While everyone was looking for Carlos Boozer to make an instant impact on the Bulls with his return last night, perhaps forgotten is that a basketball team has to work in sync. With Boozer playing with his new teammates for the first time last night, it was clear that that sync was missing.
Oh, yes, and the Orlando Magic is a pretty good team. The game was never close after a 28-22 first quarter made it seem like there might be a match. Orlando outscored the Bulls 33-15 in the second for a 24-point halftime lead. The Bulls were never able to get the deficit down to single digits in a somewhat embarrassing 29-point loss.
Boozer had only two rebounds and, shockingly, Joakim Noah, who came into the game as the second-leading rebounder in the NBA, had none. The Bulls got killed on the boards 44-21. Noah did lead the team in scoring with 16.
Now that they’ve got all the hype out of the way, perhaps they can start getting in sync before Friday’s game against the Celtics in Boston.