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Win some, lose some. And so it goes for the Chicago Bulls. They defeated the Dallas Mavericks 101-78 Wednesday night (Nov. 28) at the United Center. The victory improved the Bulls’ record to 7-7 — which would seem the very definition of “win some; lose some.”
Erin of the Chicago Luvabulls is No. 75 on the list of 100 hottest NBA dancers from bleacherreport.com.
Where are the Bulls losing? How about filling the seats at the United Center? Attendance for the Bulls’ victory was listed as a sellout of 21,575. But there was a fair number of empty seats on all levels. Blame it on coach Tom Thibodeau not using his bench players more in Monday’s loss to Milwaukee in which the Bulls blew a 27-point lead. Or not. Maybe interest in waning while fans wait for Derrick Rose to return — sometime — from offseason surgery on his knee.
There is evidence of dmininished interest in the Bulls. And Rose.
Numbers released from sales at the NBA store on Fifth Avenue in New York and on NBAStore.com from April 1 through the Thanksgiving weekend show the Bulls guard no longer holds the No. 1 spot in jersey sales. He fell to No. 5 with Miami Heat star LeBron James taking back the top spot. In terms of team merchandise sales, the Bulls fell from the top spot to No. 4 with the New York Knicks being the new No. 1.
TOP 15 MOST POPULAR NBA JERSEYS
Next visit by Kelly Wilson to “Sports & Torts” may look something like this.
1. Heat F LeBron James
2. Thunder F Kevin Durant
3. Lakers G Kobe Bryant
4. Knicks F Carmelo Anthony
5. Bulls G Derrick Rose
6. Celtics G Rajon Rondo
7. Heat G Dwyane Wade
8. Clippers F Blake Griffin
9. Lakers C Dwight Howard
10. Clippers G Chris Paul
11. Nets G Deron Williams
12. Thunder G Russell Westbrook
13. Lakers G Steve Nash
14. Celtics G Paul Pierce
15. Mavericks F Dirk Nowitzki
TOP 10 MOST POPULAR TEAM MERCHANDISE
1. Knicks
2. Heat
3. Lakers
4. Bulls
5. Celtics
6. Thunder
7. Nets
8. Clippers
9. Spurs
10. Mavericks
If it’s any consolation to the Bulls brass and/or their fans, the team’s on-court performance Wednesday was an improvement from Monday’s loss, when the Bulls blew a 27-point lead. And the bench contributed much more vs. the Mavs with reserves Nate Robinson (14 points), Jimmy Butler (13) and Marco Belinelli (11) in double digits.
“It was good to come out and forget that last loss and move forward as a team,” said reserve forward Taj Gibson, who added eight points and eight rebounds in 27:23 minutes of playing time — more than starters Carlos Boozer and Rip Hamilton (each with 34:30).
“The bench was great,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Overall, I thought we played a lot tougher with the lead.”
As the final results would indicate.
Video from the Bulls-Mavs game and postgame:
“Sports & Torts” guest Kelly Wilson is in this photo from her days with the Chicago Luvabulls dance team.
If it’s Thursday (which it should be in that yesteday was Wednesday and tomorrow is scheduled to be Friday — provided that you are reading this on Nov. 29 or a subsequent Thursday), then it is time once again for a weekly dose of “Sports & Torts” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris. This week’s guests are Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, actress/singer Marla Gibbs and former Chicago Luvabulls dancer Kelly Wilson (note to Kelly: in terms of billing, we saved the best for last; please don’t tell Marla or Nick). Kelly recently participated in her first bikini competition and finished second. Not bad for a 36-year-old. Or any age.
Kelly was an in-studio interview and sadly did not wear her competition attire. She did hold out the possibility that an encore appearance on the highly acclaimed show (certainly in the Spada and Harris households, as well as elsewhere) could have her wearing competitive gear — what there is of it.
“Sports & Torts” is to air Thursday at noon Chicago time on talkzone.com. The show also will be available later in the day via podcast at talkzone.com.
Time for some videos.
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