It might be one of the oldest cliches in the NBA, but the bestthing about a loss like the historic 115-68 pasting the Orlando Magiclaid on the Bulls on Friday at the United Center is that it's over.
Rick Barry, Brent's father, always has insisted one-point lossesstay with a team much longer than blowouts. If that's true, theBulls should have slept comfortably Friday night.A more pressing concern for the Bulls (9-23, 5-11 at home) isthat they have lost their last two games - to the Magic and to theDetroit Pistons on Thursday - by an average of 39 1/2 points. Andduring their last seven games (a 1-6 span), the ledger has tipped infavor of Bulls opponents by an average of 20.1 points.As coach Tim Floyd suggested after the game Friday, that mightbe troubling evidence the Bulls are having no success in finding areason to play from night to night. That's disturbing for fans whostill have tickets for Bulls home games.It's also likely that the majority of the players are not goingto be around to savor the "better days ahead" - if they ever happen.All that makes it extremely difficult to project which Bullswill show up for the game tonight against the Vancouver Grizzlies(6-26, 1-14 on the road).The Grizzlies are a poor but developing team, boasting aceShareef Abdur-Rahim (23.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg) and rookie point guard MikeBibby (rookie-leading 6.8 apg.) They are 2-20 since opening 4-6, butthey battled the Hawks down to the wire Friday in Atlanta beforelosing 84-81.Floyd scheduled practice for Saturday in hopes the Bulls willregroup for this game. Against practically any other NBA opponent,that would seem very unlikely. Here, flip a coin.THE LINE: Bulls by 4 1/2.JIM O'DONNELL'S PREDICTION: Bulls 91, Grizzlies 84.
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