[DukeC]

First game Hawks vs Bulls starting now.

First play of the game was a pass to a cutting Joakim Noah who got fouled.

Second play of the game was a pass to Josh Smith in the low post against Boozer (took an ill advised post fadeaway which clanked).

After the rebound the Bulls had a mismatch when they managed to get Boozer matched up on Teague on the elbow. Boozer bullied him and did a post drive into the paint. Easy 2 points.

Right back down the court the Hawks ran a pindown for Josh Smith along the baseline. Joakim couldn't recover and Josh Smith with no hesitation shot the mid-range as Noah scrambled to contest. 2 points.

Next play down court the Bulls run a play and Joakim threw a beautiful crosscourt pass to a wide open Rip Hamilton. 3 points.

Hawks answered by running a pick and roll with Stevenson bringing up the ball. This ended up with Boozer on Smith in an isolation. Stevenson foolishly brung his man over and Smith had no room to operate. I did see a terrible instance of the "wall" as Smith was running into Boozer (with no animations triggering) for a solid 5 seconds as Smith was trying to dribble past him. End result was a clanked contested stepback mid-range.

Next play down the court the Bulls tried in vain to drive into the paint after great team defense by the Hawks and Stevenson managed to lock up Richard Hamilton from doing anything. Unfortunately Hamilton managed to find a cutting Noah and Noah manged to make a contested layup. Score at this point Bulls 10 Hawks 2.

Next trip down the court the Hawks run a beatiful double screen for Teague who manages to find a wide open Korver in the corner. Deng makes a beautiful closeout however and Korver clanks it.

Bulls come down the court and try to get the ball to Noah in the post. Horford pulls the chair on him and the Bulls manage to recover the loose ball. They swing the ball around and the Hakws rotate to perfection. They end up settling for a contested Hamilton 3. He misses.

On the ensuing rebound the Teague finds himself guarded by Noah on the perimeter and he tries to pass it to Horford but Hinrich plays great defense and tips the ball. Deng picks it up and runs a beautiful fast break that ends with a pass to Noah under the hoop for the slam. 2 points. Hawks push the ball to midcourt then call a TO in response, hoping to stop the Bulls momentum.

Terrible possession by the Hawks after the timeout. They run a double off-ball screen for Korver but Korver, fearing the closeout, passes up the wide open shot to give it to Horford on the perimeter. Horford swings it back across the court to Teague who gives it up to Smith who settles for a contested 3 pointer.

Back down the court Hinrich brings the ball up and tries to rush a pass to the cutting Bellinelli. Teague anticipates this and cuts off the pass. Korver picks it up and hands it back to Teague who takes off for the 3 on 1 fastbreak of him, Josh Smith and Devin Harris. Josh Smith boxes out Deng as Teague goes to lay it up. Hinrich tries to swat it from behind but Teague dumps the ball off to Smith who jams it in for the easy bucket as Deng was unwilling to foul. 2 points.

After that last score the Bulls bring the ball up the court and gets a play initiated. Hinrich hands the ball off to Bellinelli, but the Bellinelli shoots a contested fadeaway 3 pointer! Josh Smith rebounds the airball and the Hawks are off on the fastbreak. In a crazy sequence of events neither team scores as Horford is stripped by Noah who outlets it to Deng who blows the contested layup then Harris gets the rebound who passes it to Korver who misses the wide open midrange on the fastbreak the other way. Just all kinds of sloppy play going on. The Bulls find Noah in the post on Teague but this time the Hawks wisely double and he passes it back out to Hinrich. Teague managed to close out and as the shot clock is winding down Hincrich tries to iso and takes a contested mid-range jumper. It clanks. Neither team ends up scoring in the final minute and the score after the 1st quarter is 12 -4 Bulls winning.