| 16 January 2010
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First off, I would like to point out that Antawn Jamison looked absolutely ridiculous in his sports bra. I am strongly against NBA players wearing female undergarments during games.
There. Now that I got that out of the way. Down to business. Let me make it clear that I did not start watching this game until mid-way through the third quarter. But I saw beyond what I needed to see. Didn't I say Jamison would dominate tonight? I'm not sure who started out guarding him. I'm assuming Taj did, and I'm assuming Tyrus attempted to. Clearly it didn't work. Taj only played 14 minutes although Tyrus did play 28. They scored 4 points each and combined for 7 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jamison alone scored 34 points and 18 rebounds. Can you say MISMATCH? Antawn Jamison showed Tyrus and Taj exactly how the power forward position is supposed to be played. He was all over the place, draining jumpshots, posting up, making hook shots. It was a clinic. No wonder both of them sat out nearly the entire second half. They were totally outclassed.
So Vinny decided to make an adjustment. How about that? We saw something tonight that we rarely see. John Salmons and Luol Deng sharing the court nearly the entire second half. Vinny moved Deng to the 4 and Salmons to the 3. A smaller lineup that allowed the Bulls to adjust to a quicker power forward by matching him up with a quicker one of their own. Good adjustment. Deng did a much better job against Jamison than Taj or Tyrus could have ever done. Although Jamison still got his even after the switch regardless.
Besides Jamison, Caron Butler torched us. And I knew he would as I said that Jamison and Butler were the two guys who were going to kill the Bulls in my preview. Butler went off for 27 points and 8 rebounds. He had 5 fouls late in the fourth quarter. But before I touch on Butler's 5 fouls, let me explain something. This game should have been over in regulation. With under three minutes left, the Bulls went to the line three times. John Salmons was the first, going 1-2. Derrick Rose was the second, going 1-2. Joakim Noah was the third, going 2-2. Of those three guys, Noah should be the last one to be able to hit those in the clutch. Derrick absolutely MUST learn how to hit free throws at the end of games. It seems as if he is constantly missing huge free throws in nearly every close game, and it almost always ends up hurting the Bulls. Those 2 missed free throws with 2 and a half minutes left forced the Bulls to kill themselves in two overtimes. Now the Bulls came out on top, so I guess all is well, but it's just unnecessary. On the other hand, the Wizards missed a gazillion free throws of their own, so I guess the point is moot. But you can't control what the other team does, only what your own team does. And those free throws must be made.
Kirk Hinrich played great defense late on Randy Foye, who was able to do waaaaay too much in this game, and forced a turnover near the end of regulation. Derrick got off a good look as time ran out, and it just wouldn't stay down. But at least they went to Derrick and he got himself a nice looking jumpshot. If they didn't win this game, there would be no "at least" when looking back on that shot, but whatever.
Back to Butler's five fouls. I wish somebody could explain to me why it took John Salmons till there was 14 seconds left in the first overtime to at all attack Caron Butler who was so close to fouling out. Salmons kept getting the ball, and was playing hot potato with it the entire first overtime. Then with 14 seconds left, Derrick makes a smart decision and passed it off to John Salmons who went at Butler and slashed in for a tough layup. Although the thought of someone other than Rose taking the last shot of the game irks me, both Derrick and John (finally) recognized that Butler was not going to play much D because of the foul situation, and this allowed John to get a layup, albeit a tough one.
On the other end, Randy Foye bricked a 20 footer allowing the Bulls to get the rebound with .9 seconds left. Why Randy Foye was the one who kept taking the last shots of the game (in both the first and second overtime) for the Wizards is beyond me. I don't think anyone at all on the entire planet can explain it. I guess that's why the Wizards are worse than the Bulls. Although, with .9 seconds left, that's enough time for a catch and shoot. Instead, Vinny draws up a ridiculous lob play to Derrick Rose, with an option to pass it in to Brad Miller for a shot. Brad Miller was covered, and Antawn Jamison clearly wasn't going to let the 6'3" Rose come in for the lob. Wouldn't it have been easier to just set a pick for Derrick at the key and have him curl left around the screen, thereby creating an angle for Hinrich to get it into him and just pop it as soon as he caught it? The answer is yes. A catch and shoot would have been a much better option with .9 seconds left than a lob to your 6'3" point guard. VDN strikes again.
By the way, quick shoutout to Jannero Pargo for making Earl Boykins look like Allen Iverson. Pargo simply has no idea how to play defense. Boykins came in and scored a quick 8 with Pargo guarding him. He also had a drive to the basket on a fast break with Brad Miller FAILING to jump and block his layup even though he got to the rim 3 seconds before Boykins. That was perhaps the most infuriating moment of the entire game. In fact, Miller was really hurting the Bulls the entire time he was out there. There was a stretch where he had two consecutive moving pick violations followed by that ridiculous Boykins play.
Also, Luol Deng showed you why he is not a star tonight. He had a terrific game last night. 25 points, and dominating Paul Pierce while he was at it. What did he do tonight? 17 points and only 5 rebounds in 46 minutes of play. He's simply inconsistent. A star player is not going to come out and give you 12 points in regulation. NOT EVER. Deng has to be more efficient than that. Star players become stars through consistency, and Deng has never been consistent and continues to have some good games and some blah. Not the sign of a superstar, but I suppose we already know he isn't one. Although he did have a key and-1 late in the game when Noah got pushed into him on a running layup. That was a huge play. But he had a tough time guarding Jamison tonight, albeit he guarded him better than anyone else on the Bulls could have, and a tough time overall. If you want to be considered a star, you have to play like a star every night. Just like Derrick Rose is starting to do.
Joakim Noah had another huge game, although he looked winded. He was matching up against a very big and very tough Brendan Haywood. Haywood can be a great player when he wants to be, and he's in a contract year, so he wants to be. Haywood had 16 points, 20 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Joakim put up some similar numbers with 17 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. The Wizards, specifically Jamison and Haywood, did an amazing job crashing the glass against the Bulls, who are the second best rebounding team in the league. Although, Haywood is 2nd in the league in offensive rebounds, so he's no slouch either. These two were dueling all night, and it was a fun matchup. Joakim was just terrific though, going 7-7 from the free throw line, with some key free throws at the end of regulation, while Haywood, on the other hand, might as well close his eyes when he shoots free throws. He bricked a go-ahead free throw at the end of the 1st OT that maybe could have sealed the deal.
And that brings me to Derrick. He took over. There's no other way to put it. He made the tying jumper in regulation right before he missed the game-winning one, and he also made a jumper right before that. He single-handedly put the Bulls on his back to guarantee they were at least going to overtime. And he wanted the ball in his hands the entire 2nd OT and got it in his hands right before he went and made the game winning jumper from 7 feet away. He ended the night with a career high in field goals attempts, going 16-33, and a career high in points with 37. He also had 9 rebounds and 6 assists...tremendous game. Though he had some turnovers due to some sloppy handle in a few key situations, he came through when it absolutely mattered (well maybe except for that last shot in regulation). It was a great finish to a great ball game thanks to Derrick's game-winner.
The Bulls, in a game that probably shouldn't have been as close as it was against a poor Wizards team, came out victorious. Then again, they were on a second leg of a back-to-back, played 2 OT's, had to be incredibly fatigued, but showed the crowd that they have heart and they wanted it more than the Wiz. So, they deserve all the credit in the world. The Wiz came out hungry and played absolutely huge on the road. But Derrick showed the UCcrowd the reason why he's worth the price of admission, and why he's the future of this franchise. Rose is an all-star. Noah is an all-star. Period.
Bulls are now 18-20, only 2 games under .500. They have now won 4 in a row...their second 4 game winning streak in a span of 11 games, winning 8 of their last 11. They go on the long road stretch with all the confidence in the world and their heads held high after two very emotional victories on back to back nights. This, my friends, is the high point in what has been a fairly tumultuous season.
