Bulls coach Phil Jackson has his fingers crossed, hoping Steve Kerr can come off the injured list when the Bulls host the New York Knicks in the United Center Tuesday night.
Kerr has missed the Bulls’ last 10 games with what originally was thought to be a deep bone bruise of the left knee. It has since been revealed that there may have been a slight hairline fracture.
On Sunday, Kerr had his most solid practice since injuring the knee against the Washington Wizards on Nov. 12.
“It was a nice practice for him,” Jackson said. “We’ve had to convince him to go light, but yet with contact. He’s not going to press too far. I think he’s ready to take another step (Monday) and practice a little bit harder.”
Practice, practice: The obvious reason the Bulls desperately need Kerr back is his three-point shooting. Though Kerr is a 52 percent three-point shooter, the Bulls are shooting 31 percent.
Another, more important, reason is free throw shooting–the Bulls are shooting a dismal 67 percent from the line. Kerr was 6 of 6 when he went down.
Jackson made his players shoot extra free throws before and after practice Sunday.
“We’re consistently working at that kind of stuff,” Jackson said. “As a consequence, you’d think you’d get repetition. We’ve talked about repetition, being focused and being in tune to it. That’s really what we’re working on now–getting them to focus on the fact that, `Hey, free throws are a problem.’ We’ve got to get it down.”
Jackson said they will get it down once Kerr comes back and once the team’s better free throw shooters–Michael Jordan (71 percent), Luc Longley (65 percent) and Toni Kukoc (64 percent)–get in a groove.
“We haven’t had some of our better foul shooters at the line,” Jackson said. “Steve Kerr, obviously, being out. Luc Longley, an 80 percent free throw shooter over the years, was at 30 percent at one point. Now he’s up to 65, but he was way behind in his foul shooting. Toni Kukoc is another 80 percent foul shooter who has not been shooting 80 percent.”
Home, sweet home: Free throw shooting was only part of the Bulls’ problems Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Though they won handily, the Bulls shot just 36 percent from the field.
At least they know they have to play better this month. Beginning Tuesday with New York, eight of the Bulls’ next 13 games are at home.
“We know we have to shoot the ball better,” said Jordan, who had just 13 points on 4-of-16 shooting against the Bucks. “But this is a string of games where we want to continue to find our offensive rhythm and defensive intensity.”
The Bulls know they can’t play as horribly against the Knicks as they did Friday against the Bucks. Only greater ineptness on Milwaukee’s part enabled them to win easily.
“New York is going to be a real good test for us,” Longley said. “Whether we’re ready for them or not, I don’t know, but we’ll find out a lot about ourselves. They are a team we’ve always had trouble against. Rivalry or no rivalry, they’re always hard for us to play against.”
