Boy, that wasn't pretty

4/26/2014

It is of course better to be down 2 games to 1 than to be down 3-0, but yesterdays "victory" did little to boost the confidence of bulls fans or bulls players.  Once again, our offense struggled.  We fell in love with the three point line, or was it just that we were scared of the paint?  Nene and Gortat are good bigs, but it's not like this is the first time we have faced a team with a good center.  We used to run the offense through Noah at the elbow, now he only gets touches at the arc.  He needs to get the ball in better position where he can either find a cutter for a layup or take a jumper that is within his range.

Too many quick threes.  The three point shot will always be available.  You only take one early in the shot clock if you 1) are wide open and feeling it, and 2) have a rebounding edge.  If there are not more bulls than wizards under the bucket, move the ball around until you can get a higher-percentage shot.

I'm glad Nene got kicked out.  I hope he gets suspended.  What an idiotic thing to do.  You know how important you are to your team, and you were up at that point.  Why act all tough and thugish on a guy who is a full head shorter than you.  That was dangerous and over-the-line and he should sit out on Sunday.  I am anxiously checking nba.com to see if they levy a suspension.

I'm glad Thibs got the memo that we need scoring in the 4th quarter.  Congrats to Mike Dunleavy for a rock-solid performance, pouring in 35 points.  And I almost could not believe when I saw Carlos Boozer playing in the 4th quarter.  I thought it was in his contract that after the 36-minute mark, he was not allowed to be on the floor.  OK, it's not in the contract, but when is the last time we saw Boozer anywhere near the closing minutes.  I have not seen enough of Tony Snell to know if he is really ready for prime time, but Ronnie Brewer used to be pretty decent for us.  Why can't he get a minute or two?

Charles Barkley predicted a sweep.  I'm glad we proved him wrong.  But we need to play a lot better team ball (offense and defense) if we are going to advance to the second round.

Update:  The NBA announced Nene will be suspended for Sunday's game.  -YAY.