| 12 April 2010
Definitely check out that video above. Someone made a great video mocking the Raptors for choking last night. I freakin' love it. And I love the little reference to the "Jarrett Jack tying his shoe" incident. Yeah, Jarrett. What now?
Basically...the Bulls came through last night. Boy, did they come through. By far the biggest game of the season. They played like it.
It was a very well rounded effort. One where we saw Joakim Noah reach near triple-double numbers in the first half. He finished half number 1 with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. He's not exactly a passing machine, so finished the game with a cool 18 points, 19 rebounds, and 7 assists. He went 7-10 from the field and 4-6 from the line. Our second best player played like an MVP. In an alternate reality, the plantar fasciitis would have been avoided and that 10 game losing streak would have been a 10 game winning streak, simply because Joakim Noah is a beast and will be for years to come. No annoying minute caps last night. He played a strong 39 minutes, and his motor was constantly running.
And this is when I go into my little sidebar rant. After the New Jersey game, Vinny Del Negro should have been fired on the spot. When you're in double overtime and you're still worried about management's 35 minute cap on your 2nd best and maybe most valuable player, something is very very wrong. Vinny is coaching for his life here. There is no tomorrow. If the Bulls don't make the playoffs, he's donezo. If they do make the playoffs, he's donezo as well. Wouldn't you rather go out making the playoffs? Doesn't it look much better making the playoffs in back-to-back seasons as a brand new coach? Instead, Vinny decides to abide by 35 minute cap that was put in place by a misguided and inflexible Bulls management team, and he was too scared to adjust the policy on the fly. Or maybe, he just doesn't know how to adjust things on the fly. He's always been stubborn about his tactics. It's like I've said in the past...Derrick Rose is out of the game with 3 minutes to go in the 1st and 3rd quarters, and not back in until the 8 minute mark in the following quarter...REGARDLESS OF THE GAME SITUATION. Vinny's policy never wavers. It's sickening and very disturbing. But what I do know is that real coaches do not coach like that. Real coaches make adjustments. How exactly do you refuse to make an adjustment on a player as valuable as Noah's minutes in a must-win double overtime game? Especially when the consequences are probably insignificant in the short-run AND long-run. How does Vinny not see that he's coaching for his life? Does he think he's going to get brownie points from Gar by abiding by the Noah minute cap as opposed trying to win that game with Noah out there and thus make the playoffs? Noah had already played 35 minutes...what did you have to lose by playing him 10 more? Oh...just the game...that's all. And I didn't even mention that Gar gave permission at the beginning of the 1st overtime to play Noah beyond the 35 minute cap, and Vinny still took that as meaning "I better not play him too much beyond the cap." Obviously Gar wanted to win the game. Vinny just wanted to impress his boss with the fact that he can follow directions. Instead he pissed his boss off by showing he doesn't know when and how to make adjustments. Oh yeah, did I mention that Joakim Noah played 12 seconds in both overtimes combined? Good going, Vin.
But, last night the Bulls had a chance to redeem themselves. I mean it's kind of hard to redeem yourself after losing the season series to the worst NBA team in decades, but nonetheless, they played their adversary for the 8-seed last night. So as I stated, Joakim Noah was a beast. Derrick Rose? Also a beast. 26 points on 12-23 from the field, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block. He's still being taken out and key moments in the game because of Vinny's whacked out rotation, but man does that jumper look good. He's hitting at will. And with Chris Bosh out of the middle, he was getting to the basket at will as well.
Deng also had a solid nice. 14 points and 7 rebounds. Basically, the big 3 for the Bulls put the team on their backs, and carried them to a rout of the Raptors. They didn't really need contributions from many others, although they got them anyway. Hinrich was the only starter who wasn't in double-digits. The Bulls also got 10 points each from Hakim Warrick and Flip Murray. Like I said, nice all-around effort. They finished the night shooting 49% from the field while holding the Raptors to 41%. The Raptors had just an awful shooting night, but I partially credit the Bulls defense for that. However, let's be real, the Raptors missed a ton of open looks. They very easily could have shot 50% from the field like the Bulls. And they should have with all their 3-point shooters and being at home and all. But they're failures...so the Bulls go up a game.
The Raptors are currently playing the Pistons, who are also one of the drec teams of the NBA. They're currently down 2 points as I post this after the 1st quarter. I don't expect them to lose, because the Pistons are so bad. But hey...you never know when Ben Gordon will explode with a 39 point performance like he did the other night. Go BEN, Go Bulls.
