Bulls versus....? Who would be the best to see?
November 26, 2011 11:21 AM   Subscribe

Now that the NBA has come to an agreement (or is very close to), that means I can purchase an awesome Xmas present for my pops! Which team would be the best/most exciting/fun to see play against the Chicago Bulls?

It needs to be a home game for the Bulls, but other than that, it doesn't matter. I know next to nothing about basketball, other than its my dad's favorite team, and I want to set up my parents on a nice date evening in their hometown of Chicago. :) They now live in Wisconsin, so my first impulse was the bucks vs bulls game, but I think the bucks are kind of boring? No idea. Any team or game suggestions would be great! Thanks!
posted by fuzzysoft to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)
 
Best answer: Dallas (reigning champs), Miami, the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City would be really good and Boston or the NY Knicks would be good. Dark-horse candidate (that could be relatively available and affordable): the Golden State Warriors, a young team that plays at a fast pace, probably wouldn't get blown out, but a high probability that Chi would win.
posted by ambient2 at 11:28 AM on November 26, 2011


Best answer: They haven't worked out the schedule yet, so we're not even sure that every team will visit every city yet, but assuming they do:

Chicago is a top team, so to see a good game you probably want to try to catch them playing another powerhouse: Miami, LA Lakers, Dallas, OKC, Boston. For a casual NBA fan Miami is the hottest ticket, serious fans would probably like to see OKC or Dallas.

LA Clippers, New Orleans, Orlando and New York are less great teams that have exciting players on them and would definitely be worth checking out.

Milwaukee is pretty much the definition of mediocre, but there's something to be said for watching a hometown team.

All that said, it's pretty impossible to predict which games will be good and which will be boring. The only teams I wouldn't be particularly interested in seeing are Toronto (I say this as a raps fan), Detroit, Cleveland, Sacremento and Minnesota, unless your dad likes watching really young players who haven't really figured it out yet.
posted by auto-correct at 11:35 AM on November 26, 2011


Best answer: I agree with the above, but would vote for Minnesota as a potential great game...Rubio, Love, and Beasley have a lot of talent...
posted by unreasonable at 3:44 PM on November 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Try to avoid a home game where the team's immediately preceeding or following games are road games -- these "getaway" games are often lousy. On the other hand, if you just want to see the Bulls win, choose a game where the opponent is at the end of a stretch of road games -- they'll be tired.

If you can splurge, choose a game that will be nationally televised, either on TNT or NBC. The networks are choosing the better match-ups to show, and players get energized for these in general.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:09 PM on November 26, 2011


Best answer: Clippers. The tickets are likely to be the cheapest (I'm guessing) because a lot of people don't immediately know that Blake Griffin is on the team. Blake Griffin did some things last year that took the nba world by storm. I've watched a lot of games in my years and I haven't jumped off the couch going holy shit like I did last year at some of the things he did, since Starks coast to coast slam against the Bulls with Mike played.

After that, you obviously have Lebron/Wade on the Heat, the young guns on the Hawks (and you get to see Al Horford and Joakim Noah go against each other - they were college teammates and won a title at UF together), and then you have the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Durant, Westbrook, and James (awesome hair) Hardin.

Factoring in what I would guess ticket prices and availability would be, my order would be:

Clippers
Heat
Hawks
Thunder
--------
Lakers
posted by cashman at 5:10 PM on November 26, 2011


Best answer: The Bucks aren't that atrocious anymore, depending on how Bogut is recovering. They've got Brandon Jennings, who, if he continues to develop, could be an elite point guard. There are teams out there though, that I would avoid, namely Charlotte, Washington, Minnesota, Sacramento, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. These teams have been poorly run for years, and have pretty lousy rosters (some have excellent players doubled up at the same position, others have nothing at all). It pains me to say this, but Detroit could be added to the list, too, although the Chicago-Detroit rivalry is kind of fun. Still, Detroit has taken a massive downhill turn.

For rivalry games, where you'd get an intense atmosphere, aim for Chicago vs. New York, Boston, or the Heat. There's a decent amount of bad blood and history (mostly recent for Boston and the Heat, since the dawn of time for New York) between the Bulls and those teams, and now that New York has Amare and Melo, there'll be a good amount of star power on the opposing team.

The Thunder are pretty much guaranteed to be fun to watch as well, with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, too.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:26 PM on November 26, 2011


Response by poster: thank you everyone! these are all incredibly insightful and helpful answers that I will take into consideration when I purchase the tickets! :)
posted by fuzzysoft at 5:32 PM on November 27, 2011


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