| 09 March 2010
Okay...I've stopped staring at my new site long enough to actually focus on what's happening to the Bulls right now. I guess I've sort of been trying not to think about it. I mean if you think about it, it's fairly depressing. Just a month ago it looked the Bulls were walking on air after coming off of a 5 game road-winning streak against very tough Western Conference teams. The squad was really coming together. Derrick Rose was an All-Star, Luol Deng was playing consistent terrific ball, and Joakim Noah was becoming a force.
Distant memories.
The D-Rose spectacular move seen above is the only good thing to come out of this weekend. The Bulls are now on a 4 game losing streak, mostly due to injuries and a very tough stretch in the schedule. Joakim Noah...gone...likely for the regular season. Luol Deng just went 2-8 for 6 points and 3 rebounds in 37 minutes in the loss to Dallas. Derrick Rose is still playing dominant basketball, but it isn't enough without the other pieces helping him out. Deng's numbers against the Mavericks are petrifying. It's tough to say whether that bruised knee is still bothering him, because he played just fine in the previous game, but then he delivered the worst performance of his career on Saturday. And it was on a night where the Bulls needed his offense more than ever.
I'm going to tell you right now...I'm shocked that the Bulls kept the game close against Dallas on a night where the Mavs shot 56.3% from the field. That, my friends, is the definition of a clinic. And it's not as if the Bulls defense was horrible. On the contrary. The Bulls did the best that they could, sans a few lapses that allowed Rodrigue Beaubois to have the game of his career. But they honestly did everything they could against Dirk, Caron, and company. What's even more amazing about the Mavericks shooting performance was they had absolutely no inside presence whatsoever. Brendan Haywood, who can be a force in the post against a team like the Bulls, was having back issues and had to sit out. Pretty much everything they got they got from jumpshooting. And every player on the Mavericks shot above 50% or higher except for Jason Kidd, who just missed and went 2-6. In fact, Kidd had 11 rebounds and 15 assists, but only 6 poin
ts on a night where the Mavs scored 122 of them.
See, the Mavs were smart. On a night where they didn't have Haywood's strong defensive presence in the post, they decided to implement the 2-3 zone defense to keep the Bulls out of the paint. It did the trick, but had little effect on the Bulls ability to score. The Bulls had a tremendous shooting night themselves, shooting 52.2% from the field. I'd have to go back a ways and check, but I believe that was a season high. And you can thank Derrick Rose for that. Derrick went 15-22 from the field for 34 points. The Mavs wanted to keep Derrick out of the paint and force him to shoot jumpshots, which they did, but he was just draining them all night. But in the end, it was just too much Dirk, Beaubois, and Caron. Again, Derrick has to do a better job of staying in front of opposing guards. Rodrigue Beaubois was doing whatever he wanted and he ended up with a career high of 24 points. Defense is still Derrick's downfall, and it's unfortunately starting to effect the outcome of games.
But the real reason why the Bulls lost was because of Dirk Nowitzki. He just took over in the 4th quarter. What he did is the definition of "taking over." He was unstoppable. He went 6-8 from the field and 3-4 from the line in the 4th quarter, and he continues to dominate the league in the 4th. And when you're playing up on a guy with a hand in his face and he's draining shots in your eye...not much you can do. It was just too much Dirk.
And now the Bulls are back at .500 after being 4 games over, and sit in the 8-seed only half a game up on Charlotte. And to think, just days ago, they were a half game out of the 5-seed and the Bucks were the 9-seed. A week later, the Bucks are the 5-seed, 2 games up on the Bulls, and the Bulls are facing the very real prospect of being knocked out of playoff position and maybe missing the playoffs due to a roughed up roster at a time where they're facing nothing but terrific teams. There's no relief any time soon. The next 6 games are against Utah at home, then Orlando, Miami, Memphis, and Dallas on the road, and then Cleveland back home. Are you kidding me? Honestly...I'm struggling to find a winnable game in there and am honestly praying this doesn't turn into a 10 game losing streak. That would honestly be a shame if that happened to a team that was really starting to put it all together before injuries made it all come to a crashing halt. I'm hopeful that the Bulls catch a few breaks and when a couple of those games here and there, but I'm not expecting any miracles.
