What a great second season

I could only be happier if it were my Bulls who knocked off the Heat.  Fuck LeBron and his self-anointed Kingship.  I am so glad that kids watching will not see that one can just walk into a championship.  They saw that hard work and perseverance get the job done; not behind-the-scenes free agent conspiracies.     It is even better that LeBron was so very embarrassed in this series.  DWade is a legitimate superstar.  If not for conspiring to pair with LeBron, he may well have another ring right now.  But he opted for the easy way too, and now pays the price. 

One thing that I almost forgot was the pounding and embarrassment that the Lakers suffered at the hands of Dallas.  That was great too.  No repeat threepeat for Mr. Kobe I-want-me-a-statue Bryant.  If the Lakers trade him, will it still make sense to erect a statue?

I don't have much time to blog now, so that's it.  I look forward to next season.

That's all folks

I feel validated a bit.  For one thing, I have been calling for Kurt Thomas to get some playing time.  He did tonight and he presented some defensive trouble for Miami and some offense for us.  But he played too much.  After sitting out so many games, he ran out of gas and Coach Thibs did not recognize it.

Another thing that I worried about for us in the post season is lack of experience.  I believe that most times, a team has to knock on the door a few times before the figure out how to get in to the Finals.  Lebron, DWade, and Haslem all had that experience while none of our guys did.  It should bode well for us next year.

DRose needs some offensive help.  Every 4th quarter since the second game, Lebron has been able to shut down Derrick and he has no one to dump it to.  The rest of the team seemed afraid to shoot in the last quarter.  We need to do a better job of moving without the ball to free people up for easy shots.

What happened to Joakim's scoring.  Before he went out this season with his injury, he was a decent shooter.  Since his return, his offense has been terrible.  Teams don't even have to cover him at 8 feet.  He needs to work on his shooting in the off-season. 

We did miss Asik tonight.  I'm sure he wanted to be in, but there's no toughing out a broken fibula. 

Ronnie Brewer performed admirably.  Korver again could not get open.  The refs were allowing a lot of contact, but somehow the Heat got to the line 12 more times than we did.  And I would not say that it was because the Heat were the more aggressive- rather the opposite seemed to be true.  But as far as conspiracy theories go though, I would expect the league to want another game or two before handing the Eastern Conference Championship to the Heat. 

So congrats to the Bulls and support staff on a job well done.  A little more offensive firepower and a little better coaching and we'll be fighting for a title soon.

Thanks for being with me this year.  It's nice to finally have more of the city paying attention to our Bulls.

 

Bulls win game one decisevely over the Heat

So, after that 21-point thrashing tonight, I'm sure you're all wondering, "What did Jason think about it?"  Well, I'm happy to share my thoughts. 


It seemed that it took about 2 minutes to realize how tight their defense was and ratchet up our precision to protect the ball.  It took about 24 minutes to wear them down.  It took another 9 minutes to put them away, and then 15 minutes of fun. 

Chris Bosh had a hell of a game.  It seemed that he had something to prove; and he proved it.  But his team did not win.  Perhaps LeBron and Dwayne would have found their rhythm if they had more touches and Bosh was not the only one scoring.  He even looked a little smug in the post-game interview.  As though he thought, "Yeah we lost, but no nobody's going to be blaming me," when in fact his stepping out may have hurt the Heat's established hierarchy.

Gotta love the Taj and Joakim.  It's nice to see Noah being more offensive-minded.  Before his injury this season, he thought of himself as a ball-handler and a scorer in addition to being a monster rebounder.  But after he returned, he was regarded (and played) like a less-dimensional player.  He has fun when he is scoring, and he plays better when he is involved on both ends of the court.  Taj had great deense the whole game and some of the best highlight-reel slams of the year.

Deng was solid, but I think we need to rest him a little more.  I don't want to wear him out.  I think he plays too many minutes.  Tonight he was given three minutes rest.

Rose had a great game, as usual.  It was, however, unusual to see him have some shots blocked.  I think he was surprised too.  Bogans was alright on the defensive end.  If his shots were sinking, this game would've blown open a lot earlier.  Brewer played great, and CJ Watson hit some key shots as well.  Korver may be too much of a defensive liability at this point.  I'm sorry, but his shooting has not been great lately.  33% today, and that the best he has shot in a while. 

We are seeing Asik develop into a very good player in a very short time.  It's fun to watch him play.  Boozer was very focused and effective.  Of course we give great props to Coach Thibs and the whole team concept.  

Can we talk about that no-call on the technical?  Can we?  We can?  Cool.
In the first quarter, the heat had 6 guys on the floor.  The refs blew the whistle and just asked them to return one player to the bench.  THAT IS A TECHNICAL FOUL!   WTF did they not call it?  I would not say that the officiating was lopsided; but that was strange.

So how much confidence should this blow-out give us?  I hope the answer is "not much".  We won because we were hungry.   They looked over-confident and we looked desperate.  We need to stay desperate.   Enjoy Oprah and lets kick some Heat butt on Wednesday.  Go Bulls! 
 

Damn it Celtics, and notes on Bulls-Hawks

The Boston-Miami matchup proved to be very disapointing.  I wanted Boston to tire out Miami- instead they have handed them all the confidence in the world.  That will make it tougher for us to beat them. 

Why the hell did they trade Kendrick Perkins?  I hope they now realize that mistake.  What did they get for him?  Nothing useful.  What did they lose?  A lot, both physically and emotionally.  You don't break up that sort of willing chemistry.  Shaq just looked sad out there.

So, Bulls-Hawks.  Who ever would have thought that Atlanta would be better without Kirk Heinrich?  But this is a phenomona I have observed in the playoffs.  Teams prepare for the starters.  Coaches tend to shorten their benches in the playoffs and I think that's a mistake.  Everyone knows what Derrick Rose can do and they construct their defense around his threat.  They pay no attention to Ronnie Brewer and CJ Watson.  When they come in, defenses don't know what to do.  This has happened with Atlanta's new point guard.  Hopefully after 5 games now, we have a handle on him.

And why are we not clogging the paint with Kurt Thomas?  I'd like to see all our centers in the rotation.  Boozer needs to step up (and not gesticulate when he finally makes a good play).  We need to move the ball more and not rely on Derrick so much.  I hope we win tonight.   Go Bulls!

WTF was that???

What was up with the officiating tonight in the Bulls vs Hawks?  Luol Deng tries to draw a foul at one end by getting his guy up in the air and then jumping into him while shooting and there is no call.  The EXACT SAME THING happens on the other end of the court 20 SECONDS LATER and they call it against Luol.  Derek Rose is fouled on a three point attempt and they call it a jump ball??  Now the Bulls did not look great. and I rarely complain about officiating, but tonight I think the ref's played a role in extending this series.  I will say it, because Tom Thibodeau cannot. 

Other notes:  we were getting beat up in the lane and should have utilized Kurt Thomas.  Kyle Korver cannot guard quick perimeter players and should not have been given that assignment (especially considering how cold he was in shooting.  Leave Bogans out there or put Ronnie Brewer in.  I liked what I saw out of Asik.  And what was up with us continually leaving their big guys unguarded right under the basket?  No wonder they shot such a high percentage.  Uncontested dunks tend to go in most of the time. 

Miami is looking good; as is Dallas.  We need to get it together team and play your best b-ball from here on out. 

Use the bench mob

I know it is conventional wisdom to use your starters more during the post-season.  But the Bull's bench is not your typical bench.  There have been many, many instances where the bench did not only protect a lead, they extended it.  Teams prepare to play your starters.  Indiana has done a great job of containing Rose.  They have not put in any time studying Brewer, or Watson, or Asik.  Put them in and you will befuddle Indiana's defense.  Plus you will wear out their starters so that when you re-insert Rose and Boozer and Noah, they will be fresh and faster. 

This is especially important tonight, as Rose has an injured ankle and we should really try to limit his minutes. 

You dance with who brung ya, and the bench helped bring the bulls to the #1 seed.  Let them dance.

Great 2 days

Short but oh so sweet...
We won yesterday- great effort, (but a lead is a dangerous thing for our team).  Today the Lakers, the Heat, and the Maverick's all lost.   This really helps solidify our chances of having home court advantage throughout the second season.   We just need San Antonio to drop one more. 

I hate to be a hater, but guess I am.  I hate the Lakers and the Heat. 

Go Bulls.

What does it take to use the scrubs?

Coach Thib's deserves a lot of credit.  I love the way he keep coaching even when we are up 20 points.  But tonight would have been a great opportunity to give some playing time to our players who never get any.  Namely, Scalabrine and Butler.  If you have any ideas of using them in the playoffs, they will need more experience.  When you have a 20-point 4th-quarter lead, that's when you can safely give them some minutes.  And, you don't need to keep Luol in the whole damn game.  He's great, yes.  But every minute he plays increases his chances of getting hurt.  You should have pulled him and let the deep bench build some confidence. 

And to the players on the floor in the last 6 minutes- just eat clock.  There is no reason to be jacking 3's with 18 seconds left on the clock.  When the game is in the bag, the mantra should be, "take 24 and get 2".  It's not classy to pad the score. 

But it was a great game to watch.  Congrats to Derrick and to Boozer for their fabulous play.  Only a few more to go and we'll wrap up home court. 

Bulls lose to 76ers

I have said before that a big halftime lead can be a dangerous thing.  But that was in reference to the overconfidence and complacency that can come with HAVING a big lead.  Last night, Philly had the big lead and we were never able to overcome it. 

It was nice to see Carols and Joakim driving the lane.  When the outside shots are not sinking, you have to go for higher-percentage shots.  The officials were pretty lax and let the 76ers be as aggressive as they wanted.  We did not respond in kind until halfway through the 2nd quarter.  Our defense got beeter, but did not stay consistent.  And our ball handling was sloppy.  Derrick Rose, arguably the best point guard in the league (if he's the most valuable player, how can he not be the most valuable guard?) turned the ball over 10 times!  Thankfully that is very uncharacteristic of him and should not become a habit.  But seriously, 10 turnovers? 
They had 14 points off of those turnovers, and that alone would have changed the game.  And we missed 12 free throws; shooting only 60%.   Again, that would have changed the game.  I complain that we didn't get to the line as much as was indicated, but we were not making them pay when the fouls were called anyway. 

It had to happen sometime.  Our home winning streak ends at 14 games.  Fortunately, Boston lost as well, so we are still 2 games in front.  It looks like Boston is going to continue to drop and Miami is going to continue to surge, so we need to start worrying about keeping in front of them.  Miami plays Cleveland tonight, so they're probably going to win that. 

Wednesday we face Minnesota.  We can't take anything for granted now down the stretch.  Boys, watch some tape and see how they are going to play you.  Be prepared.  I'll be watching you.

Bulls beat Milwaukee

I think the Jury is IN for Derrick Rose getting MVP, but if there was any doubt before tonight, it should all be erased now.

Milwaukee played like a team who's future was on the line.  We played like a team that has the #1 spot in our division locked up.  They definitely had a greater sense of urgency and focus.  We trailed the whole game.  But then D Rose got tired of losing and took over in the last 6 minutes.  I don't think anyone is reading these posts, but if Coach Thibs is, here are my notes.

We should get Joakim more involved offensively.  He is an all-star when he is playing on both ends of the floor.  He can be an above-the-rim scorer a la Tyson Chandler was with Chris Paul.  Since his return from injury, his scoring seems to be only as an afterthought to rebounding.  He's a great rebounder, but he also can handle the ball better than most big guys and that could take some pressure off the perimeter. 

Secondly, you should talk to Derrick about getting away from a double-team faster.  In the middle of the game it became obvious that they were going to double and deny him from getting into the lane.  As soon as the defense starts double-teaming him at the half court line, he needs to get it to the open man.  Of course, the man who's defender has left him needs to get themselves accessible to score.  I did not see enough movement from those who did not have the ball.  Yes, Derrick was able to take over in the 4th, but it should not have been that close a game to begin with, and if the ball was better distributed, D would have an easier time flaring up when he wanted to.

I was glad to see a lot of Ronnie Brewer tonight.   It seems like we have been using him less lately.  Bogans has gotten better over the season.  For a long time, I though we had Bogans start just so that Ronnie could give a spark when he came in.  Ronnie used to play more minutes. 

There seemed to be more Bulls fans there than Milwaukee fans.  That's good, because the majority can be happy with the outcome.  I thought we were going to lose this game, but that last quarter was very exciting to watch.

We got lucky

I don't know where our heads were last night, but our starters played pretty sloppy.  As Luol Dneg put it in his post-game interview, the Bulls were outplayed by Memphis.  The Grizzlies looks crisper, more focused, and like they wanted it more.    D Rose had a terrible shooting night, and Boozer's defense was severely lacking against Gasaul.  Luckily, we were able to pull it together in time. 

It can be very hard to keep your focus in this last stretch.  But home court advantage needs to be a priority for us.  We need to win every game and we will have a chance of home court against the Lakers in the Finals. 

Sole possession of 1st place

So we kicked @$$ last night.  A large halftime lead can be a dangerous thing (as we have seen in the past); but last night it was just dangerous for Atlanta.  It's hard to find much fault with a 33-point victory, but I can.

I know the guys get excited to pad their stats, but it is not classy to kick a team when they are down.  In the last 5 minutes, we should have let the clock run 20 seconds or so and then just take a shot because we had to.  Let the game end quickly.  There was no need to be shooting 3's with 15 seconds left on the clock when we were up by 40 and we were in the waning minutes of the game.

I do like the fact that Tom T let the starters rest.  We got a wake-up call when Boozer got hurt late in a rout.  Phil Jackson used to let MJ and Scottie rest when the game was in the bag.  Tom has not done that so much this season, but he did last night.

And how about a shout-out to Memphis for taking down Boston tonight?  And they did it in Boston no less.  I didn't see the game, just the highlights on NBA.com.  Now, I like Boston.  But I like the Bulls more and would like to see us have the easier road in the playoffs (plus, home court advantage has been huge for us this year).  I would like to see Boston beat Miami (my feelings about Miami will be saved for another rant), and us beat the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.  Then I'd love to stomp on Kobe and the perennial Lakers, but I'd much rather they get embarrassed and knocked out in the first or second round.  I'd like the Mav's to take out the Lakers, then have the Spurs win the West.  Then, Bulls win it all in 6. 

The problem with this fantasy is experience.  Often, teams have to knock at the door a few times before they figure out what it takes to win the championship.  Other than Coach Thib's, no one on our roster has ever even been to the finals.  That could hurt us. 

Derrick Rose for MVP

Well, I did not see the loss to Indiana, but it's pretty darn clutch for a guy to be down by 3 points, get fouled on a last-minute three point attempt, and then sink all three free throws.  Unfortunately, he fouled out in the overtime and we lost, but I think that shows great poise under pressure. 

First post

Hello to my fellow lovers of the NBA.   I hope that all of you are Bulls fans, but I know there will be some who gravitate to other teams and see our Bulls as a nemesis.  That's fine.  I'll post what I think, you can respond, and we'll all have a good time.

I have been meaning to start this blog for a long time.  I wanted to call it "angrybullsfan" for the past several years, because I had a lot of criticisms about how our team was playing and being coached.  For one thing, that blog title was taken.  But more importantly, I am no longer mad.  I still have some criticisms, which I will list here; but I am very excited about our team and our coach. 

Another thing you will learn quickly about me is that I DON'T LIKE KOBE.  He was disrespectful to Michael Jordan when MJ was talking to Phil Jackson about returning.  He said something like "Stay away old man.  This is a young man's game."  I found this to be rude.

I often see him try to take games over himself.  At cruch time, his attitude seems to be "there are 5 guys against me, and 4 guys in my way."  He likes the glory too much.  And then there was that whole rape thing.  His numbers will wind up ahead of Jordans just because he entered the league so young, and because MJ took some years off.  MJ remains the greatest player ever.

I also no longer like LeBron, Dwayne, and Bosh.  They as much as admitted that they cannot win with a normal team.  They need an all-star team to be able to compete with the Celtics or the Lakers.  Apparently their all-star team is not enough to beat our bulls though.  I write this in jest, because they have been on fire the past week, torching the Lakers and the Spurs.  If they get their act together, then may be a real threat in the East.  They do suffer from a lack of depth though. 


That's all for now.  Let's kick New Jersey's butt tonight!