| 29 March 2010
Didn't I say we'd be a half game back of the Raptors by the end of the weekend? Okay, no, I didn't. I said we'd be a half game up on the Raptors by the end of the weekend. And we would have been had the Bulls not come out looking like my 5th grade Buffalo Grove Park District team. But after the Heat game, didn't I say we'd be .5 game back by the end of the weekend? Yes, I did. And we are.
The Bulls came out and took care of business on back to back nights. They beat the crappy Nets and Pistons. Meanwhile, Chris Bosh and the Raptors pulled a massive choke job in back to back games, losing to the Nuggets on a buzzerbeater and letting the game get away from them against the Heat last night in the last minute of regulation. As expected. So now the Bulls are Bulls win and a Raptors loss away from being the 8-seed. Unfortunately, tying them isn't going to cut it since the Raptors hold the tie-breaker between the two teams. That's okay. I think the Bulls will be able to separate themselves from the Raptors by a game by the end of the season.
Some notes from last night's game:
-Derrick Rose was dominant, going off for 21 points on 7-13 shooting and 9 assists.
-Taj Gibson had another solid game, going for 9 points and 10 rebounds. Just missed another double-double, but he leads all rookies in double-doubles by far.
-Flip Murray exploded off the bench going off for 23 points on 9-14 from the field. He went 3-5 from the three-point line, and really needed a game like this to get out of a bad shooting slump that was making John Salmons look like Kobe Bryant in comparison.
-Jannero Pargo only played for 12 minutes...the least out of any Bull who got into the game. Amazing how he goes from playing 40 minutes the night before to only 12 minutes the night after. James Johnson being available obviously had something to do with this...and maybe Vinny's just listening to my advice finally? No...because if he were, Acie Law would be playing those 12 minutes instead.
-Ben Gordon only played 13 minutes, going 1-5 from the field, for three points. And he air-balled a three. I don't really know what's gotten into Ben this season, but I have a feeling it has everything to do with the way the Pistons are trying to utilize him and get him involved in the offense. They clearly haven't figured out how to integrate Gordon into the offense. And their other big free-agent signing, Charlie Villanueva, played only 5 minutes and put up a donut. And no he's not hurt. You think Joe Dumars wants a do-over?
-And last but not least. Joakim Noah continues to provide a ton of energy as he earns more and more minutes each game. He played 17 minutes last night. He only had 6 points and 2 rebounds, but that's because Vinny was putting him in at random times and he couldn't really get into the flow of the offense. But he did have this nasty dunk posterizing Jason Maxiell.
How's that foot feeling, Jo? The Raptors play the Bobcats, winners of 3 in a row, tonight in Charlotte. I don't think the Raptors can pull off a victory tonight against the surging Bobcats in Charlotte. It doesn't seem realistic to me. Which means the Bulls and Raptors will be tied for 8th place in the East after tonight. However, the Bulls need to be a game ahead of the Raptors by season's end to make the playoffs. I have a feeling the Bulls-Raptors game on April 11th will decide who will be the 8th seed. I look forward to that night. Go Bulls.
