeded those expectations at least going into the All-Star Break. They are playing like a team ready to make some noise in the playoffs and win a few rounds. The Bulls may fall short of advancing to the NBA Finals.
The most disappointing team to this point is the New York Knicks. Last year, New York went 41-31 and were the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference but lost in the 1st round to the Atlanta Hawks in 5 games. The goal was to get back to the playoffs and this time win a postseason round. They didn’t lose any of their key players in free agency.
This year they aren’t playing well. Right now, their record is 25-34, 12th in the Eastern Conference. New York is one of the worst scoring teams in the NBA. They score 105.1 points per game, 27th in the NBA. It is perplexing that they can’t score. They have offensive players in Alec Burks, Julius Randle, Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier, and a superstar in Derrick Rose.
On defense, they are keeping themselves in games. They don’t give up easy looks to the basket. When they play man-to- man defense, there is always a defender in the face of an opponent which causes tough looks at the basket. The New York Knicks give up 106.6 points per game 8th best in the NBA.
The defense is carrying New York which is great but they must make shots on offense. They aren’t doing that. Unless something changes, New York is going to miss the playoffs.
The NBA will resume the regular season next Thursday. Some teams are going to be ready to make a run to the playoffs while others will be thinking about the NBA Draft Lottery and increasing their chances to win it. If they do, they earn the 1st pick in the NBA Draft.
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