Another day, another game the city of Toronto misses because it’s on TSN2. Sigh. Lucky for me, however, I’ll be at this one. I wonder, next year, do you think they can do a “TSN2″ ticket package where you can buy tickets to all the TSN2 games? That’d be nice.

Either way, I’ve been looking forward to seeing Derrick Rose play, so I’m glad I’ll get the chance to see him live and in person.

Chicago’s a funny team. Two years ago, the same season the Raps won 47, the Bulls won 49. Last year, with great expecations, they lost 49, and didn’t even make the playoffs.

This year, the expectations were minimum and they’ve started off slow again - 16-22. Their team is a little different - they traded away Ben Wallace, for one thing - and they’ve handed the reins to Rose. Plus they replaced head coach Scott Skiles with rookie Vinnie Del Negro. They’ve still got a lot of talent left over from that 49-win team, though. Loul Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni… they’ve got young guys in Tyrus Thomas and Jaokim Noah, not to mention Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden… you might say they’re a lot like the Raptors in that their roster should have produced a better record thus far. Plus, like the Raptors, they also lost to the Thunder! Couple of regular overachievers here, eh? Sigh.

Deng and Hinrich have both missed time due to injury, but both played in the Bulls’ last game (off the bench) so we should see them tonight. The Bulls come in off a five-game home stand in which they went 2-3; in fact they’ve lost 7 of 10. Before getting schedule-fucked (seriously, back-to-back games against the Champs?) the Raps had won 4 of 5, so as I said yesterday, the big test is going to be seeing how they bounce back from the Boston beatings. Will they get right back on track, or have those two games completely thrown them off the rails?

Rose has been impressive, averaging 16 points, 6 assists and 3 boards, starting in all 38 games. He’s also shooting 46% from the floor, not bad for a rook. Yeah, he’s got almost three turnovers a game but that’s to be expected from a rookie PG.

If our two back-up PGs can give the same solid play they gave against Boston on Monday (combined: 11-18, 4-5 3FG, 5 boards, 8 assists, only 2 turnovers and 26 points) then we should be able to hold our own in the PG battle, especially if Hinrich is still rusty (they also have Lindsey Hunter, who isn’t scaring anyone). If Jose plays, well, he’d better be at 100 per cent because we can’t afford to let Rose get into the paint at will.

At the off-guard, the Bulls trot out super-scorer Ben Gordon who can light it up in a hurry. But, I believe he can also be taken out of a game with some aggressive D, which is what Anthony Parker will have to bring. I hope he’s up to it because if Gordon goes off, the Raps don’t have a chance in this one.

The Bulls have started Deng, Hughes and Thabo Sefolosha at times at SF this year; plus, they’ve also got Andres Nocioni who can play there. Deng, obviously, is the biggest threat (when healthy) but Hughes can still score too. Moon just has to stick to his defensive principles - keep in front, stay down - and he can be effective. Of course, we all know how likely it is that’ll happen, so expect one of them to go off tonight.

Up front, the Raps should - SHOULD - have a big advantage. But, Drew Gooden always manages to have good games against us, so I expect he can effectively neutralize Bosh (unless Gooden is injured - apparently he rolled an ankle in the Bulls’ last game). That means Bargnani’s gonna need another big game, something he shouldn’t have any problem doing with Thomas or Noah guarding him. They’re athletic young guys, but haven’t yet proven they have the basketball smarts to hang with a versatile big like Bargnani. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of Nocioni guarding the big Italian - he’s a decent defender with good footspeed who should be able to stay with AB.

Of course, there is the question of Jermaine O’Neal, who is rumoured to be ready to play in this one. I’d be happy just to see him in person, you know, to see if he still exists (anyone notice Kendrick Perkins on the bench for Boston the other night, even though he’s hurt? Funny how that works. Sigh). No word at this point if he plays (or if Jose plays, though that seems more unlikely) and certainly no word on if he starts or comes off the bench… but I can’t imagine him not starting. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

One other thing to note, Chuck Swirsky, former voice of the Raptors and current Bulls radio play-by-play man, will be back in the house for the first time since leaving last summer.

I always liked Chuck. Yes, he was too over the top and an unbelievably biased homer. And he should have retired the “salami and cheese” bit long ago. But he was a good play-by-play guy, and he had an undeniable passion for the team, the sport of basketball, and most notably the city and Canada in general. I know he’s a team employee, but that only makes it his job to be a homer. He went above and beyond the call of duty in his effort to integrate basketball as a sport, and himself as a person, into Toronto and Canada. He didn’t have to do that, but he did, and I’ll always respect him for that.

And he was memorable, you can’t deny that. He was a personality, a true character. Watch one Raptors game with him doing the play-by-play and you couldn’t forget him. I wished he would have stayed because I love the idea of having a “voice” for the team, you know? Guys like that, the Chick Hearn, the Jack Buck, heck, even the Tom Cheek… they are a dying breed and I hoped Chuck would have a legacy like that. And if you’re gonna have a “voice of the team” it should definitely be someone unique and memorable. He did every game for what, nine years? There’s no doubt some Raptors fans who had never heard a game called by anyone else until Devlin stepped in.

Don’t get me wrong, Devlin’s done a fine job, but, well, let’s just say he’s no Swirsky, eh? I’ll always miss Chuck.

As for the game, well, I really want to believe the Raps can take this one. But their bad habit of blowing games after tough losses doesn’t give me much confidence. I’m afraid their mental makeup is still shaky and they’ll come out flat and uninspired… and that means the Bulls will take it, by 9.