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76ers-Bulls Preview

Nov 14, 2009 - 5:03 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Editor

Philadelphia (4-4) at Chicago (4-4), 8:00 p.m. EDT

The Philadelphia 76ers hired Eddie Jordan in the offseason hoping the veteran coach could install an offense that would take advantage of the team's young and athletic nucleus.

Early returns on the investment have not been encouraging.

The Sixers look to rebound from another rough offensive performance and avoid their fifth loss in seven games Saturday night when they visit the Chicago Bulls, playing their last home game before the annual Circus Trip.

After going 41-41 under Maurice Cheeks and Tony DiLeo last season, Philadelphia turned to Jordan thinking he could help jump-start an offense that was 22nd in the league with 97.4 points per game.

Jordan, who spent five-plus seasons with Washington before getting fired early last season, hasn't had much success in his first weeks at the helm with his new club. The Sixers (4-5) are scoring 98.3 points in Jordan's up-tempo Princeton offense, including 89.8 while dropping four of their last six. Both wins in that stretch came against New Jersey, which is the league's only winless team at 0-9.

Philadelphia trailed by as much as 26 in a 112-90 home loss to short-handed Utah on Friday. The Jazz were playing without point guard Deron Williams, who leads the team in scoring and assists.

Jordan sounded frustrated after his team's latest defeat.

"Maybe if the bully pushes us long enough, maybe we'll push back," he said. "That time hasn't come yet."

The Bulls (4-4) got off to a better start than the Sixers, but are trying to avoid a third straight loss. They scored 60 first-half points, but shot 10 of 40 in the second half of a 99-89 loss at Toronto on Wednesday.

"We had a good rhythm going early in the third quarter and then we just kind of went flat," coach Vinny Del Negro said.

Chicago went more than six minutes without scoring in the fourth quarter, a day after falling 90-89 to Denver after Brad Miller's game-winning jumper at the buzzer was overturned following a lengthy replay review.

"We had good looks, we've got to knock them down," said Luol Deng, who tied for the team lead with 18 points but went 8 for 19 from the field against the Raptors. "I don't know whether it's fatigue from the day before or what. We got a lot of looks that we didn't make."

The Bulls hope for a better performance in their final home game before a six-game trip while the circus occupies the United Center. They do not return to Chicago until Dec. 2 to face Detroit and former Bulls guard Ben Gordon for the first time.

The Bulls and Sixers split four games last season, with each team winning one in Chicago. Sixers swingman Andre Iguodala, a native of Springfield, Ill., averaged 22.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists while shooting 52.9 percent from the field in two games at the United Center.

Iguodala averaged 20.0 points and shot 51.4 percent in his first seven games of the season, but he's been held to 10.0 points and 29.6 percent shooting in the last two.

Chicago's Derrick Rose, last season's rookie of the year, averaged 19.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 56.1 percent in four games against Philadelphia.