Blog a Bull

i have a serious question:

is being this torn up about a regular season loss a bad thing?

Some people thought it was when it happened

last year in Miami’s locker room.

i just feel like Rose could end up being a sympathetic figure

as opposed to a hero, in the basketball sense of course… especially if he never wins a title.

http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2012/01/30/ep-750-winners-losers-beards/#comments

like always, between evenly matched teams like the bulls and heat, its going to come down

in the playoffs to health and luck. nice game today.

TheMoon - January 29, 2012 reply

Derrick Rose choked three times tonight (each free throw and that last jumper/floater)

fortunately, that’s probably more than he has his entire career, so maybe he got it out of his system tonight

kpd - January 29, 2012 reply

congrats!

your comment was featured on “the basketball jones”

Gen - January 30, 2012 reply

I wouldnt even call that choking, more like fatigue! If anybody choked rip did, missed shots and turnovers by rip did the bulls in.

Rose2RipKaboom! - January 29, 2012 via Android app reply

kc

K.C Johnson @KCJHoop Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
The last four regular-season meetings between the #Bulls and Heat have been decided by a combined total of 12 points.

also 27 inside shots for derrick over the last 2 games (16 tonight!), so i feel pretty good about his health.

TheMoon - January 29, 2012 reply

Yeah, but he's also missing a lot more of those shots than he usually does.

The degree of difficulty was pretty high

What I found surprising is that when Rose penetrated, Miami help defended, but this did not open up offensive rebounding lanes and put backs for the bigs.

eh. 15/27 against elite defenses is pretty good considering the volume.

With or without Deng, would be the same result

LeBron guarding Rose means the offense just doesn’t work.

Not too bent out of shape about the loss, as the Bulls did sweep them last year. But we have to figure out a way to get good shots in those end-of-game situations.

nateroth - January 29, 2012 reply

dunno

Deng makes a much better job getting in the FT line than Brewer

and can hit the corner 3

The key for me though is Boozer needs to atleast match what Bosh is doing. Both teams played great D, Bosh hit the jumpshot, Boozer bricks it.

and Deng is just awesome.

cayal - January 30, 2012 reply

Deng’s offense is pretty much better in every than Brewer’s with the only exception being running the baseline. Also, Deng’s D is much better, and would alter the rotation lessening the load for Korver.

*in every way

It depends on who is in the game

sometimes the heat play wade at the point and battier at the 2 but if they keep chalmers in, Deng or Hamilton should be able to get a couple of easy baskets.

Slick Ric - January 29, 2012 reply

this is why we need another guy who can create his own damn shot

i dont care if theyre a ball stopper or w/e
no championship team has had only one guy who can get his own shot.
rip is good but creating his own shot isnt his game.

jamal wouldve been so nice

Disagee! It was like once lebron started guarding rose, the bulls bigs didnt set screens for rose to get around. Im not sure why, but im betting derrick gets pass lebron off a screen just like he did for most of the game.

Rose2RipKaboom! - January 29, 2012 via Android app reply

Bulls dont need another creator, they just need somebody to make miami pay when they trap on rose and rip, and the somebody is deng.

Rose2RipKaboom! - January 29, 2012 via Android app reply

no we had that last year. that shit dont work

miami’s defenders are too good at closing out on shooters. esp having such athletic wings.

Right they close out on shooters, but dengs a slasher!

Rose2RipKaboom! - January 29, 2012 via Android app reply

Not quite because with Deng and Hamilton we will have two players that can hit shots

Because of Keith Bogus (not a typo) the Heat could hide their point guard on him and thus allow Lebron James to shadow Derrick Rose. With Rip, the Heat wont have that luxury. The problem with today is that Ronnie Brewer was playing and Kyle Korver was crap. For all that Ronnie is good at, he is inconsistent on the offensive end(especially when it comes to shooting jumpers). We would still have a tough one on our hands, but that would happen anyways.

your friendly BullsBlogger - January 29, 2012 reply

"Hello JR Smith, this is Gar Forman calling"

D-Cas - January 29, 2012 reply

"how do you feel about league-minimum contracts?"

(seriously, Bulls used MLE on Rip)

Well, he's been tweeting about going to New York, and they can't offer real money either

What will they offer then? A bunch of IOU's and Spike Lee's enthusiasm?

BullsFan22 - January 30, 2012 reply

oh but wasnt it a risk free move?

Things I learned

Refs suck which was pathetically predictable, (Inadvertent whistle my ass, and did bron steal that tip?)
Lebitch is lebitch
Wade plays like a pussy now
Bosh is their 2nd best player
Rip had a nice start but then gone in the 2nd, Booz went the other way on that.
I would take Rose over Bron who was tired as fuck since Lucas sucked ass.
And finally…I rather listen to Neil Funk than JVG…
JVG is making me miss Mark Jackson

Van Gundy was killing me with his announcing

His tangent about the head snap was ultra annoying, and I think most ‘head snaps’ are the result of the offensive player trying to find the rim. You drive, and dip your head and shoulders to be smaller and more agile, then pop up to locate the rim and move into a shooting motion.

We agree.

At times, Van Gundy is basically chowder behind the microphone.

yeah the head snap has nothing to do with faking contact

Jaina - January 29, 2012 reply

Yeah he was angering me all game and finally I almost threw something at my screen when he said that Wade didn't deserve a tech

He had his head up the Heat’s you know what all game long. Someone should have put a muzzle on him. Funny how he went into his usual diatribe about the refs after Rose’s “flop” and didnt say anything after Wade did it numerous times.

I just loved he had the time to point all this out

While LeBron James is campaigning for calls on the fucking bench and Wade literally cannot go one possession without whining to the refs.

More good news.

Rip Hamilton said after the game that his re-aggravated his groin injury. We’ll see what happens tomorrow but he sounds iffy at best for Wiz

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

yea its literally just starting to piss me off now.

he should just rest until its completely healed

It doesn't quite work like that

I mean he could do that, but then his body would not be used to the rigors (well depending how long it takes) of NBA basketball and could be likely to just pull something else.

tuluse - January 29, 2012 reply

Not surprising at all really.

This could be a tough road trip.

bleigh82 - January 29, 2012 reply

this groin will be a problem all year, won't it?

can we just simply remove the groin? lol.

windycitywarrior - January 30, 2012 reply

Of course not

Then there’s nothing to “stimulate”

I liked what he adds to the team (except for on offense today).

He really messed up DWade. He just couldn’t hit a shot to save his life.

Cubfansince1957 - January 29, 2012 reply

I really don't care about Rip anymore

We got him basically just for the Heat anyway. Get him healthy. Rest him for as long as you need to. In the meantime I’d like to see a bit more of CJ at the two

was this really a surprise?

leave it… he tried to play in the big game and it almost worked… now we pay the price.

Most interesting game this year, so far.

Excellent starting line-up vs. Miami:

Rose PG
Rose SG
Rose SF
Rose PF
Rose C

Rose was everywhere, it seemed.

so boozer defenders where you at tonight?

tell us all how boozer taking 203843928508354328508325 jumpshots is a good thing again?

so dumb how people defend boozer after a good game acting like hes improved when in reality all he did was get hot and hit a few jumeprs.

fact is hes not going to keep up that rate 4 out of 7 games in a series against miami and he needs to be punishing them in the post and take bosh/anthony/haslem down there and just post their asses up

he just looks so scared everytime he touches the ball when hes facing a good team. it baffles me

He's fallen into the category of "and if Player X plays well, that's a bonus"

He’s timid. No other word for it. We take what we can get from him because that’s all we can hope for.

yup and the reason people shit all over him and praise taj when they play equally up and down

is because one is making a ridiculous salary and the other is on a rookie contract

pretty much. Plus, Taj makes the most out of his minutes. Even if he isn't producing, he is giving it everything he has.

Can’t say the same for Boozer, I don’t think

ok but the idea that Taj is better than Booz is very questionable

We got Booz because it was the best we could in that FA (after we failed getting the Big 3 and Amare signed in NY). There is nothing better to trade for and nothing better in the bench. Amnesty is not a possibility right now and even if it was would get us nowhere. So all this bitching is just pointless

Taj isn't better, and that's the scary part.

He’s the one who will be on the court in the ECF against Miami during crunch time.

But he is better not at shooting jumpers

Ut when he moves so much better, he is a better player, and im fine with playing a defensive PF at the end of games against, wade, lebron, bosh

Trey23 - January 30, 2012 reply

I don't think he's timid

he just has the speed of a caterpillar
did you see when he committed that charge into haslem? It took him like two seconds to travel, like, one foot

Prevenge - January 29, 2012 reply

no i really think its being timid and scared

he doesnt have his mind made up against good opponents. its like hes second guessing himself everytime he gets the ball.

when i see him playing crappy teams or small guys he just goes right at them and thats the aggressive guy we need to come out every night

he sure had a bad game. He really sucked

that said, he shot 50%
He wasn’t missing the shots he just was not taking them

yeah guess where the made shots all came from?

and where all the missed shots were?

people kept saying how as long as hes scoring it doesnt matter how he scores but it does matter because if he hits jumpshots hes going to just get encouraged to keep taking them but they arent going to keep falling at the rate he was hitting the last few games. especially not against a great defensive team like miami

we need more efficient offense from him aka being in the post. that was the whole purpose of signing him in the first place and he has yet to do that

I'll go ahead and defend Boozer in a way that's (to most fans) predictably annoying

considering the expectations they had for Boozer. He was went for 10 and 9, shooting fifty percent from the field with a few steals and a few assists. He didn’t have a great game. He wasn’t part of Rip’s 4 for 16, 5 TO performance. That is to say, he wasn’t the biggest problem today. And while that’s not a resounding endorsement of his play, my contention with the Boozer hate is been that it’s level has been unwarranted. Boozer is a decent player getting paid like a superstar.

Dogfishhead - January 29, 2012 reply

thats the problem though and thats where all the hate comes from

boozer is playing decent. but thats not what he was paid and brought here to do.
if he was on a MLE like rip no one would be bitching and moaning about his play. in fact more people might actually like him.

but when our BIG SIGNING of the summer of 2010 is going 10/9 in the biggest game of the year to date i think that warrants some anger

didnt he put up 14.4 ppg and 10 rbds vs the heat in the ECF?

tbh, Rose did alot worse than boozer in that series…

Dear Lord. Are you serious?

When Boozer is facing a triple team and being trapped by any team let alone the Heat let me know

Dils - January 29, 2012 reply

Yeah, the problem is the contract, not the player =)

Y’all can stop being thrifty / value-oriented / CHEAP with Jerry Reinsdorf’s money :)

Boozer made all 3 of his shots inside the paint and only 2/7 of his shots outside the game

If he makes one more of those jumpers, all of a sudden, he’s at a very efficient 12 points on 10 shots (with only 1 turnover). Boozer’s performance, while not exactly stellar, was pretty solid, given the number of minutes he played. Too bad he was limited by foul trouble.

Also

It’s really hard for him to get much going inside when Brewer’s out there for 42 minutes being a non-shooting threat, especially when our designated shooting threat, Rip, isn’t knocking down shots.

I definitely don't consider myself a member of Boozer hate club

But, I think my biggest problem with him is his lack of aggressiveness. If I remember correctly, a couple of the shots he made in the paint were late in the game, which is great. However, I would’ve liked to see him at least try to get some shots at the rim earlier, even if it resulted in him (at worst) getting blocked, drawing a charge, or (at best) getting to the line. At least he would’ve made Miami’s interior defense work a little.

I distinctly remember a play in which Rose delivered a great pass to him of a PnR roughly 3-4 feet from the basket and he simply passed out across the lane to Ronnie, who had to jump and catch it to prevent it from going out of bounds. That’s not exactly what you want to see out of your supposed second go-to guy.

This isn’t to say Rose played great down the stretch, but some added aggressiveness from Boozer could’ve made a significant difference.

bryield - January 29, 2012 reply

I agree with you

And there’s definitely room for improvement for Boozer, relative to his performance today. But the overall production he put up today wasn’t awful.

good point about brewer.

Right

You can’t judge him based solely on the Miami series. People aren’t gonna look good in these games due to the defense both teams’ play. He has to be a little better, but he was hardly the only reason we lost

His late steal in the open court totally took me by surprise

I think Boozer’s game would have been okay if he had hit both of those wide-fucking open jumpers he had in the first half. But, of course, he didn’t.

i have been a boozer defender...

and it struck me yesterday that boozy has serious ADHD. i think he gets too distracted when there is notable talent on the other team or something… maybe he is a little autistic? with the way he has to touch the ball on every single foul shot, no matter what team is shooting?

basically, boozer is our magic 8 ball…

i know rip was a good addition and all and i like him

but hes not the key to beating miami.
a shooter was never what we needed. korver is one of the deadliest shooters and we have that already.

what we needed was a guy who could create his own shot in isolation situations because miami just has to lock down rose (and they are the one team that actually has the ability to do that)

i think management really screwed this one up. jamal couldve been had at the same price as hamilton and wouldve been the piece we needed to beat the heat imo

I was on Jamal team too

but you get a similar problem that you do with Booz: he scores but he doesn’t defend

I was suprised with Hamilton passing skills

I’m not sure now if Jamal was the better idea

I agree. I made a fan shot proclaiming my love for CDR again because of just that. He's versitile, and he put up 30 on LBJ last year.

He’s improved his shooting in Italy as well. He’s shooting ~40% from 3 over there. He would be relatively cheap too. Plus, he would split time at SG/SF, giving Luol some time to rest…I don’t see how that wouldn’t be a great fit.

I'm a complete fucking homer, too....dont forget that part

I've always wanted CDR

it’s so annoying that we won’t just min ontract him and see what we get

Prevenge - January 29, 2012 reply

He played LBJ straight up last year, scoring 30 off him and limiting him to 40% shooting.

can you ask for anything else?!

where is he?

playing for CS Bologna in Serie A, the top league in Italy. He's their starting SF and they are in 1st in their league

Yeah, the Bulls really need a guy who's a worse version of John Salmons.

What better way to rectify inefficient late game offense with more inefficient scorers.

Well duh!

Hey, he’s at least kind of a slasher and stuff and can do stuff. … Maybe he can shoot threes now too, who knows

shooting 35% from 3 in europe right now, as well as 50.6% overall from the floor

Plus he played with DRose at Memphis.

memlarry - January 29, 2012 reply

Chris Douglas Roberts is the answer? Really?

nope. just a complete homer. he can't opt out anyway, but who could we afford?

he IS shooting 50.6% in Italy though =b

and put up 30 against LBJ in 1 game last year

I was on team jamal too

I really like him as a 2nd shot creator and can be a backup pg too.

But I’m fine with Rip, the only knock I have on him is him not being healthy. He struggled today but Heat totally ignored Brewer and not really afraid of Booz so they trapped him all game. He’s not 100% but played good D. If Deng was there to play D and space the floor, Rip could’ve played better

still not a fair sample... wait and see

I liked the effort....

….for the most part. I didn’t think we would win , but I wanted to see if we’d battle and we did. Had a chance to win in the end , and just blew it. Deng would’ve made a difference in the outcome. Boozer needs to give us SOMETHING in these games….fuck!

Boozer was bad but Rip had a worst game, imo

4-16 shooting and 5 TO is bad. At least Boozer grabbed 9 boards and didn’t turn it over more than once

not the greatest game for Rip either....

….. but I’m still glad he’s here and not Bogans

I wanted to see Jimmy get a minute or two guarding LBJ just to see if he'd be a viable option in the playoffs

If he could contest LBJ’s shots at the very least, I would be estatic

Jimmy couldn't guard granger

but he was getting a hand in his face. Plus, they were running Granger off screens. LBJ isos

LeBron would a fool of him like he did with JJ

cannot say that for certain until it happens

Jimmy is not good at defense

This suggestion makes no sense

tuluse - January 29, 2012 reply

seriously i really dont get thibs refusal to play jimmy at all

look at james johnson. hes getting some burn in toronto and is doing decent. you cant tell me there werent at least a handful of games last year where luol could have taken a breather to help develop jj

JJ is getting burn

BECAUSE TORONTO SUCKS!!!

the point has been made before...

there are others at his size that need the minutes… if anything, he is being protected…

I didnt think Boozer was THAT bad

He had a big steal at the end when we were down 4. Then on that play where we got all those offensive rebounds to put us down 2, he saved it, then ripped the ball out of haslems hands and finally got us the score.

The player that killed us was Rip. 0 points and 5 turnovers in the second half.

dp8292 - January 29, 2012 reply

he wasn't so much as "bad" as he was "nonexistent"

he did nothing at all

9 boards, 2 steals and 10 points is better than nonexistant

bad would be the word because he was not aggresive enough

I only remember him being in the game for that double team steal and putback, as well as dropping the ball on that "Im fixin' to call timeout" play

that shouldn’t be what fans remember

Boozer was not bad at all, it's just BaB once again gesticulating wildly after a loss to the Heat

wrong

8pts isnt why we got him

8 pts is not worth a max contract

neither is 8 pts with 9 boards and 2 steals

crackedcactus - January 30, 2012 reply

he doesn't have a max contract.

and he scored 10 points not 8

That was the only thing...

…he did all game though. He disappears in big games

except he made himself noticeable in the big moments

both good and bad. Really his worst play at the end there was the timeout fail, aside from that he was a huge reason we were getting a bunch of extra offensive boards, and he had two key buckets that kept us in the game. He demanded the ball on his crap missed jumper (pass by rip) but the demanding of the ball initself is a good sign. I wont say he played well, he didnt, but im not gonna single him out or throw him under the bus.

We all knew we were gonna lose this game from the start, the fact that we barely lost is actually something positive. The heat were at full power (regardless of what they believe about wade) the bulls were very much not.

piccolomair - January 29, 2012 reply

that's what I said in my first post...

….we battled and almost won a game we were supposed to lose. Noah played well , and the MVP played well , the rest….not so well

Going to rip 3 times in the last two minutes lost this game. Mayb thibs and rose are making a conscious effort to have him win games at the end. This is the second time, the bulls went away from rose at the end of two close games. Indiana being the first.

Rose2RipKaboom! - January 29, 2012 via Android app reply

Agreed.

Basketball Smurf - January 30, 2012 reply

great,Boozer wasn't "THAT bad"

they just put that on his jersey. Boozer needs to play better. He was a ghost for the first 3 1/2 quarters of this game, missing several shots he ususally makes. He picked up some fouls but his tendency to reach is going to always be called against Miami. He needs to be more disciplined defensively and more aggressive offensively.

also these last few games without deng

our defense hasnt been TERRIBLE so just imagine our lineup now only noah turns into dwight.

fuck we’d be awesome

Not sure what you're talking about there...

Our defense has been shit the last couple of games. 95 points to Indiana? 100 to Milwaukee? Both at home…

Granger had the most rebounds he’s had all year, because Ronnie couldn’t get a body on him. I’ll stick with Deng, thanks.

Not great defense but not bad either

Deng’s impact on d has been noticeable enough to put an end to all these deng for Dwight rumors

dsenchi - January 30, 2012 via mobile reply

Granger doesn't shot > 50% when facing Deng

They gave up 97 points to a team that averages 104 a game.

Wow, awful defense.

what?

i said it HASNT been terrible

sin - January 30, 2012 reply

i feel like our starting five doesnt create enough spacing either.

boozer is a jumpshooter.
deng is a jumpshooter.
rip is a jumpshooter.
noah just camps the lane.

no one is really a 3 point threat and we’re all basically clogging the lane and running around in circles trying to get open so rose doesnt have to pull some bullshit out of his ass to bail us out every possession

Deng is not just a jumpshooter...he slashes into the lane quite a bit

A decent amount of his offense is going to the hoop…but off of passes rather than dribbling.

All that being said the Bulls lack:
1) someone that can score in the post
2) a 3pt threat that can stay on the floor

Honestly, if you want to hope any of that changes without a trade, I think Noah would be the only hope. He’s young and athletic enough to still develop some sort of offense in the post. That’s still hugely unlikely…but I don’t see anyone else on the roster that can do it. Really, the org needs to think about making significant changes because the current set of players is dysfunctional on offense.

exactly, its a big difference with him and rip i nthe lineup

the only damn variable is health!

regardless slashing still clogs up the lane and paint and makes it easy for teams to defend us

theres no spacing. when you have a player like rose or lebron you need to have shooters to space the floor so they can create. theres a reason lebron was putting up monster numbers in cleveland and over the past few weeks when wade was out and being replaced by a random shooter

Ok, so let's trade for Melo, the great three point threat we need :D

Oh wait…

Score 1 for DRoseO1!

well no the only reason melo or jamal would be nice

is cause you can toss em the ball and say here go score.

and they dont need someone to help them do it

That's true

And less than 40% of the time they will put it in the hoop for you.

thats better than running around in circles and not being able to get open

wrigleyrocker12 - January 29, 2012 reply

Exactly. Melo isn't overrated

Look how much Denver misses Melo. They are 7-13 while New York is 14-6. Oh wait, nevermind

MrBungle - January 30, 2012 reply

Honestly, I'm not sure we would be freaking out over anything if Rose had hit those free throws and the Bulls had won this game.

This game, if nothing else, makes me think that the Bulls can no doubt beat the Heat in the ECF this year.

i have doubts...

… as long as the Bulls continue to seem so unidimensional, at “full strength” or otherwise …

Cubfansince1957 - January 29, 2012 reply

On that jump ball after the "inadvertent" whistle ...

Didn’t it seem that the ref threw it up on LeBitch’s side? It looked like Taj would have needed the wingspan of a 747 to reach that. It just seemed like the ball went up on the Heat side of the court and wasn’t even close to the center line.

it's exactly what happened.

obnoxious american - January 29, 2012 reply

The final six minutes of the game

When the Bulls tied the game at 84 with more than six minutes remaining, they shot just 4 of 14 the rest of the game, with D-Rose shooting 1 for 6, and 1 for 3 on free throws.

In that same span, the Heat shot just 2 of 8, but were 9 of 14 from the free throw line.

Regular season results mean very little, as we found out last season with the Bulls beating Miami 3-0 in the regular season, only to lose 4-1 in the playoffs.

Mike from Illinois - January 29, 2012 reply

thats also when LBdouche started guarding Rose.

rose looked like he had been crying

Somehow I feel like Mj went through this same kind of thing vs Detroit.

Someday….

anorexorcist - January 29, 2012 via mobile reply

yeah, it looked like he choked up

poor kid…

The problem with Lebron when he guard Rose

Is that he is Too Big, Too Strong, Too Fast, Too Good for Rose to consistently get past.

D-Cas - January 29, 2012 reply

this is why we need players who can at least space the floor

rip and deng together would make the heat pay for putting lebron on rose. Deng will have the mismatch and rose will have the chance to kick it out to our MIP.

The minutes also helped

Not only did James have less (including a break in the 4th quarter), but the quality of minutes, as Rose had to do everything for most of the game whereas James had Bosh helping him out

Don't Overreact

No reason to freak out about this game.
1. The Miami run with JL3 in killed us. CJ comes in and plays competent then, maybe we win.
2. Boozer went 5-10 and actually had a couple nice defensive plays. Is he playing like a max player? No. But he is a valid contributor to this team and our only option at this time.
3. The last couple games Noah is starting to turn into a BEAST.
4. We were missing our 2nd BEST player!

The playoffs are going to be nuts, but Chicago has improved more (mostly internally) than Miami.

RoooR - January 29, 2012 reply

agreed on all points.

southside3r - January 30, 2012 reply

Rose in clutch

Isn’t this a real concern now? NCAA championship game, Clippers game last year, ECF Game 4, today. I know this sounds like i’m overreacting, but i’m just concerned b/c Rose missing these FTs is real. If he does indeed have any sort of stage-fright, he needs to man up and admit it, and have someone give him a calming talk or something. I mean, I hope I’m overreacting, but it would’ve been easy to chalk up Rose missing some of these FTs in the past as his not being a knock-down FT shooter. But by all accounts, he has become a knock-down FT shooter, yet he has missed in some really critical moments. Also, the last sequence, he seemed really flustered and had a narrow tunnel vision towards the basket when he had open RIP on the side. He clearly was not in control of what he was doing, which concerns me more than the fact that he missed those shots.

yep

Belize - January 29, 2012 via mobile reply

the kid played 44 mins...44!!!

he had to carry the team on his back! he was tired and u can tell his mechanics were off when he was shooting those fts.

we're fucked

jesus christos - January 29, 2012 reply

Derrick Rose is no more and no less "clutch" than the next NBA player

What he is is really, really fucking good, which is why he’s had more than his share of absolutely amazing 4th-quarter performances so far in his young career. However, he’s not perfect, and he’s not gonna take over the game in the 4th quarter every single time.

He's more clutch than lebron

fucking knew he’ll miss both

Let's not start this crap...

Wikipedia lists him with 3 game-winning shots in the NBA and that didn’t include the game-tying shot against the Rockets. So clearly he can perform under pressure.

The final shot today actually wasn’t a bad shot and I rather have him take it than 4-16 Rip (or whatever his percentage was). When the heat player flopped Rose was spun around and looked for someone but then instinctively took the shot he had. I’m fine with that…it was in the lane and if he wasn’t dead tired he might have hit.

Also, when he released that shot, there were 3 seconds left on the game clock

If he passes there, there’s a huge risk of the shot-clock expiring.

he was 29/29 in the clutch before those this year

no im not worried and this may be the stupidest thing ive ever read.

dp8292 - January 29, 2012 reply

i'll gladly eat crow

if it is, in fact, the stupidest thing you’ve ever read, and Rose delivers against the Heat later in the playoffs. but exactly what about the post is stupid? did he not miss those FTs i listed? yes, i am definitely cherry-picking, but it is undeniable that he has failed to deliver in those ultimate clutch situations against the Heat more than he has delivered. i’m also not calling for his head or anything of that kind, but just seeing if there’s something that needs to be done. again, i hope i’m wrong, but so far he definitely has shown some last second jitters.

So you believe he has an issue hitting clutch FTs but

Can hit all the other game winners/game tying shots he has over the years? Like this, this, or these (which were FT’s btw).

Appreciate your resourcefulness

and I just admitted below that I shouldn’t have implied that Rose is bad in clutch, cuz he’s clearly not. I’m just cherry-picking some of the more pressure-packed situations, esp against the Heat, and since beating the Heat is so much of our focus, saying that IF there is anything to be done for improvements, let’s dig into it. Again, for the nth time, I hope I’m wrong, and this is just an example of random sample.

Could be something with the Heat

Jordan had trouble with the Pistons for a while. Rose needs help and so far, he hasn’t gotten any.

Yes, the help is definitely lacking

I can’t wait to see another Bulls-Heat when Rose has both healthy RIP and Deng available.

A lot of it is just percentages. No one is perfect. MJ wasn't. Kobe isn't. Hell, LBJ missed them tonight as well!

You are REALLY cherry picking, after all the clutch shots he’s made in the past. He’s fearless. I trust him, and 99% of Bulls’ fans do as well. I guess you arent one of those

Yes, I am cherry-picking

but please refer to my comment right above. And I would say it is true, at least so far, that Rose has struggled against the Heat in clutch situations (yes, yes, I do clearly remember him beating the Heat by passing to wide-open Deng in a reg season game last year, but that was w/o LeBron).

So first its trouble in the clutch, now it's trouble in the clutch against the Heat

I’m not buying that you meant just against the Heat in your earlier post, but whatever.

I assume you just mean against the Heat the last year and then this game. So, he’s had two instances of missing FTs against the Heat late in 9 games (I’ll throw out the Lebronless game like you did). Oh well.

I don’t understand why, but it seems like people just love to call someone a choker. I don’t get the thrill, but it happens all the time and mostly from people who never have or will experience situations like the ones that cause them call-out some athlete for not being clutch.

If you want to be concerned, worry about the lack of help Rose still has on offense. That should be your main concern.

It's fine if you want to criticize my posts

but read my posts closely first, then criticize them. I may have meant that I am concerned about him in some clutch situations, but that’s far different from calling him a choker, which I would never do. Also, there’s also a difference between having a concern and hoping that he improves in certain areas and calling him out and criticizing him. So save your quick-glance bitching for somewhere else.

I think I read your post pretty thoroughly

“Rose in the clutch: Isn’t this a real concern now? NCAA championship game, Clippers game last year, ECF Game 4, today.”

You say there should be concern about Rose performing in clutch situations and list a bunch of clutch situations (not limited to the Heat). That doesn’t sound like it’s just “some clutch situations” and if there’s a difference between what you wrote and using the word “choke” I’ll admit that you were politer.

It doesn’t matter — I’ve posted stuff I think is far more inflammatory and wrong than what you wrote . But people (especially the media) love a good story about choking and lots of fans eat that stuff up and for some reason it really annoys me.

In any case the horse is dead and I’ll let you have the last word if you want it.

actually, that was with Lebron playing.

Bron was on Rose, Wade left Lu in the corner to help on D.

Lebron missed the game where Korver hit the three to win on the scramble.

After so many clutch shots? MJ didn't make it happen EVERY time!

What clutch really is…it’s just effort, focus, a lack of fear. After that, it’s just percentages and luck

agreed

clutch does not exist. it only an ability to play at your best more time than other players.

Oh fuck this noise

This was the only sensible response

tuluse - January 30, 2012 reply

If Rose is on the floor or in the flow of the game, he is excellent in the clutch, and I’ll trust him all day long. At the free throw line, I get nervous.

Settle down dude

Rose is fine. You just can't put yourself in that position as often as the Bulls do

Bulls couldn’t get the lead all game long. Rip has to be more efficient, Booz more aggresive and we need Deng healthy.
And I’d rather see Rose keep working on his 3pt shooting to close that game earlier than on his FT – which is already very very good. A more deadly 3pt shooting will help more up ahead, imao

the FTs don't bother me. its the law of averages. he had to miss at some point

more concerning to me is how the Bulls look in last-minute situations against the Heat. its never proper execution. i always feel like the play always gets disrupted somehow and ends up looking like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. as the PG and the one who sets/ controls the tempo, i put it on Rose to make sure the play gets executed properly, even if it ends up being a miss, as long as its a clean look. i don’t know if its nerves or simply that the Heat’s defense in those situations is extremely disruptive, but this is my main concern, not the FTs. if he had missed two earlier in the game but made those at the end, we’d be singing a different tune.

Yup, Rose can't hit FT's with the game on the line in pressure situations

OH WAIT…
How quickly we forget.

Anyone who is saying this is a problem, STFU! His FT shooting and fourth quarter FT shooting have improved immensely. You know what the problem is with hitting FTs at the end of games when you are the star? You just played 40+ minutes! Perfect on fourth quarter FTs through today. This is all just ridiculous. How quickly we all forget the great moments and remember the most recent failure.

im telling you man, its called fan retrograde amnesia

just like people shitting on lebron quickly forget how he destroyed a pistons team by scoring 25 poitns ina row on his own in the 4th and OT

and has hit numerous game winners in his career

Oh I agree

I just like shitting on LeBron because I hate him. Both him and Rose are fantastic players and have come through big over and over.

we make fun of him for shits and giggles

we all know lebron is a great player.

Ok, I'm definitely wrong to question Rose as a clutch player

but I guess my focus is on playing against the Heat, and other ultimate pressure situations. As I said above, I’m not complaining about Rose, but just saying that perhaps he might be a bit better and calmer. I know one game is not tell all, but he was definitely not under control in the last few sequences of the game.

http://www.82games.com/1011/CSORT11.HTM

let's use statistics to back up our points

from 82games.com, Rose’s stat line in clutch (4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points) situations: 89% on free throws last year

TheHungarianJordan - January 29, 2012 reply

i think its funny how when rose misses FT to win a game

everyones defending him but when its lebron its choke in his dna

LeBron made it to the finals and sucked

he doesn’t accept the blame he just acts like he did his job. Rose knows when he screws up and works towards correcting it.

James acts like an arrogant prick on the court and was crowned “King James” some people argue he’s the greatest player of all time, it’s a different standard then rose who is still a baby in the nba.

rose hasnt even made it to the finals

making it to the finals twice is more of an accomplishment already in itself. hes also a two time mvp

since those 25pts against the pistons in 07

lebron has had 5 seasons of not getting it done in the playoffs.

rose has only been in the league for 4 seasons

pb&j - January 30, 2012 reply

Why do lbj fans keep bringing up that game against Detroit

Great game he had but it was a long time ago

ECF's

against the Bulls then. And I’m a Lebron hater. But let’s not act like he’s played terribly EVERY 4th qtr (in the playoffs) since then. That’s ridiculous and stupid.

chicity773 - January 30, 2012 reply

Everyone know its not every 4th quarter

Its just aside from that and that fluke GW (yeah a fluke) he had against orlando. 80-85% of the time he’s very passive in the 4th to the point that he looks scared or doesn’t want to take the shot and doesn’t attack nearly as much when he obviously gets the superstar stuff..

Why are you even defending Lebron?

I’ve seen you post on this site many times, sin. And almost every single time, it’s this negative bullshit. Are you even a Bulls fan? Cause it doesn’t seem like it. The Bulls lost by four points in a game that came down to the wire, and that was without Deng or Watson. Stop being a dick, you miserable piece of shit.

xshwanger - January 29, 2012 reply

He's a bulls fan with a weird Melo/Crawford fetish?

its just ridiculous seeing people shitting on the best player in the league and acting like hes not better than your average player

and then acting like rose can do no wrong.

rose choked. plain and simple

we all know LeBron is just about as good as it gets as a basketball player

but you don’t have to be a dick to Rose he played a phenomenal game and you criticizing him is uncalled for

I almost can't believe this

but then again…..it’s sin.

i think criticizing rip or booz is alot more warranted than criticizing rose

criticizing booz is like taking candy from a baby after this game

Rip was injured and played good D so i give him a pass

u jus proved my point

this team was banged up and lacked the full power that heat were in. Makes a big difference having a broken down rip and not having deng and watson

yeah

i like our chances full strength against the heat in a playoff series.

It's ok to point out the reason

Lebron hasn’t won anything and to conclude that he shrinks when the pressure is on. If James had 10% of what Rose had, he’d have 2 rings already. Yes Lebron is the more talented player but that doesn’t mean he’s more clutch or more of a winner.

Dils - January 29, 2012 reply

Lebron been the leauge comming up on 9 years

Aside from the detroit game which is a long time ago. He’s proven that he is a shrinker in the 4th…Maybe he played like he did in the 3rd because THAT’S his 4th quarter

It's almost like people here have an irrational appreciation for their team's best player.

Crazy

Yeah, some people conviently forget that 1999-2003 happened and cant appreciate that we are in an envious situation

ITS NOT JUST HOW THEY DO, ITS ALSO HOW THEY ACT !

HOW THE HELL ARE YOU NOT GETTING THIS ! If and when Derrick Rose pulls the stunts that LBJ does, that will be the day that I and people on this blog will stop defending him. Until then, they have the same amount of championship rings. Who gives a shit if you’ve been to the Finals if you cant get a ring. Plus, Im pretty sure that Derrick Rose would score more than 7 points in a game.

deep breaths

a yfbb commenter execution should be coming up soon.

anorexorcist - January 29, 2012 reply

Lebron scored les than 10 (I think 6) damn points in the 4th quarters of the finals

While playing on a stacked team….

Lebron isn't a choker either

This is stupid…

Sometimes I even wonder whether you are a Bulls fan

lol, i think he is but just has his own ideas on how to build a successful team

and has his weird fetishes (e.g. melo, crawford).

He's just a bigger fan of inefficient iso scorers.

kingles - January 30, 2012 reply

any update on rips injury

The problem is decidedly NOT Rose in clutch situations...

the problem is precisely the same that it was in the finals against Miami last year: Thibs is a limited offensive coach, and he over-relies on Rose in clutch situations.

Against a very good defensive team like Miami, Thibs has to be more creative and develop (or use) designed plays in which others take the final shot. If he fails to do that, and continues to cross his fingers and hope that Rose can score against LeBron and another defender with time running out, the Bulls will have no chance to beat the Heat.

Think about Jordan’s Bulls – how many times did he hit Paxson, Kerr, etc. for game winners under pressure? Even His Airness couldn’t have carried the team to Championships if the offense was all about him in the closing seconds.

Yes, I understand that the Bulls have offensive limitations (e.g. neither Brewer nor Noah can be counted on to hit even mid-range jumpers), but as long as the Heat are able to confidently key on Rose during late-game plays, they will enjoy an insurmountable advantage.

Paul Warfield - January 29, 2012 reply

I partially disagree

While I sometimes wish the Bulls sets could be more creative, Boozer missed Hamilton backdoor on that last play. It was almost identical to the Luol Deng game winner (that was a Thibs play btw), except Boozer missed the pass.

i screamed at my tv

“RIP IS GOING BASELINE BOOZE!!” but he didn’t listen to me…

LOL

I screamed too! I kept screaming “backdoor, backdoor!”

haha ah man

it was tough

my jaw dropped

and when he looked right at him and didn’t pass I was just like ‘smh’

your friendly BullsBlogger - January 30, 2012 reply

the way Rip was going, he would've blown the layup

I agree about that specific play...

but Thibs has shown a tendency to ride Rose like Bum Phillips rode Earl Campbell, and especially late in games. Other players are going to have to be utilized in those situations, otherwise good defensive teams will simply key on Rose and enjoy a distinct edge.

Rose is amazing, but again, even Phil Jackson and Jordan recognized the danger of over-reliance at the end of games.

Paul Warfield - January 29, 2012 reply

Well, there was the Deng game-winner against Hawks this season...

I don’t know if that’s what was drawn up or not though…

i was at that game

it was def to draw the double team towards rose and it left deng open for the easy basket

your friendly BullsBlogger - January 30, 2012 reply

I felt it was going to happen because Jo fouled out

I literally said “Who’s going to make the decision on the option without Joakim?” and then when Rip cut I was just there like “noooooo”

dantheman3k - January 30, 2012 reply

bad mistake by the Bulls first not realizing they had to foul, then Noah taking it with 5 already

maybe they all didn’t conceive Rose missing that 2nd one.

This

I think that tibs is a great coach and could do much worse than him. But plays like the one against atl are few and far in between

dsenchi - January 30, 2012 via mobile reply

Jordan is a bad example.

It was very much the exception to the rule when he passed the ball in the closing seconds. He did it in a few playoff games, but he didn’t do it in countless others.

FYI

A nice Jordan montage. Plenty of big shots. Plenty of big misses.

At the risk of being ripped apart again

is there something wrong with Rose’s jumpers? Those floaters are nifty and all, but I feel like he didn’t make a single regular jumper. That last shot should have been a squared up jumper, but he just floated it up as if he had no confidence in his jumpers. Again, not complaining about Rose’s performance today, cuz he was totally awesome, but I feel like he needs to get his mid-range jumper back cuz those seem to be available to him all game every game. And he used to have a good one.

I noticed that too

But his jumpers have been money the couple of games before that. Particularly against the Bucks he was killing it with the step back, which might be my favorite shot in his repertoire. He only ever seems to go to it when he’s icing teams though.

There were three or four times when he used the giant killer instead of squaring up for no discernible reason, maybe bad memories of the last shot he took in game 5?

Ok, I didn't see the Bucks game

but it’s good to know that the jumper deficiency was just today’s thing. But I hope it’s not “pressure game” thing.

actually, i see a lot of occasions where he should put up a traditional jumper as opposed to the push shot.

you have more control of a two-handed jumper than that push shot. i see many instances where he has room and time to go up for an actual jumpshot. its one of my few gripes with rose sometimes.

i don't know if you've ever played basketball (not a diss btw)

but i used to play a point forward role and i used a lot of runners and floaters, and when you’re gassed it’s just an easier shot to get up. Getting good clean form on a jumpshot when you’re tired is really tough. Especially since Rose uses a lot of leg on his jumpers.

yeah, and also a lazier shot, IMO

I played my share of organized ball

Never sniffed varsity, but I was a rotation player on my high school JV squad. I know what you’re talking about, but I was talking about not just the last shot, but all game long. But tuff-gong above noted that Rose had his jumpers going against the Bucks, so I guess I incorrectly cherry-picked this game.

Reply fail

oh i see

yeah more of a streaky shooter than a pure shooter, so i guess the bad start didn’t help his confidence in the jumper.

i also thought he should of squared up and shot a free throw jumper for that last shot but oh well.

Anybody else think Wade is past his prime?

I mean, he shot 4-16, and let’s be honest, he tries to get fouled before he attempts nearly every shot. I say he only has 2-3 good years left in him after this year.

abock15 - January 29, 2012 reply

rip jus guarded him well..

Wade HATES playing against him imo

He can’t keep up with Rip in the half court imo after the 1st quarter. Can’t post him up because of his height. Rip wont make it easy for him

yeah it's gotta be Wades worst nightmare

a savy vet who’s taller, extremely well conditioned, and skilled on both ends of the floor.

I've been saying he's past his prime

for the last year or so… he just doesn’t look the same. Winning that championship damaged his body a lot, it was probably worth it anyways. Still though he just looks broken compared to 2006 Wade.

6 years will do that to an athlete.

he always saves enough energy

for at least one 4th quarter burst to make a big play though. It’s annoying…

Yeah, he did seem to be playing with an edge after the double tech

Kind of feel like it wouldn’t have been so close if they’d gone to him more after that.

Didn't someone say

That Noah called him a pussy?

Hah

I hope so

Well over the years

Wade has turned into one. Playing for contact flopping and flailing. Im glad he’s not here, Rip’s injuries are nagging but not as serious when Wade fucks up his ankle again…

Yeah it's really a shame.

He’s gone from one of my favorite players to watch to one of my least favorites over the course of like two seasons. Especially during the finals last year, really started to hate him.

yeah he did lol

I read his lips. He said "You fucking pussy" before he was T'ed up.

Jo is back

I know, ain't it great?

Helps the trade offers...

yup, hopefully, if howard somehow wisens up and says "i wana team w/ rose and kick miami ass"

maybe giving up noah as the main centerpiece is enough.

I think Orlando would wanna move him to the Western conference

exactly who can beat our offer

only team i can think off are the nuggets and thunder.

and keep in mind howard is a FA next yr

if time is running out and bulls offer is the best one and howard only agrees to our team, magic are def going to have to give up howard to the bulls no matter what.

Guess it’s up to God now…

He's a fucking tool

he's one of the smartest players i've ever seen.

seems to usually make the smartest, most efficient play. not annoying, instead, great to watch.

I'm starting to hate Wade

more than LeBron. Beyond his world-class whining, he also seems to just kinda lurk around and take cheap shots here and there. Speaking of cheap, the Heat really has become a group of European soccer players – Wade’s whining/crying, Chalmers’ cheap shots and flopping, Battier’s flopping…NBA needs to institute a rule similar to soccer where obvious flopping gets called for technical.

Yeah

I hate battier too now

Yeah, and that offensive foul that Haslem drew was the biggest load of garbage I have ever seen.

Couple that with when Lebron ran full speed into Noah’s back and Noah got called with blocking, there were quite a few crap calls.

THEKILLERWHALE - January 30, 2012 reply

you nailed it with both of those.

haslem’s was a textbook block. it wasn’t even close. and jo never saw lefuck coming. what a goddamned joke. the refs should be forced to seppuku themselves live on espn.

i agree about Haslem

i never like using the refs as an excuse for losing the game, but he clearly stuck his leg out to block Boozer’s path.

He hasn't played at a superstar level this year.

How much of that is due to a slow start plus injuries, and how much of that is due to age and a general decline in physical ability is hard to say. But James has been making up for it with better play than last year.

maybe but he would still be the second best player in our team

I kinda get the feeling

That Miami still thinks after the alley oop shit they think we’ll give up…Like we’re intimidated… They dont seem all that happy after the win, with all the BS that went their way and us not being 100% and being 2 FTs to victory and knowing that we can shutdown Wade. I feel confident

Had not seen many Bulls games...

this year but have seen a lot of discussion about Boozer and how he may have lost some lift and is not posting up as much or going strong to the rim and settling for jumpers more often than not.

I remember him posting and driving to the rim mixed in with that jumper last year, but I did not see much of that today. Maybe he has hit the old man wall, but I think he can still be effective with that and just needs to be motivated to mix it up to keep the Bulls offense balanced because he is still the best option the Bulls have ATM.

Bosh is the same way for the Heat, it is not his game but when he is aggressive with posting up some and driving to the rim, the Heat are much more balanced and he is the best big man option also.

mjtig - January 29, 2012 via mobile reply

bosh is way better than boozer

always liked bosh (but still laughed at all the bosh jokes) i always felt sorry that he was thrown under the bus just because hes not as good as wade or lebron.

yup, i was actually hoping we would at least get bosh in the 2010 FA

hes a damn good player and if rose had him instead of booz, we would have been facing the mavs last yr.

when someone guards him with a lot of pressure and is very physical, Bosh can get bullied sometimes, start turning to that jumper..

and stop being aggressive. Last year that happened at times, but at times he stood up when that happened (the time when Gibson taunted him as one example). This year, he has been much more consistent with being aggressive (posting up, driving to the rim) mixed in with that jumper and has been better on defense for the most part. He is not a tough guy, but he can be effective inside and really needs to to be for the Heat to be successful —hope he continues to do so.

mjtig - January 30, 2012 reply

well yea

hes not near the same level of talent as wade or lebron. Hes also had to sacrifice the most for the sake of the big 3 in terms of playing style, he has a history of back injuries and theres this huge demand for him to just throw his body into the fray and ‘help’ wade and lebron.
’

Both in the ECF and today I feel Bosh is the one that truly kills the Bulls

Wade has played poorly against the Bulls thusfar. We can make James work for his points. But when Bosh receives that ball with 2 seconds on the shot clock 18 ft from the hoop it ALWAYS goes in and kills an otherwise great defensive possession.

Unfortunately, I don’t see how we stop the Bosh pick n roll. Noah has to help on Wade/James, and Boozer is too slow, short, and unable to jump to contest.

As fun as making fun of Chris Bosh is (and it is so much fun)

If we had him instead of Boozer, I’m pretty sure the Bulls are on their way to a 2nd championship this year.

tuluse - January 30, 2012 reply

yesyesyes.

Ya, don't think it's even close either

He finishes better inside, gets to the line more, and can defend pretty well. Heck, he can actually get his own points if he needs to. Such a shame he’ll never win one in Miami :D

At least we learned that nobody tilts their head backwards to trick referees to call fouls better than Derrick

Worst NBA Broadcast Ever

And some said Funk was the worst ever

No JVG proved him wrong, not even Funk would say some of the shit he was saying…

They're all crap

Gimme Tirico and Hubbie all day

"What you do....."

And hubie talks for 2 minutes

Yup.. and the thing is, everything he's says happens on the court right after he says 'em

I think Hubie is awesome

It sounds corny but his love for the game is evident. And he knows what he’s taking about. Van Gundy, on the other hand, knows the game very well but comes off as a front-running jackass (at least I though he did).

Oh indeed he does

From the head tilts, to the that should be a no call, to the why is that a double technical, to the lame ass bicycle jokes, and so on

Funk's miscues come more from just senility. JVG is a Miami homer and a cowardly little bald man who failed as a coach.

more bitter

that the bulls wanted nothing to do w/him when it came time to hire a new coach post thibs, and even post-skiles

anorexorcist - January 29, 2012 reply

JVG is a sensationalist

Hubie educates.

Mark Jackson would like to have a word you for not including him in that statement

but yeah Van Dumby reached new lows today

I have an idea

I watched a soccer match one time in england. The broadcast had a play-by-play guy, then a complete homer for each side. The play-by-play guy did his job, and the other two just talked shit to each other all day long. They ripped the refs, the opposing players, the wives of players, the fans, everyone it was great.

that would be awesome!

this

would be worthwhile.

We'll be fine folks

Its clear that the Heat feast on the NBA also rans, and the role players esp.

All they have is Lebron Wade and Bosh,

Anthony, haslem, miller, battier are all crap who have a good game 1out of 5

Rose fell short, thank god a great player like lebron putmup some bricks in the 4th and he also missed two free throws to ice the game. Just to lower the heat, pun intended rose is gonna get for missing the free throws

in a series, Rose will have to win 2-3 games for us, just like any superstar, from Magic and Bird to MJ, Duncan and Dirk. The role players will have to step up to win the other 2 games.

and i’m fully confident he can do that, with fair refereeing, you assholes.

Like ive been saying its 50/50 to see who wins theses games in the playoffs, so lets cut the crap about the Heat being unbeatable, or the Bulls have no chance unless they get zombie Wilt Chamberlains, kthanks…….

You didnt mention Cole

Who’s better than D Rose….(actually he sucks)

Hey now...

Look, I posted that Cole was playing better than Rose at one point in the game, which was probably only wrong rather than utterly insane like saying Cole is better than Rose would have been.

Cole sucks

he wasnt shit

I don't remember him doing anything other than that and one against rose

dsenchi - January 30, 2012 via mobile reply

In a game where we lost due to missed free-throws

I find it senseless to imply Melo, Crawford, or anyone else would’ve helped us today.

Stacey_Is_King - January 29, 2012 reply

I dont know, Melo is still a very good player

Are you saying we lost because of Roses misses? Or the team fts

Well, directly we lost because Rose missed the floater at the end and FTs

but it’s obviously we’re on the Heat’s level, all we need is a healthy starting lineup and we can definitely beat them. All this talk of not being able to do so with the players we have now is foolish.

Stacey_Is_King - January 29, 2012 reply

Agree

The margin is so slim between winning and losing, one made thre here, a lucky bounce there

not to mention that last second

of the dribble lebron 3….that was lame

Gen - January 30, 2012 reply

He'll give up as many points as he scores

Not with the Bulls

Trey23 - January 30, 2012 reply

Melo would not be the answer

Our frontcourt is what makes us special. Short of trading for Dwight Howard, there’s no trade involving our big men that will improve this team (at least realistic trade)

I agree

And honestly, I think when healthy, the starting lineup is right there. Our bench just can’t put up any points. Honestly, I am really disappointed that the Bulls did not trade up in this draft for Marshon Brooks. That guy is just the type we need on our bench unit. The guy is getting 13ppg with decent efficiency, and get this: the guy is only assisted on 29% of his buckets! For reference, Rose is at 25%. Would love a guy that could just score at will on the bench. Heck, Delonte West would have been great too. Hopefully the Bulls can make a move at the deadline for some bench scoring.

JR Smith would be ideal,

if that’s at all possible.

The Refs FUKED up at the end tho....

inadvertent whistle at the end of a crucial game situation.

RED_BULL - January 29, 2012 reply

As pointed out the ball went to Bosh

If anything, wade hacked taj on the rebound

and i saw 2 uncalled goaltends from Rose layups.

RED_BULL - January 29, 2012 reply

How bout rose getting popped in the head, should have been and1

Did lebron steal the tip too?

It was up one foot, worst I’ve ever seen

Ha, so many bad calls

pax should send stern the tape, or atleast tighten his tie for him

I thought he did....

It looked like he jumped before the ball hit its peak, but he’s such an insane althlete its hard to say for sure.

Yeah, it was either a hack or a clean save to Bosh

Does anyone think that Deng isn't worth a 4 point swing?

SidM - January 29, 2012 reply

sorry if i sound ignorant...

but what do u mean “4 point swing”

We lost by 4 points...Do you think Deng would have made more than a 4 point difference?

The way the game ended I think CJ alone might have made that much difference.

kingles - January 29, 2012 reply

oh fuck yes, rofl

we had that sorry excuse of a backup pf lucas and brewer just can guard bron. With those two, of course it would have been a diff game. Basically, it would have been a 6 pt win for the bulls imo.

Seriously

Watson is worth a four point swing

Lucas had a -8 in 3 minutes of play

exactly, it realllllllly hurt rose game with the minimal rest

watson would have been decent and with rip struggling, maybe thibs could have tried out the watson-rose combo!!!

Obviously, having Deng doesn't assure a win today

But if Deng were healthy, he would have had a big impact on the defensive boards alone. Also he’s the Bull best equipped to guard Lebron and he could have taken some Hamiltons shots and turned them into baskets.

You have to say that having Deng would significantly increase the chances they would have won. Deng is good, and is especially valuable against Miami.

BTW tho....it was an exciting game but really poor officiating by the Miami Refs.

RED_BULL - January 29, 2012 reply

Yes the Bulls shot a little better

miami had 40 fts vrs 28 for the bulls

The Bulls were called for 8 more fouls

Miami had 40 FTs? Didnt seem like it

Although im not suprised

Yeah, some were at the end though, lebrick, chalmers and bosh shot intentional foul shots

whatlittledotheyknow - January 30, 2012 reply

Rose is an idiot

…beating himself up like that, accepting blame for defeat like he’s Jesus Christ and all the responsibility rests squarely on his shoulders…

quit giving the dude a free pass, he still makes a lot of low-iq plays and doesn’t get his teammates involved as much as he should

he took a lot of ill-advised, high degree-of-difficulty shots, circus shots, and fortunately they went in, and he single-handedly kept the Bulls in the game at times, but still, there needs to be more point guard and less shooting guard at times … if shots aren’t falling those other guys should be backing hard cuts, slashing, drawing fouls

Bulls are too reckless going after offensive rebounds, easy transition baskets if they miss

we’re also seeing a lot of bravado from certain Bulls players, some of those guys just looked rattled out there to be honest, seeing people flying all over the place for alley oops and layups is really bad for morale ( with or without Deng ) that’s on Thibodeau ( nothing says ’we’re not afraid of you’ like zone defense … )

Kudos to Boozer for the way he’s handled the benching when the game is the line, he’s been professional about it … can’t imagine what it feels like to go home and read this kind of stuff being written about you …

Anyway, just a regular season game but the real story is how Bosh is slowly becoming a factor while attentions are being focussed elsewhere

last year, the Heat and the Thunder were the best by far, but Mavericks reminded us that all it takes is to share the ball and get hot from behind the arc .. this year you get the feeling Indiana might do something special

right now, teams should just be trying to get better… you’re not going to settle any playoff scores in a game like this, there’s really no ‘statement’ to be made, all it takes is an injury to derail a season

You are CLEARLY trolling.

whatlittledoyouknow*

whatlittledotheyknow - January 30, 2012 reply

instead of ad hominem attacks

feel free to counter any of the arguments I have posed

or, are you incapable of looking at things objectively?

"Rose is an idiot"

You call that objective?

Objectively your post is objectionable

we should all objectively whoop his ass.

Slick Ric - January 30, 2012 reply

probably banned already.

your friendly BullsBlogger - January 30, 2012 reply

in general, I don't ban people for having bad opinions

moreso if they’re aggressively bad (heads up, sin!)

all my flags..

they do nathing!!!!

um...

what?

jesus christos - January 30, 2012 reply

!!!WoW!!!

RED_BULL - January 30, 2012 reply

you should realize the other guys havent been hitting the shots they normally hit..

rip is a fine example as well as booz was not hitting their open jumpers. He was making solid passes (e.g. pass to booz as he cut past under the basket and then kicked out to booz), but they would miss their open shots majority of the time. Then you have the 15 TOs (or more) the bulls got and this just hurted the bulls sequence on offense alot. It forced the bulls to exhaust more energy in transition defense. Rose was doing his job, but no one can get open or there wasnt enough room for rose to operate. One of the main problems with this was due to the lack of deng. Rip was doing his best but again, rip was getting doubled.

Overall, the heats defense is damn good and can rotate around reallllllly well. Having brewer as the sf on offense hurt the bulls and it allowed the heat to ignore him and rather shift their energy on doubling up rip. Hence, Rose jsut couldnt do much with the options he had in each offensive set. Also, i think ur being a bit too harsh on rose considering he played 44 mins of the game and had an incompetent pg backing him up.

When did Jesus accept blame for a defeat?

You say Derrick is stupid to take blame for the defeat, and then give him a lot of blame for the loss. Last year the Mavs relied heavily on the zone to beat the Heat, and then you mock Thibs for using it when they were shorthanded and in foul trouble. The Bulls don’t get rattled by other teams alley oops and dunks, ask the Clippers. Hell they probably had 20 of them. Bosh is always a factor when he’s hitting midrange jumpers, he’s not “becoming” one.

kingles - January 30, 2012 reply

lol

“You say Derrick is stupid to take blame for the defeat, and then give him a lot of blame for the loss. " Obviously Rose isnt the only idiot around here. smh

Slick Ric - January 30, 2012 reply

Kudos to Boozer for not acting out because he is routinely exposed as a shitty help defender and a tough big man with two offensive moves.

God, it must be so hard to be him. If only we ripped on Derrick Rose more, you know, the guy who has no choice but to take 28 shots because the guy who was supposed to help ease the scoring burden can’t even jump.

El Toro de Goro - January 30, 2012 reply

What's the second...

offensive move?

he has the fadeaway J

and the charge

Just ignore him

The answer is.... 42

so much win

those who are dead are not dead

they’re just living in my head

what little you know, whatlittledotheyknow

Indiana is full of fucktards

They are nothing but thugs and that starts with that child molesting Vogel. Go crawl back into your inbreeding town.

Starting a post with “Rose is an idiot” and then asking for a response is very “indycornrow” like. STFU. No one gives a shit about Indiana.

Bullforlife - January 30, 2012 reply

Not sure if this has been said yet

But I think the Org should say fuck the tax and try and bring in another three point shooter. I think that could be a huge help in games against teams like the Heat with uber athletic wings, and shooting from the outside also takes the refs out of the equation to an extent.

jr smith anyone :)

Thing is if he was willing to take the minimum and the org was willing to pay the tax

He wouldn’t even really be knocking anyone out of the rotation, he’d just be an addition. Rip and Deng would have less of a chance to play 40 minutes a night. Brewer and Korver would still play as well.

yeah, unless the bulls promise him a starting job next yr

Yeah, Korvers alright but he tenses up in big games

I think he was more to blame for the loss than both Rip and C Booze were. Of course Boozer’s half-assed attempts to block shots and get steals irritated me but Korver was brought here for his three point production and when he passes on legit open threes, the rhythm on Offense gets thrown out of wack. We also need to get an offensive mind as an assistant coach who can set up better plays at the end of games. The defense will not lose any intensity with Tibs around thats for sure

Locust_Inferno_666 - January 30, 2012 reply

Yeah cause he passed up so many 3s today, taking only 6 of them in 17 minutes

And he sure looked tense while he hit half of them.

Poloplaya14 - January 30, 2012 reply

Yeah, I mean, he's never made a clutch shot in a big game, especially not against the Heat...

Oh, wait: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDzjCm_dXvg

also...I think Rip did a very good job on Wade tonight even though we lost

That’s another thing I like in Rip over Bogans. When Bogans’ defense wasn’t great, he couldn’t really help with offense. When Rip’s shot isnt falling, he can still help with his defense.

Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. - January 30, 2012 reply

One thing I am disappointed about

overall is the fact that Rose has had to go back to taking all of these shots per game again. He’s back up over 17 and while averaging almost 23 points per game is nice, I liked it so much better when he was averaging like 16 and over 9 assists. I don’t want him to have to do what he did last year but as long as guys keep missing time with injuries he’s going to have to keep carrying the burden… with his own injuries… and in a condensed season. I hope they clinch a position quickly so that Rose can rest towards the end of the year. I don’t even care about the #1 seed right now. I just want him to be able to play more point guard than point god at this point.

its more due to injuries than anything

deng and rip are doing the dance noah and boozer were….while noah and boozer have spent most of the season sitting on the bench….so yea…..

Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. - January 30, 2012 reply

Yeah, I know.

I hope they get off to a huge lead against these lesser teams like Washington. I want him to rest in the 4th more regularly.

Agreed

I think this is just what the game called for.

also i know we've been saying screw the regular season the last few days

but i think home court is going to make a world of difference in the ECF

sin - January 30, 2012 reply

agreed. 4 games in Chicago would mean a lot more for us than 4 in Miami for them.

Yeah, and it

It's gonna be tough to get it with all these injuries

the funny thing is the bulls r winning even with all these injuries

jus hang onto the first seed till all star break, i think we r set. The schedule is really balanced after the all star break and by then we should be near 100 percent (knock on wood).

id take a healthy bulls over homecourt

didnt help us last yr

Oh yea that sequence where they missed like 6 shots in a row

and then Boozer finally laid it in. That was hilarious.

cowraiser - January 30, 2012 reply

I'm not excited about this result at all

we didn’t have Deng but Miami stars got lots of resting time. Wade only played 30 min and Bosh only 36. We won’t have it like that in the playoffs. We need to play better on both ends to beat those guys; we need to find solutions beyond Rose’s iso.
It wasn’t terrible but it doesn’t look as good as it seems for many here, imo

can the same be said bout rose lack of rest thanks to JLIII?

lack of rest and playing 44 mins per game is a big diff opposed to playing 38 mins a game.

What I'm saying is that we can expect more Bosh and more Wade in the playoffs

They will probably push themselves and things will be even harder.
Not sayint we can’t win but maybe Miami can be even tougher to beat

not really, wade has been struggling since last yr against the bulls

and its hard, really difficult for wade to do well thansk to the high USG rate by LeBron and Bosh. Wade is usually guarded well by the bulsl guards like Rip and Brewer. Bogans and Brewer last yr were awesome guarding Wade.

This is the problem with Wade. Issue presents with him not having the ball in his hands (result with lower USG rate) its going to prevent him from being more prevalent comapred to bosh and lebron. Lebron needs the ball in hand in order to be effective and JBJ does a great job discussing the issue of playing wade and bron. Bosh on the other hand plays really well off bron and connects with midrange jumpers thanks to the iso plays Bron sets up for himself. Hence, Wade turns out to be a midrange jumpshot shooter majority of the sets Bron would usually set up.

Overall, dont expect Wade and Bron being dominant together because the bulls defense is too damn good letting both of them dominate. Brewer and Rip know hwo to guard wade and im sure deng will do a better job on bron compared to brewer. Bosh on the other hand is gonna kill us no matter what. No one can stop the Bosh pick n roll. Noah and Booz jus cant stop bosh.

besides we don't know how good/bad Deng is gonna look when he returns

look, there is one thing we know about deng

he makes a huge difference vs starting brewer. Deng is the only one who can stick with Bron and brewer was getting murdered keeping up with Bron. Deng can limit Bron and it help brewer shift his focus onto wade alongside rip which can def be crucial.

If there is one player i trust after Rose, its Deng. Hell be fine and luckily, his injury is on his non-shooting hand (knock on wood).

plus, if he's a week away

he’ll have been out 2 weeks – not 2 months. i’m not worried.

exactly, im not going to panic and nor should any bulls fan

the bulls are in a shitty situation right now with these fuckin injuries piling on. From deng to rip and now watson is getting ridiculous. Fuckin stern and the NBA schedule makers (shakes fist in rage)!

Something interesting

Took a look at the four factors box score (eFG%,TOV%,ORB%, and FT/FGA). The Bulls won eFG%, but lost the other 3. The Bulls absolutely need to win the TOV% battle when playing the Heat. They also really need to win the ORB% battle, especially if they are going to commit so many people to getting ORebs like they did.

I looked at the playoff losses to Miami from the four factors perspective.

In game 2, the Bulls won the TOV% and OReb% battle, but got DESTROYED in eFG%. In game 3, they only won the OReb% battle, but Miami shot the lights out. In game 4, the Bulls only won the OReb% battle, but got killed on FTs. In game 5, the Bulls won the OReb% and TOV% battle, but got killed on FTs yet again.

The Bulls played Miami the closest when they limited their own turnovers and won the game on the glass. Last night’s effort on the glass was very poor. The Bulls simply gave up too many offensive rebounds. Again, I think the Bulls actually shot and defended well enough to win last night, but did a poor job of limiting turnovers and gave up too many ORebs.

That said, Luol is the Bulls best non-post rebounder. He actually is a better defensive rebounder than Taj! He would have really helped control the glass.

I was going to have this reply to several different posts, but figured I'd just make it here

It’s insane how much our perception of Deng has changed in the time I’ve spent on BaB. When I first started posting, everyone was disappointed in how he underperformed his contract’s value, and when he had a quiet good night, everyone would react with “wtf it didn’t feel like he got 20 points and 6 rebounds and 3 assists” and the like.

And now we lose by a few baskets, and all we can talk about is how man, imagine if Deng were here, he’s our second best player, his consistency is needed.

Maybe Deng has changed – I think Thibs did a world of good for him. But I just think its funny how our change in perception outperforms the changes that actually take place.

Next time, hopefully we get the win.

dantheman3k - January 30, 2012 reply

Let's hope our perception of Boozer changes as much in the future.

It would be nice to think it will.

deng can fulfill 12M expectations. no way in hell boozer fulfills 17M expectations. hes toast athletically.

thing is i always felt deng was underappreciated

even during the skiles days, he never got the praise he deserved. People loved shitty players like hinrich and crappy defenders like gordan that i was baffled by all the deng hate,

not everyone, danthe, not everyone

There were a couple of people who stood up for Deng.

But it’s good to see people are finally coming around to his all around game.

MrBungle - January 30, 2012 reply

i've always stood up for deng

so i’m glad to see him get the love he deserves. :)

Deng hasn't changed that much, it's just that he finally has a coach who underatands what to do with him

I for one, was one of the few who always defended him.

I still remember the day SoulEater7 tried dogging him by saying he reminded him of Danny Manning . . . which isn’t true but at the same time …. never a bad thing!

80% of the people here really have little idea what they’re talking about

Option27 - January 30, 2012 reply

You guys are acting like Deng has always been this good. Talk about revisionist history

Deng got criticized around here back then because he deserved it. It’s not like the whole world woke up one day and decided “Damn we’ve been wrong. This guy is great and a probable All-star. What the hell were we thinking?”

Deng stopped getting dogged out because he improved his shot selection, became an even better and smarter defender, and stay off the trainer’s table, and stepped back a foot to the 3pt line on his shot. That’s why. I won’t even give all the credit to Thibs. I’ll give Deng some credit too for maturing as a player and becoming who he is today. But the criticism he got back then was deserved.

Same thing with Boozer. If that guy decides to take some courage pills and play like a damn PF instead of an old Brad Miller, he’ll stop getting criticized. Then at that point I don’t want to hear how everyone was just dumb about the game of basketball and were being unfair to Boozer.

Dils - January 30, 2012 reply

Alright boys, we lost but I think that there is room for optimism...

the Heat will not get any better than that. They have no significant injury. The Bulls were missing Deng and CJ. This is huge since we essentially had a shooting guard trying to take on LeBron. Furthermore, with CJ back we can get Rose’ minutes down to a more reasonable 40 come playoff time. If we can get this team healthy for the playoffs I can see us taking down this Heat squad and getting some rings.

Further reasons for optimism…DRose can cut through their interior defense like its warm butter.

I also have felt that Rip’s possessions have been a bit too predictable. I am glad that Miami had the scouting report to correctly counter his pass/shoot duality because now he will be forced to adapt and this is a good thing.

THEKILLERWHALE - January 30, 2012 reply

they still have to cover him though which is far different from bogans

the problem is that without deng they were able to ignore brewer in a similar fashion at points. it wasn’t the ideal situation.

and yeah i mean it’s super disappointing to get that close despite being shorthanded but i can’t wait for a rematch with hopefully a healthier squad. the two teams match up really well.

Wow

Best game of the year hands down! When these two teams get together it’s always a tough, playoff experience game,

The game itself came down to the wire with each team superstars having a chance to win it at the line, Rose and James. Being perfect the whole game and throughout all fourth quarters at the line by Rose, we all can say we were shocked when he missed BOTH free throws. They still had a chance to win when James split his free throws but the Bulls just weren’t able to capitalize.

On the plus side, I still think the Bulls are the best team in the East. Even with the lost you have to think that the Bulls were not 100% strong with a full roster. Missing starting forward, Deng, he would have made a big difference in the outcome and the flow of the game.

Bulls have no reason to let their heads hang low. They just showed the league that they can still compete at a high level.

zeezy2 - January 30, 2012 reply

james missed his free throws

it was chalmers who split them.

It was a good game. Obviously the outcome wasn't good, but I feel better about the team

for the most part. I just hope Deng will be okay to go for the rest of the season, and still be able to play at a high level. I still want J.R. though. How far into the tax would the Bulls go if they gave him whatever is left of the cap? I mean, he’s obviously getting paid in China. Maybe not enough as opposed to an NBA contract.

But maybe he’ll be willing to sign for the rest of the year, and then he could get a contract offer from some other team after this season. Or resign with the bulls depending on who they cut. Brewer, Korver, and I think CJ are on non guaranteed deals so it is possible. I know he’s a bit of a headcase, but sometimes you need a little crazy on your team, and he brings a lot of swag, and athleticism.

I remember Hamilton taking a jump shot instead of driving for the layup because Lebron was waiting for him. The jump shot went in, but he missed the layup, and I think it’s because he rushed it fearing it was going to be blocked. J.R. would’ve dunked it with no fear. And Lebron likes to go for the chase down blocks, or players that are 6 inches shorter than him. He doesn’t have the balls to try and block someone that might make a poster out of him.

I think he would really help with this team. He has no hesitation about shooting it, and that would help out a lot with certain defenses that are athletic enough to close out quickly. He’s also a threat from the 3. He can go off for 40 on any given night, but that’s not what the bulls necessarily need.

Question is would Thibs be able to tolerate some of the boneheaded plays he’s bound to make, and not bury him on the bench? And plenty of the players on the roster are making some stupid mistakes as well. Oh well, I guess we’ll see what happens come March.

BlackStar - January 30, 2012 reply

That Lebron dunk over JL was incredible, but ESPN is single handely ruining it right now

I think they’ve broken a record for number of times showing a highlight. If you turn on ESPN at any moment, there’s likely at least a 50% chance it’ll be on

its ridiculous how much "hand service" they give to the heat players...

i mean, come on, they write a sotry on “lebron rides his bike to the AA center.” Whats next, LeDouche takes a dump in every quarter except the 4th.

But But

Rose is know for his head fake flop…Man that pissed me off

ESPN plot to make rose into a complete jackass

yep, its happenin!

your friendly BullsBlogger - January 30, 2012 reply

He said LeBron does it too

it really wasn’t that bad. Actually you can think of it as good if Rose is learning to massage the refs.

Or just continue to be loud about whatever ESPN has wronged you with. I get ripping them for being bad at their jobs, but ‘the media’ slurps up Rose as much as anyone. It got him an MVP, for chrissakes!

I know

But he keeps saying it and saying it. Its annoying

My problem with that was that JVG pointed it out on a play where Rose didn't "head flop" at all.

none. zero. nothing. nada. zip…

my problem with it is

its supposedly “expert analysis” coming from a guy who is so NOT an expert of derrick rose, or many other players. Its why i like hubie, he gives actual EXPERT analysis on whats going on in the game. Tell me about the play being run, tell me what the coach is probably thinking because you were once a coach, tell me what went wrong in a play or what went right. To me the espn announcers are much like the refs during the game, they are supposed to be objectional and unbiased, but instead they just spend the game taking turns on each side. They will bash the heat for something, and then two minutes, or maybe a quarter later turn and say similar garabage about the other team. Why?

I dont mind the occasional opinion on a matter, but alot of these guys do it every damn play to the point its like SHUT THE HELL UP. Whats worse is for casual watchers, they actually deem it as “EXPERT” analysis, and will walk around and post on blogs and forums about it as if it were truth, and more or less without context.

More than anything i found jvg looking for something to talk about negatively about rose since he had already made such comments about the heat earlier. To me its simple, dont say negative comments about either team, that way you dont spend your entire damn telecast searching for some small made up negative team to “balance” yourself out.

THIS

Whats worse is for casual watchers, they actually deem it as "EXPERT" analysis, and will walk around and post on blogs and forums about it as if it were truth, and more or less without context.

you crystallized exactly what i’ve been trying to pound into the heads of sport fucktards for years. these are the same dipshits who love to say,

“oh you think you know more about the game than the people who are paid to talk about it, huh.”

well if you knew anything about it, you’d know that these people are sometimes wrong, dingus.

rrrrrr. so much angerification

I remember complaing about Phil Simms to my uncle one time

And he told me something that really opened my eyes. He said there is a good chance that the station intentionally employs people who say stupid things so that as a fan at home you can correct him and feel superior.

tuluse - January 30, 2012 reply

that sounds pretty plausible, actually.

that's not important

what’s important is that LeBron came to play riding a bike

your friendly BullsBlogger - January 30, 2012 reply

If he makes that comment when the Bulls are playing OKC or some other team I wouldn't care at all.

But LeBron and Wade are two of the biggest offenders when it comes to talking to the refs like they’re part of their entourage.

Ozzie Montana - January 31, 2012 reply

JVG is a failure as a coach..

and he sucks balls as a media analyst. Besides as someone mentioned above in this post, he was passed on for the Bulls coaching job when Thibs was chosen. So he finds it hard not to shit on the Bulls. The fact that he uses Rose’s head fake as an “issue” with his game says how good Rose is. You would think he’d comment about Rose’s so called post up game or basketball IQ but nope, lets go with the head fake. THAT’s the biggest problem. Fuck JVG and Fuck Rondo!

Bullforlife - January 30, 2012 reply

The story of that game was the amazing effort

Rose put in in that 4th qtr to keep his team in a game they had no business winning. Now true he did kinda ruin the story by missing the freethrows, but that’s the story of that game. Playing 45 minutes on a bad toe, in Miami making Incredible acrobatic shots, taking it to the hole every time down and getting to the line without Deng and without Hamilton or Boozer playing well was the story, not a damn bicycle ride. He’s the reigning MVP and he matched Lebron last night. He deserves more respect then what ESPN ran with.

Dils - January 30, 2012 reply

get a better cable package

or jus go to BaB!!!

fuck ESPN!

for real

at this point i rarely turn that channel on unless its for a game. i never thought i’d get to that point. i really used to love Sportscenter when i was a kid.

me too.

they are dead to me.

yup, stopped watching sports center ever since skip "fuckin sipshit" bayless became popular on ESPN

i would only watch it for comical reasons (when hes arguing against stepeh A. smith or jalen rose), but never for actual sport analysis.

i do admit i was watching a highlight the other night and the two dudes were making me laugh

might’ve been Buccigross and Flores. still, i used to love Patrick and Olberman. that was comedic gold.

the beginning of the end was the hiring of linda cohn

No, I'm not watching it, I don't remember the last time I actually sat down to watch sportscenter

It’s just been on in the background for a while with the sound off. And every time I look up that dunk is on

best part was when Lisa Salters said John Lucas "is NOT a short man"

El Toro de Goro - January 30, 2012 reply

I laughed. I thought I was the only one who caught that.

yeah, I posted something to the DDL about it but they didn't post it

ABC provides quality basketball analysis: “John Lucas is not short”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0h0j_hV3Wo

well...

ESPNs nba contract ends in 2015-16. Lets prey they go to TNT exclusively or maybe back to NBC.

gooses - January 30, 2012 reply

rose kept his promise last time

he will do so again

Lebron may have dunked on or over our worst (shortest) player.

But has he tried dunking it on our best player, THE WHITE MAMBA?? NO, NO HE HASN"T!!

BullsFan22 - January 30, 2012 reply

I'm not even salty about this game.

We play them 3 more times. Not to mention we didn’t have Lu out there either. I was more happy Lebron missed his 2 as well. I think Rose like last year was wore out. I mean 45 min is a ton of minutes.

We DO need to make a move though…wether is for JR or somebody who can get their own shot up and not afraid of the moment.

Boozer is afraid of the moment. It’s not that he doesnt have the skill…the moment is just too big for him.

The Bulls either need to go after Howaed without loosing Deng, or make a trade for a scoring 2 or 3 man namely JR Smith!

Pepp23 - January 30, 2012 reply

this play (via yfbb twitter) was the catalyst why we lost…all i remember is the energy from the bulls being sucked out, him following this play with a bad pass and us taking a lotta minutes to get composed

no it was not

we had 230984032 chances to turn this game and failed

we did

but that play made it harder fam

That play was an embarassment,

but that is only a little reason why we lost. It was pathetic defense, but the Bulls lost because they got off to an awful start and DRose missed free throws down the stretch. Oh, and Rip didn’t produce enough offensively.

I think the reason that we lost was because the Heat scored more points than us

um, duh =p

I'm just saying, I don't think the dunks/etc. mattered beyond the Heat scoring on the play.

i just think it was bad karma

but im big on that voodoo/guzu/superstitious ish

Ah

yeah, I’m really not :P

random:

i have a weird myth that whoever score the 1st basket wins the game

we didnt score the 1st basket. fml

Somewhat OT

I was originally posting about something else, but then found myself here. Luol Deng is ridiculously important to the Bulls offense. If you look at Bulls lineups that have played >15 minutes together, you start to notice some things. There are 13 lineups total. I am eliminating the Lucas/Korver/Deng/Taj/Ask lineup because it is so skewed by Lucas’s one solid game as a pro and the Grizz basically gave up in that one. So, now we are at 12. The top 8 of those lineups in terms of ORtg all have one player in common: Luol Deng. Not Rose, but Luol Deng. While Rose is obviously our best offensive player, Deng is important. Part of this could be skewed by the fact that Deng has played so many minutes and recently missed our two toughest games of the year, but I don’t buy that argument entirely. I think Deng is a bigger key to the offense than most realize.

Also, the Bulls top 3 rated lineups (aside from the freak Lucas lineup) are currently: CJ with the starters, Rose+Deng+bench mob, and Brewer and Taj with starters. The Bulls starting lineup is actually doing quite well too. Personally, I love the Rose+Deng+bench mob lineup. They have posted a solid 109 ORtg with a 76 DRtg. Wow! IMO, that has easily been our best unit (which may condemn the play of our frontcourt even further).

Just some interesting things I noticed.

I'd love to see more Rose at the top iso, let him drive, shoot, or pass to the corner when teams converge

Trey23 - January 30, 2012 reply

For some reason Thibs doesn't have that as part of the offense.

It’s always a PnR in which DRose gets trapped or has to split a tough double team. It’s like Thibs has a problem letting the quickest, fastest player in the league go one on one in a 1-4 flat set-up. I don’t get it.

Basketball Smurf - January 30, 2012 reply

Thibs loves when opposing teams iso

His defense is built around stopping that type of offense. It makes sense if he thinks isolation is easy to stop defensively, he would prefer his team to move the ball on offense. I don’t think a 1 – 4 flat set would consistently work against good teams, so I have no problems with it. Its amazing to me watching, say the Clippers, have often that offense does not work for CP3 or Griffin.

Well, his defense is good enough to stop it.

But there are about 20 teams in the league that have no shot in hell at stopping Rose in that kind of set, yet late in games you consistently see the offense fall back on screens for Rose.

I’m at a bit of a loss trying to understand it; maybe Derrick isn’t comfortable in isolation and prefers the screen? I can see utilizing that type of play when you have a legitimate scorer at the 4 or 5 spot. Guys like Amare(in his prime), Aldridge, Dirk, Duncan(in his prime), those guys are legitimate scoring options late in games and will either knock down the open J or roll down the lane in dunk on you. But Boozer’s not that good of a shooter and if he decides to drive is a sure thing for an offensive foul. And you don’t want Joakim handling the ball in big spots late in games.

Or maybe Thibs or Derrick, or maybe both,

just don’t think Derrick can score late in games against Lebron, so they shy away from the straight iso. But that doesn’t explain why it’s not used against non-Heat teams…….

You just like watching him go apeshit

Stacey_Is_King - January 30, 2012 reply

True enough.

But I feel like it’s also the best offense late in games. You could argue that in games against the lesser teams, it’s better to run plays involving other guys to get them some late game touches so they’re ready against Miami, but I’d still say the Bulls should at least run straight iso’s sometimes. U barely see it in Thib’s offense.

Those 20 teams are not the ones that we need to worry about

But there are about 20 teams in the league that have no shot in hell at stopping Rose in that kind of set, yet late in games you consistently see the offense fall back on screens for Rose.

Isoing at the top just isn’t going to work against Miami. If you’re going to try to get Rose in an iso situation, it’s way better to do it over on the wing.

Poloplaya14 - January 30, 2012 reply

Oh, I know we don't need to worry about those 20 other teams,

but it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t use a piece of offense that, in theory, is very good. I don’t think anyone can argue that Derrick Rose going 1on1 against 99% of the defenders of the league isn’t a good matchup.

wrigleyrocker12 - January 30, 2012 reply

It's hilarious to see people blame this game on Boozer...

Really, it is. He took TEN SHOTS. How do you expect him to score his 20 with TEN SHOTS? His defense was decent, his passing was great, and had some key steals.

his passing would have been better

IF HE HAD PASSED IT TO A WIDE OPEN RIP ON THE CUT.

this

however, rocker is right, this game wasnt really boozys fault, rather, it was the lack of support from our sf and sg. Its tough to blame rip with his hampering injury and brewers limited ability but this will always be the outcome without deng and watson. We need those two otherwise Rose will get burned out and Rip will continue to get mauled and double team.

oh, i def don't blame this game on boozer

that was just one of a bunch of mistakes that happened from everyone.

For starters, he took tens shots

because he sat on the bench for 21 minutes……..because he’s a garbage defender and, as we all knew would happen, his jumper wasn’t falling like it did against the bad teams in the league. He doesn’t defend, doesn’t post up, doesn’t get easy buckets and doesn’t get to the foul line. All he’s been is a jump shooter, and unless he gets unusually hot and plays like Chris Bosh, he’s a bum out there.

He had a couple nice buckets late, but when you look at that it means he had 6 points up until late in the fourth quarter.