I have a lot of thoughts on last night's Bulls overtime loss, and i'll go over each one individually, but the first thing that keeps coming back up like two-hour-old Steak N' Shake is what the fuck were you thinking, Ben? The game is tied, and the Bulls have the ball with 20 seconds left. Scott Skiles called a timeout going into the last play, and they inbound it to Gordon. Seconds tick off. 15 left, 10. As soon as it hit 11, I was like, Ok, go. 9 left, then 8. Finally he goes. What happens? He runs sideways down the court into Vince Carter, who predictably covers him up, forcing Gordon to shoot awkwardly from 21-feet away. Gordon's shot comes up two feet short, Wallace can't get the put back. Bulls get demolished in OT, game over, 12 straight losses in New Jersey and counting.
Fuck I was pissed. The whole point is to give yourself time to create an ideal situation, be it an open shot or hitting a teammate off the kick and drive. Not so much. Oh well, 81 more to play. With that in mind, lets take a look at some first game observations, which I'm sure Noce will have to add to in the comments as well.
JOE SMITH: Consider him P.J. Brown v3.0. I haven't seen too much of Joe Smith before. Come to think, I'm not sure if I ever have. Well, from what I saw last night I really hope he can stay healthy. His stats weren't earth-shattering or anything (6 pts., 5 reb, 1 blk), but he showed good range within 15 feet, something P.J. Brown only considered deep waters. The guy has only played 55 games in the last two seasons combined and is in his 13th year, so that's most likely a pipe dream. But 60 games from him would be nice.
KIRK HINRICH: Of all the things I love about Captain Kirk, there's one I aspect about him absolutely can't stand, and he's still doing it: stupid fouls. Perfect example: A ball gets knocked out to the backcourt from a loose rebound over near Richard Jefferson. Hinrich runs after it, but is easily beat to it. What does he do? Doesn't pull up, and tries to swipe at it, hacking Jefferson. That was his 3rd foul with seven minutes left before halftime. STOP FUCKING HACKING PEOPLE! WTF?! Seriously, I love that Hinrich plays in more guy's shorts then the local Catholic father, but dude, know your limits.
TYRUS THOMAS: Someone needs to get this fucking spaz some Ritalin around the rim. You can argue either way on this one, claiming it's his energy that gives the Bulls the spark off of the bench. I'll grant you that one. But that fucking goofball gets so excited around the rim he fucking chucks the ball George Costanza style from two feet away. So much for those shooting drills you've been working on over the summer. Point goes to Skiles on the criticism.
SCOTT SKILES: Why didn't we see Aaron Gray last night? The Bulls could have used some kick out ability as the Nets D did a great job of shutting down the cutting lanes for the guards. Enter Aaron Gray for that one. Unless he was hurt, he should have gotten at least a few minutes to slowly phase him into the offense.
Overall, I thought it was nice to see the Bulls come back from their 15-point deficit at halftime to almost take the game. They should be 2-1 after the weekend with the 76'ers coming to the UC Friday and away at Milwaukee on Saturday. For more the Kobe front, you can check out Chris Sheridan's article here, or the main page of ESPN.
2 comments:
1. Tyrus started the game, didn't come off the bench.
2. Thomas had about a half dozen turnovers (including the series where the Bulls had back-to-back-to-back turnovers, prompting me to chug a beer to take away the pain) and he looked like he had no idea where to be on the court. Tyrus seems to always be in Skiles' doghouse because he's a fucking idiot and still hasn't learned how to do anything but block shots or dunk.
3. The reason you didn't see Aaron Gray was because the Bulls did come back from that 17-point halftime deficit. If they came out in the 2nd half and resumed their awful play, Skiles would have probably put in the rookies just to see how they responded. I don't fault Skiles for not playing Gray in the 1st game - he's trying to get his starters playing time to gel on the court and figure out his regular rotations. Gray would have been a nightmare on defense trying to go out into the perimiter against Kristic or manning up against Jason Collins/Jamal Magloire.
4. I hate Chris Duhon - more on that to come as a real post.
oh yea - i read that sheridan article earlier today and it basically gives no new information. the bulls want kobe but don't want to lose their entire team, kobe wants to go to the bulls but doesn't want to have to play with a bunch of schmucks like he is now, LA is screwed either way. thanks chris - quality reporting.
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