| 28 March 2010
Bulls went out there and took care of business tonight.
I'm especially happy about this because of how confident New Jersey was about the fact that they were going to compete and how happy they were to be playing the Bulls? Still happy?
I said last night's game would be a reality check for Brook Lopez and co. and it was. Congrats on winning a couple games against 2 of the crappiest teams in the NBA. Guess what, the Bulls are not the Pistons.
The story of the night was obviously Jannero Pargo. 10-19 for 27 points, and 5 assists. If you think his Derrick Rose-esque stat-line puts him back in my good graces, well then you're crazy. First of all, he was never in my good graces. Second of all, he's still one of the worst shooters in the NBA. Having a good shooting night against the New Jersey Nets with Courtney Lee guarding you shouldn't exactly make you feel vindicated. The fact that I see Pargo got 40 minutes of playing time still makes me nauseous regardless of the outcome. I honestly thought it was hilarious that he got the start over Flip Murray. Flip hasn't been lighting it up lately, but he's definitely much more effective than Jannero Pargo. And he's bigger. Can someone explain to me how Pargo earned this start? I mean usually when players earn starts when others are hurt, it's due to their improved play. Has anyone seen improved play from Pargo prior to this game? No. In fact, his play had actually been spiraling out of control. The bad thing about his performance is that he's definitely going to revert back to his old self starting tonight, but Vinny, in typical Vinny fashion, will feel like he has an excuse to play the man because of this one performance. I wonder how Acie Law feels about being passed over continuously, even in a blowout, for Jannero freakin' Pargo.
But beyond that, why even start a third guard at all? Is Hakim Warrick that much of a non-viable small forward where you have to start Kirk Hinrich at the 3? I truly don't get it.
But hey, it all worked out. The Bulls came out and played with a sense of urgency like I knew they would. And they didn't even have to rely on Derrick Rose. Derrick basically took the night off and played facilitator, scoring only 7 points but dishing out 9 assists, with 5 boards to boot.
And as I predicted, Taj Gibson absolutely abused Yi. I was looking forward to Taj bringing Yi back down to earth. 31 points against the Pistons? Yeah, nothing but a mirage. Taj finished with 22 points on 7-9 shooting, with 13 rebounds. Huge game for Taj. And Joakim Noah even played 13 minutes, going 3-4 from the field for 9 points and adding 5 boards. Those are very very good numbers for playing only 13 minutes. Joakim just knows how to get it done. I hope he plays at least 15 minutes tonight. With the help of Taj and Joakim, the Bulls dominated the Nets on the boards, outrebounding them 45 to 32. And that's actually kind of surprising with Brook Lopez banging down low. In fact, Brook Lopez was totally shut down. He finished with only 7 points on 2-11 from the field, and only 6 boards. That has to be his worst night in a while. And I love it. Plus, you gotta love those two nasty throw-downs from Joakim just stuffing it in Brook Lopez's eye.
And with Brook struggling, no one else on the Nets really stepped up. I told you they were awful. Even Devin Harris couldn't get it done. Harris only had 8 points, but he did add 9 assists. But the rest of the Nets didn't provide much contribution. Man, are they bad.
So the Bulls are now 1.5 back, and play the Pistons tonight. The Pistons just lost to the Nets, and will probably be coming out fairly determined to redeem themselves. This game should not be taken lightly. The Bulls are on the second leg of a back-to-back and are playing in Detroit. Plus, I'm sure Ben Gordon will want to at least attempt to light it up against his former team. He hasn't really been able to light anyone up all season, but if he's going to do it, it'll be tonight. But still, this team is as bad as it gets. They're old, washed up, and their new free agent signings are just struggling this season. And if you just lost to the Nets in convincing fashion, that's not a good sign. I just hope the Bulls don't come out too relaxed and instead come out with a similar urgency tonight as they did last night. Meanwhile, the Raptors face Miami tonight, who have been red hot the past 2 games, blowing out both the Bulls and Bucks. The Heat are at home, so hopefully they can keep it going against the Raptors. If the Raptors lose and the Bulls win, and both should happen, then the Bulls will be only .5 game back of the Raptors after tonight. Go Bulls.
