Chicago Bulls Defense Dominates Raptors, Carries Bulls to 77-64 Victory

The Chicago Bulls are wearing down, and it's showing on the offensive end, but great defense kept them in the game tonight as they beat the Toronto Raptors 77-64. 

If I were to tell you this game was exciting, I'd be lying. This game was pretty boring in all honesty, but they can't all be entertaining. 

It's almost gotten to the point where I can I write a standard form-article. The Chicago Bulls got off to a big lead. The _________ came back to make it to close. Late in the third/early in the fourth, the Bulls pulled away and ended up winning by double-digits. 

That pretty much covers it. 

The Bulls were once again able to balance out their scoring pretty well with five Bulls scoring in double figures. Derrick Rose led Bulls scores with 18. Carlos Boozer had 17, Luol Deng 14, Taj Gibson 11 and John Lucas 10. 

Gibson and Boozer had double-doubles in rebounds, and Rose had a double-double in assists.

Joakim Noah hit double figures in rebounds the second straight night and played more like his old self than the imposter who had been taking his place for much of the season. Even though Gibson and Boozer finished the game on the court, it wasn't an indictment of Noah's play. 

The Bulls have gotten the worse of the early season condensed schedule. They've played the most road games, the most games and the longest stretch they've spent at home is three days (days, not games). That's the fewest number of days any team has spent at home. 

The combination of having played more games period, more road games and more time traveling made it pretty clear the Bulls were pretty fatigued. I got sleepy just watching them. 

Even so, when the Raptors got it close the defense clamped up, and that was enough to get the Bulls separation. They had the best defense in the NBA last year, and this year it's even better. 

The Bulls lowered their already league-leading points allowed per game to 83.8. That's down a full 7.5 points from last year. Last season, the Bulls did not hold a single team to under 70 points. This year they've held four of their 13 opponents to 68 or fewer, and the Raptors became the third team they held to 64. 

Since the shot-clock era begin in 1955,  the fewest average points given up by a team over the course of a season is 83.4 by the 1999 Atlanta Hawks. No other team has give up fewer than 84 points a game. The Bulls could challenge the NBA record for points per game if they maintain this level of defense. 

Their defensive rating should fall below 95.0 after tonight's game. If they can maintain that pace, they'll be one of only two or three teams to accomplish that feat, depending on whether Philadelphia is able to maintain their current, record low pace. 

The record for a full season is presently held by the 2004 San Antonio Spurs who yielded just 94.1 points per 100 possessions. 

This defense isn't just good, it's historically good, and realistically when this season is done, it could go down, at least statistically, as the best ever. If you hold to the adage that defense wins championships that's pretty good news. 

While it's true that the Spurs didn't win in 2004, the next best team is the 1999 Spurs, who did win. It also bears mentioning that the team that did win, the Detroit Pistons, have the next best season in history.