| 07 April 2010
What the hell happened last night? Can someone explain to me what it is I witnessed? Are we or aren't we fighting for a playoff spot right now?
The Bulls blew it. After last night's game, they flat out plain and simple don't deserve to be in the playoffs. I mean seriously, how often do you witness shenanigans like this from an NBA team? How do you score 24 points combined in the 2nd and 3rd quarter? I swear in the name of all that is holy, I never see this from any other team besides the Bulls. 9 points in a quarter? Freakin' 9 points in the 2nd quarter?
Let's analyze this for a second. First, let's look at the big picture. The Raptors lost earlier in the night to the Cavs. Not only that, but Bosh went down and stayed overnight in Cleveland for surgery. No one knows how long he'll be out still. Regardless, the Raptors lost. The Bulls knew this. If the Bulls beat the Bogut-less Bucks, and I cannot stress Bogut-less enough, the Bulls would be currently sitting in a virtual tie for 8th place in the Eastern Conference with the more than likely Bosh-less Raptors, who host the Celtics tonight. Bulls could have been in sole possession of 8th after tonight if they beat the Bogut-less Bucks. The Bogut-less Bucks who scored only 79 points. The Bogut-less Bucks who shot only 36.4% from the field. The Bogut-less Bucks who scored more than 20 points in only one quarter.
Think about it this way. The Bogut-less Bucks scored 14 points in the 1st quarter. If the Bulls could have at least matched that 14 in the 2nd quarter, instead of a ridiculously absurd YMCA-esque 9, then they would have at least sent it to overtime. No? Too much to ask? Fine, how about following up the 9 point second quarter with at least a 20 point third. Right? That's not asking too much, is it? You have one bad quarter, score less than 10 points...okay...forgivable as long as you come out with some intensity in the 3rd and try to make up the points. They gotta at least score 20 in the 3rd if they only scored 9 in the 2nd, right? RIGHT? RIGHHTT!?!?!?!? Wrong. How, you ask? I don't really know how. I don't really know how they could do what they did with the playoffs on the line. All I know is if they had scored at least 14 in the 2nd, or 20 in the 3rd, it would have been overtime. That's what I can tell you.
I mean the Bucks shot 36% from the field. They had 4 less field goals then the Bulls. The final score is just ridiculous. But if I had to wrap my head around how it happened, I would blame Derrick Rose and his 6 turnovers, along with his disappearing act in the 2nd quarter and 3rd quarter. Not one point in the 2nd. Only 2 points in the 3rd. Star player? Do you know of any other star player who that would happen to? And at this point in the season? Absolutely totally and utterly inexcusable. What good are your 12 points and 11 assists if you have 6 turnovers to go along with them?
What else could have made up for the discrepancy in field goals and shooting percentage that still led to a Bucks victory? Free-throws. Bulls had only 7, Bucks had 16. The difference in the game was 5 points. And when you have a player like Derrick Rose on your team, who should be shooting 6 or 7 free-throws a game, that's also inexcusable. Sure, the refs have a little something to do with it, but if the refs aren't calling it, he has to continue to force the issue inside until they do, instead of just disappearing. Although it's kind of ridiculous that John Salmons gets to go to the line 8 times and Derrick Rose only twice. I think it's a combination of the refs as well as Derrick's unwillingness to force the issue. He especially should have been pushing and pushing and pushing to go inside with Bogut being out. Without Bogut, the Bucks really don’t have a single legitimate shot-blocker. No excuses Derrick. Your team’s trying to make the playoffs here.
Anything else? Yeah. Coaching. Scott Skiles knows how to draw up a play. Vinny Del Negro really doesn't.
With 13 seconds left, Vinny Del Negro calls a full timeout. The Bulls are down by 3. You figure it’s going to be one of two plays. Either a quick drive to the basket by Derrick for a layup/foul, and I mean real quick, or a Derrick Rose drive to the basket for a kick-out to Brad Miller for 3. I would have been fine with either of those, even though it’s pathetic that I would have been fine with the last shot of regulation being a hail mary three from Brad Miller. Instead, Vinny drew up what may have been the worst play of all time. With 13 seconds left, Kirk Hinrich passes it into Luol Deng at the elbow. Deng passes it to Brad Miller on the perimeter. Brad Miller, aka the slowest individual in the NBA, goes on to attempt to drive past Kurt Thomas in an attempt to get to the basket. Did I mention there were only 13 seconds left? Not only does this play take incredibly long to develop, but Brad Miller doesn’t even manage to get an inch of space between himself and Kurt Thomas. Eventually, Miller just collapses at the key like a sack of potatoes and gets called for a travel. Kurt Thomas didn’t even doing anything special on defense. He just stayed in front of Miller…NOT A DIFFICULT TASK. And Miller flat out collapsed…like a tree going down in the forest. It was pathetic to watch. It was laughable. I laughed. And traveling was the call.
So you’re down by 3, and you call for a drive to the basket by Brad Miller with 13 seconds left. No very fast drive to the lane by Derrick Rose. No drive and kick for three to tie the game. Instead, you call for an incredibly slow developing play that only leaves 6 seconds left on the clock. Even if you had made it, you’d still be down 1 with 6 seconds. You’d have to foul, which would take about a second off the clock. And they’d likely hit both or at least 1, and you’re probably in the same spot you started, but this time you have 5 seconds. 5 seconds would probably be better because maybe then Vinny would be forced to give Derrick Rose the ball and make him take it to the bucket as fast as possible.
Beyond that…I still don’t think Derrick Rose is playing enough minutes. No reason Kirk Hinrich should be playing 44 and Derrick Rose only 38. Yeah yeah…defense…I know. I don’t care. Rose needs to be the one playing 44 minutes, because every possession that he’s not out there, that’s another possession where the Bulls are stagnant on offense.
At least Luol Deng had a decent game going for 16 points and 10 rebounds. He also played 44 minutes. And Joakim Noah had a pretty good game as well, going for 8 points and 11 rebounds. Although I don’t really know how the Bogut-less Bucks managed to tie the Bulls in rebounds. Did I mention the Bucks didn’t have Bogut? No idea what happened to Taj’s rebounding tonight…but they could have used him on the glass. He only finished with 6 boards.
The Bulls blew it. 9 points in the 2nd and 15 in the 3rd really did them in. 6 more points in either quarter would have won the game. Or even three more in each quarter. I just can’t get over it. If the Bulls scored 12 points in the 2nd and 18 in the 3rd, they still would have won the game. PATHETIC. Just unreal. Now, they still sit a game back of the Raptors, and probably half a game back after the Raps lose tonight, when they could have been half a game up. All is not lost, even though after last night’s performance, I don’t think this team even deserves to be near the playoffs. The Bulls do still play the Raptors in 4 days, and that game could very well decide the 8th seed. There’s still a lot of basketball to be played, and we will all be scoreboard watching. In fact, I’m watching the scoreboard right now, and the Bosh-less Raptors are only down 2 to the Celtics in the 3rd quarter. If the Celtics lose, it will give me just another to hate them with a passion…
