| 03 April 2010
Well, I'm back from my mini-business trip. Upon my return, the Bulls find themselves two games back of Toronto, with a game to be played tonight against the Bobcats in a few minutes.. Unfortunately, the Raptors avoided what would've been a costly collapse earlier today. They held a 17 point lead in the third quarter only to see it dissipate and ended up having to beat the 76ers in overtime. And man does that hurt the Bulls.
But the Bulls won last night. And this happened:
I believe the reaction was, "Watch your head Lil' Boykins!" I'd say that's an appropriate reaction. And the funniest part about it? Joakim Noah running the point for a lob to Derrick Rose and not vice versa. Only on the Chicago Bulls.
Lots of good stuff happened last night.
First, Taj Gibson. 14 points and 16 rebounds. He continues his monster rookie season. A type of season no Bulls big man rookie has had since Elton Brand. And we're talking about a long list. Marcus Fizer, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Tyrus Thomas, just to name a few. Taj Gibson is playing out of his mind...simply put. Hard hat, lunch-pale? Yes please.
Second, Joakim Noah. Played 27 minutes and had 10 points on 4-6 from the field and 8 rebounds. More minutes for Joakim means more wins in this final stretch. And oh yeah, let's not forget the lob to Derrick. Go watch the above video again. Right now.
Third, the return of Luol Deng. I've been somewhat out of the loop lately due to being away on business, so I had no idea he was actually coming back. Not only did he come back, but he played 28 freakin' minutes. And in his 28 minutes, the man looked smooth. Maybe it was the new stylish goatee he was sporting. He had 14 points on 6-8 from the field, and 6 rebounds in his 28 rebounds. I'd say that's a hell of a comeback game. Can everyone now see how much better the Bulls are than half the Eastern Conference playoff teams once they're all healthy? This is actually a good team when everyone's playing.
Fourth, Derrick Rose. He had a very nice Derrick Rose-esque game. 24 points on 10-19 from the field, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. Basically, he did work. And he led us to victory. It was a must-win game...and we won. So who's next?
Charlotte, that's who. In about 10 minutes, the Bulls square off against the Bobcats at the United Center. It's going to be a tough game, because the Bobcats are playing very well and have won two straight, which is very annoying. It's just annoying when a mediocre team is going to end up making the playoffs while the Bulls might miss, when the Bulls, when healthy, are a much better team than the Bobcats. Injuries killed us. Even the obscure random ones, like Hinrich rolling his ankle the other night, causing Jannero Pargo to come in and single-handedly lose us the game to Phoenix. Lucky I wasn't available to blog for that one, I would've gone on all night. I'm actually holding myself back from going on about it right now, but I digress. With a tonight, the Bulls could move to 1.5 back of the Raptors. But a win tonight could be hard to come by and a loss could all but ruin the Bulls playoff chances. So here comes another must-win. Tip-off in about 20 minutes.
