Question for Thibs Re: Raptors 3/24/12

What did John Lucas the III do to get on your shit list?  And what can we, as your fan base, do to help get him off?  It seems clear that JL3 has fallen out of favor with you lately.   Over the preceding three games, he has shot 6 of 13 from three point land.  He has provided instant offense consistently over the past several games.  Why then, did you leave CJ in for so much of the second half?  CJ is not as good a shooter as he thinks he is.  I see some times where he seems to decide that he's going to sway the tide and then he'll jack up a 3 with 18 seconds left on the clock.  You can get a rapid-fire 3 off anytime.  Use some clock and try to get an easy shot.   The best teams are not those that make the tough shots, they are those that make the easy shots.  You should try to make the other team take the difficult shots. 

CJ has not been as beneficial offensively as JL3.  Why did you keep him on the bench?   I think you may be trying to punish him to teach him some sort of lesson (I saw you chewed him out when you pulled him out last game), but you are punishing us in the process.  Thank G-d that we won.   But it never should have been so close.   Coach, please don't let your lesson to one player get in the way of the goal for the whole team. 

That All-Star Game Sucked!

Now, I understand that defense is never a focus in the NBA All-Star Game.  But this year was just painful to watch.  This was not a game but was rather an exhibition.  The players betrayed this truth in their pre-game interviews where several of them stated that the main point of tonight was "to put on a show for the fans".  Oh yeah, and we'd like to win.  I am used to seeing lack-luster defense, but this year it seemed like players were going out of their way to get out of the way of offensive players.  I's almost like David Stern said, "we want each team to score at least 150 points, so don't slow your opponent down."  The best players do not just focus on offense.  I would like to see the best players pay each other on both sides of the court, not just letting each other out-do themselves in scoring.

This game sucked.  I hope someone reads this and notifies the NBA.  Don't sell out the all star game.  Let them play on both ends of the court.  

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.