A few notes from the first half of tonight's Orlando Magic/Chicago Bulls game...

• Brian Cook has only played for 7 minutes, but it's the best 7 minutes he's played since he's been here. He came in, drained a pair of three-pointers, took the ball to the basket a few times, and it resulted in 10 first-half point for the Cookie Monster. Unfortunately, he picked up three quick fouls, and was sent to the bench.
• Cook would have the Scrubway Scrub of the Game award wrapped-up were it not for Chicago's Chris Duhon. Since entering the starting lineup on December 28th, Duhon has shot a woeful 11-of-53 (.208) from the field. In the first half, he's 3-of-6 for 7 points, even managing to hit a pair of three-pointers. Oh, and he's totaled 5 assists. Why is it that scrubs like Duhon always find their range against us?
• Rashard Lewis' strong play on the road trip has carried over into tonight. He has 13 points on 6 shots, and has taken as many two-pointers as he has three-pointers. He also scored the last three points of the half to boost our lead to 5 points.
• We need to do a better job on the defensive boards. We've allowed the Bulls to grab 35% of their own misses, which is unacceptable. Joakim Noah managed to pull down 3 offensive boards in 6 minutes. Somebody box him out, please!
• Keyon Dooling hit a three-pointer, just his 11th of the season in 37 attempts. I'd like to see him hit that shot with more consistency. But what'd be even better is if he stopped shooting threes and focused on what he does best: taking the ball to the basket.

I feel pretty good about this game right now, even though the Bulls fought back from a 14-point deficit. If they were still being coached by Scott Skiles, they might have just thrown in the towel there. However, Jim Boylan has Chicago more motivated than it had been under Skiles, and that concerns me.

Second half is about to start. Let's see if we can put this team away, and keep it away, to get another win.