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Bulls 76, Hawks 74

Recap coming. Fantastic fight for that comeback win, a game showing why the Bulls are so formidable, yet are still quite flawed.

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TRADE NOAH, BOOZER, AND KORVER

PATHETIC

HOW COULD BOOZER BE ON THE BENCH THE ENTIRE 4TH QUARTER A-MOTHERFUCKING-GAIN?

trade him or play him? make up your mind lol
lol

Why don’t you ask Thibs? He had 11-9 in 27 minutes, and was the only guy not AFRAID to take shots in the first half. He played pretty good defense too. I think Boozer was the LEAST of the problems this game.

DA BULLS!!!!!!!!!
Love the fact that Rose, Deng and Asik

contributed for this win, almost equally.

yup sheek was huge. deng & derrick business as usual
That complete offensive collapse for 3 quarters was hard to watch.

But man am I glad I stuck that one out. Asik’s big 4th quarter blocks, man that guy is a stud.

I’ll say this — as pitiful as our offense was, at least we held them to the same. And where last year most games like this were a loss, at least they found some will to fight back and win. Every team will have the occasional terrible night, no matter who they are.

beliebe man, believe!
rose and deng might be the new batman and robin, hell yeah!!!
I heard "Lu-tenant Deng" from Stacey today. That was awesome

I’ll start calling him that from now on

luHawk is cooler
but it's gone! why??
yeah, i've heard it a few times

i like it!

Joakim Noah: Terrible for 47 minutes (mostly), great for one last pass.
Luol Deng >>>>>>> Joe Johnson

Also, did Sonty call this or what?

Ronnie Brewer’s jumpshot is falling and not sure if that’s a good thing. Brewer’s disciplined enough to not jack up bad shots, so getting over-confident isn’t a concern. What’s of concern is teammates kicking out to him for too many bailouts. He’s hit all three of his 3s this season and is 2-for-6 on long-2s (.722 eFG% on 16-plus -footers). It’s not much of a sample, but a little over two long jumpers a game in limited playing time. Again, they’re not bad spots to shoot, but we don’t want him becoming an option on the perimeter in which his teammates have too much confidence.

http://www.blogabull.com/2011/12/31/2672481/bulls-114-clippers-101-point-guard-showcase-in-slop-city

Definitely not a good shooting outing by Brewer

but not a lot of other Bulls’ players shots were falling too. Which has me worried in a couple ways: he’ll think that he should still take baseline, mid-range J’s, and that he shouldn’t be any more aggressive to the hoop.

bad night for Brewer

on D too

he was about as solid at the SG defender as we had..."korger"r was crap tonight
KK is always crap - actually he was above his own standards tonite

but Brewer is better than he played tonite

I don't think they passed it to him because they were overconfident in his shot

Do you think things would have gone any different if Brewer hadn’t been on a hot streak? What were they going to do, ignore the open man?

All I know is that Ronnie Brewer gets left open 17 feet from the basket for a reason

Maybe you’re right and kicking it out to Brewer was the only option on some plays, but when the Bulls do that, the result is either a low percentage shot or a complete reset of the offense. I think there were times when Rose kicked it out to Brewer when attacking and trying to force a whistle might have been a better option.

it looked like Ronnie was trying to "even out" his FG %-age for the year lol
I don't deny that he's going to return to his career norms

or only slightly above. I just don’t agree that there’s any negative to him actually making the shots. If his teammates go to him more because he’s hitting it, they’ll go to him less when he starts missing.

Box score

1st 3 quarters – total of 42 points
4th quarter – 34 points

Wow.

man. what a fucking mess
So when do the Bulls fire Neil Funk?
When Scal decides he wants to give broadcasting a try.
I think they're waiting for him to accidentally drop an f-bomb on air.
LMAO!

I could totally see him doing it while trashing on someone.

corso did it and got off with an apology

not sure if it was actually the funniest thing ever or if I was just drunk

#HawksGotTrolled
Trollololololol!
Geez. Derrick and Deng have to play tomorrow night.

Must be nice to sit on the bench the whole 2nd half.

Rose and Deng

Both played 44 minutes tonight…….they are gonna have dead legs tomorrow.

hopefully we can do to Detroit what we did to Memphis
D-ROSE = REINCARNATED MJ, DENG = REINCARTED PIP
Deng is so fun to watch on defense. Absolutely smothering.
that one on one Joe Johnson tried on him and he kept moving his 30 feet arms in front of JJ

that was nasty. JJ didn’t know where to go

It was so nice of Atlanta to be...Atlanta in the 4th quarter.

Isolating Joe Johnson was a failure in the playoffs, let’s do it again!

still their best option, and he was hitting
Hitting what?

The rim? He was 3-17.

at the end he hit a couple big ones
No he didn't.

He hit ONE shot. He was 2-12 going into the 4th.

one big shot tho
Yea that air ball at the end

was huge.

lol

that fadeaway when Deng tied the game. that gave us a scare. But truth be told, this team is COLD BLOODED

Wow

He looked like he played a decent game just watching it not lOoking at the stats, I know heifers late buckets but I was thinking all night JJ and Horford look like a solid tandem and wow how nice it is that Josh Smith despite the talent is not on my Bulls.

Josh Smith was the one that hit a couple shots that kept them with the lead.
guess i saw the wrong dude

no HD tonite lol

Haha,

sorry my bad, didn’t know.

I was actually most impressed with Deng's footwork

he was keeping them moving and staying in front of Joe. I’ve honestly never seen Deng move like that, not even guarding Lebron. Usually on Lebron, he plays so far off that he doesn’t have to move quickly.

his long hands help.... look how he moves his hands to compensate for his footwork too!
it it were allowed he would move his feet, arms and his deng in JJ's face
MVP!

of today’s game.

He really does look like Rango
even in a ugly game like this

Luol 21pts, 8 boards
Rose 30pts, 7 ast
Asik, 9 boards, 3 steals, a bunch of stat-less big plays including that “check-the-video,ref” play

that play was crucial!!!...
someone wanna fill me in?
Noah seems like he's been smoking a lil too much this offseason
he looks like hes in great shape

i dont understand why hes playing so horribly

really, he can't run..he looks so tired after a quarter.

His body looks athletic, but his cardio is out of sync.

everybody knows that he smokes weed in the offseason
i dont know that its the weed..i just think he is overrated... and should be traded before teams figure it out
his cardio just looks below average compared to last year,he's having trouble

running up and down the court. that’s all

boozer looks great, running hard compared to last year
he looks like that at the beginning of every season.
why is that, eliminating all that toxic weed residue from his system...heh?
im a noah fan, but he just looks slow this year
um no

last year he was playing near all star level to start the year.

true, that's why I'm so surprised he's starting slow this year
He was awesome before the thumb injury last year.
He keeps mistiming his jumps

by like, a ton

it looks like he's taking a step back with his weird, awkward hooks, and just spazing everywhere
16 minutes today...

Glad I traded for him in fantasy!

had some non-bulls fans over and they were cracking up at Stacey's calls lol
Stacey is so much fun
I was thinking he is great

Two yrs ago he was way too hawk harrelson esque for lack of a better word and kept doing his sayings like hard hat lunch pail like 400 times a game, now it’s like twice at most and it makes all the difference bc he is good with the telestrator and naturally funny.

well that hortford play against LuHawk at the end of the game for the foul was crap
Noah and Boozer

Got to play better against the better teams.
God I love our bench players…

Tonight was the definition of depth. Miami couldn't come from behind with 3 bench players out there.
miami can get fucked.. Our bench = awesome
they also wouldnt need to lol
Their could have used a good replacement for Wade

in their loss against Atlanta last night. He was pretty bad.

I agree Noah played bad

but when he started to energize a bit the refs screwed him with 2 wtf fouls. That said he needs to be more consistent

i think thats it... at this point if he is the "real deal" next "rodman" he has to be more consistant

i think he is definitly valuable… but overpaid

The next Rodman? No one in the universe is comparing Noah to the greatest rebounder in NBA history.

He just needs to stop fouling and remember how to time his jumps.

if he can get back to those 14/14 he had at the start of last season
Who's talking about Kevin love?

Seriously if love improves defensively he might against all odds be the best pf in the game today, he’s a great rebounder can shoot all over the court and is just tough…

I'm a west coaster and missed the 1st quarter as I drove home

Was Noah guarding a power forward again to start the game? If so, it is a tough matchup as Noah is more center than power forward, which may explain looking slow and picking up early foul trouble

yay for west coast fans!

Noah is having issues defending either position these days. Getting stretched by 4s, getting owned by 5s..

Sorry to say this is true

Noah’s hand is always right in the guy’s face as the shot arcs over the hand and into the basket. It’s really weird how good fundamental defense seems to result in the ball going in every time.

Too bad, nobody on the hawks knows the

heimlich maneuver

They know the Heinrich maneuver!
Well guys, I think we should have no problem beating the Heat this year

We clearly just showed that WE have a 4th quarter.

it was like that in the reg season last year too

but we were the ones with no answers on game 5 last quarter

'twas a joke

ha-ha and all that

i sadly agree... we need most consistent plays liek this in playoffs....like that backdoor pass to luhawk is hard to get in the playoffs
So if orlando doesn't want Deng

and we make the Howard trade, I think our big three, our core of Rose/Deng/Howard would be amazing.

i love the thought of that
That would be amazing.
but obviously they'd include deng
After watching him this season

There is no way they don’t want him.

after watching him LAST season
except that: why wouldn't Orlando want Deng?
Turkoglu is actually playing pretty well

at least the Bulls wouldn’t be getting a total stiff back.

because he is a big contract.

i was mentioned during the lockout, they likely wouldn’t want 2 long term contracts (Deng/Noah) and would probably want cap relief. Deng looks really good, but he isn’t a 1st option player, I think that would be an issue with Orlando they’d get no franchise player back from Chicago. SO likely it would be Noah and cap relief in Turkoglu.

you are forgetting one thing

Luol is awesome

ORL already they said they want to compete now. Aren't interested in rebuilding
i don't know why im trying to marginalize Deng

Go Deng, Go Bulls!

I could've sworn my pants weren't all white when I put them on this morning...
Noah, unlike Boozer can at least come up with a good play to redeem a shitty night.

That was disgusting basketball and since the Bulls play tomorrow I’m guessing we’ll see another spectacle of shitty play. Hooray for Derrick Rose and defense!

well rose and deng will be dead tomorrow, for sure
they will energized by victory

I hope

yeah but Booz had 9 boards and Noah 4

they both sucked tonite

I thought Boozer played decent,

he just didn’t play that much…

Booz had good plays during the game

when he was rebounding and the only one even willing to attempt a shot. Noah gave nothing until the next to last play.

i actually agree..i mean..nobody made a damm shot...and he was at least trying the best there... not sure ...considering how the bulls played the 1st 3 qrts that it was just all his fault
yeah i interpreted his benching in the 4th as tibs wanting korver for 3s

to erase a big deficit and not being able to afford two bad defenders in a tight game

Hey Boozer can step up tomorrow night and prove us wrong
or step on a gym bag
Or drop 30.
he does play well against shit teams I noticed
Or step on 30 gym bags
Bulls had a ton of trouble with that zone.
and with the ball

they missed some shots they normally make – lots of them

What was awesome is that it didn't effect their defense.

At All. Its hard holding any team to 74 points.

Just want to point out that nobody's giving credit to Korver

He had a team-high +18 despite shooting 0-3 on 3-pters. He may not have been hitting, but his presence gave Rose and Deng the spacing they needed to make the plays they did in the 4th.

He redeemed himself

Until we get Rip back

Korver is on my shit list

But not as much as Noah….even with that last pass.

Korver needs a confidence boost or something. He passed up some shots in the 4th.

I can understand Taj being afraid to shoot, but Korver should literally shoot the ball everytime he has a good look.

indeed, he played well
True

But he’s still got to actually make those open 3 pointers. A well-spaced miss doesnt help your team come back.

Howard is only averaging 17.7 so far? Yuck.
I bet he's coasting
kevin love

25.4 Pts
15.2 Rebs

WOW

Minn better lock him up
Minnesota is getting exciting
Yeah, and Kamla hasn't been on NBAtv lately to get excited about it either!
agreed! i'm becoming a fan.

oh wait, unicorn sighting.

Here's my overreaction for today's game

Noah, Booz, and Taj <Dwight Howard.

Willing to give the entire team except for Rose, Deng, Asik and Rip for him.

Is that enough of an overreaction?

Asik at Power Forward?

I like it.

Who needs to move your feet when you have 25 foot arms?
i'd actually make that trade

unfortunately, Magic won’t

Boozers contract is worse than Hedo's
but Booz > Hedo
The Magic clearly don't wanna wee-un too
can we agree to pay part of his contract?

luxury tax would be worth it for damn sure if you had a starting lineup of Rose, Rip, Deng, Asik, and Howard.

don't know if that's an option

doubt it, but a man can dream, right?

Nobody can stop us from giving him money directly

I started a fund for Mirotic’s buyout in the game thread, but i’m willing to transfer those 5 dollars to the Howard fund.

lol HOWMER would be an interesting frontcourt
no, that's a no brainer

so much so that Orlando wouldn’t do that

Did this game remind anyone else of last years loss to ATL

but reversed. I think we were up by 19 in that one too. ha!

this reminded me of game 1 vs pacers

when bulls went up with under a minute left in that game i knew the bulls were gonna win. while i wasn’t as confident in this one… it was a similar feeling moment.

we were over 20 on that one
So through the first few games I was afriad that the Bulls being the best regular season team last year

would mean we’d have a target on our backs, and every team would get up to play us. Which has been more or less true (Griz excluded(.

HOWEVER, what I didn’t anticipate was our newfound top-dog status getting into the opponent’s domes so much. We are positively living of missed freethrows and lost composure of the other team when we start to run. The other team starts to shake like me when I flop trips at a poker table.

It’s great. It’s already gotten us two wins. Here’s hoping it continues.

Thibs looks high in the post game.

Eyes barely open.

He yells all game

Im suprised he can talk right now

He needed so of Noah's summer fun after how pissed he was gonna be this game
Hes high on life!!!!
Boozer's fine

It’s stupid as hell to talk about him and Noah not playing. This was a unique situation. You can’t judge players based on games when you’re down big like that. Thibs was obviously trying to switch things up. The one concern is how omer is such an awesome rebounder/basket protector. Noah’s still great, but Omer does things that demands more playing time (catching a pas is not one, unfortunately)

yeah i mean everyone was terrible for 3 quarters
Exactly. Thibs did what we complained about last year which was not adjusting lineups when things aren't working. Great coaching night for Thibs.
he's got a penchant for

running with the hot lineup for the whole game. It worked this time.

A unique situation??

I guess the playoffs were a unique situation too right? No he’s on the bench because he’s a liability on defense and a “dumb foul” prone player.

Then why was Noah on the bench in both situations too?

I like how people can explain away Noah, but Boozer is a bum.

Except the play of Boozer/Noah was one of the main reasons why we were down big

Taj/Asik clearly outplayed them tonight, and it’s perfectly fair to call them out on that.

Taj/Asik can't score in an empty gym

Play those guys 35 minutes a night and tell me how thing go. The bottom line is that all of our big men supply different needs. Tonight we needed Taj and Asik a bit more. For some reason people want to dwell on Boozer’s shortcomings constantly

You need to stop. Seriously.

That is a lot of money sitting on the bench when it matters and it’s not because of matchups. Good Lord

I don't need to stop anything

It’s my opinion.

Well knock your self out. It's your opinion

And I’ll keep disagreeing with it.

How hard is it to understand?

Those two have the capabilities to spark a team, and they did just that tonight, and same thing with the GSW game. They play great defense, but yes, they suck at offense.

Is this the first game Boozer has not played in the 4th qtr?

Yes or no? If te answer is no then how in the hell is it about matchups and special cases like Juice is implying? You guys are amazing me with the Boozer defense bs. Unbelievable. We’re now making excuses why 80 million dollars worth of player is continually getting benched now?

Has this the first time it's happened to Noah?
Who talking about Noah???

Not me. I’m not making excuses for him. That’s not what we’re even talking about

But he must suck then too, right?
he kinda does...
Well then why is all the hate on Boozer?

Boozer to Noah hate comment ration… 3:1.

come on Dils

the Bulls knew Booz wasnt playing D any better than that when they hired him. And they didn’t have a lot of options

lol....i actuall y agree.... i am very dissapointed at Taj this season..... i mean he should develop at least a more consistant spot up midrange jumpshot
They were sitting on the bench in a blowout going into the fourth

Thibs was switching things up. Asik and Taj are not starting caliber players in this league at the moment.

They never will be.
taj no. Asik, if he can ever get a semblance of an offensive game... maybe (but probably not)
lol... if either of Collins twins can be a starting centers.... then yes they can be starters
Depends on who his power forward is

Asik can definitely start next to someone like Amare. There are plenty of starting Centers that don’t give much more than Asik.

Juice...

Boozer is on the bench because he’s a detriment. You can have your opinions on why they aren’t playing but you don’t get to live in a dream world. Boozer is what he is. He isn’t on the court when it matters most and that trend didn’t start today.

well he didnt play at the end because like any coach should ...he keep the team that made the comeback,,, thats why Korger was there
Ding Ding Ding!!!

Boozer didn’t play bad by any means tonight.

He needed 13 shots to score 11 points, that's bad.
Stats are all that matters then?

Boozer was as aggressive these last two games as he was in December/January last year, and that’s great to see. Nor has he played that bad of defense these last two games. I counted THREE LOB PASSES when Taj was in, but none when Boozer was.

??? i think you can make that argument to almost all the bulls through the 1st 3 qrts.... i mean that he may have pout him back in the rotation..same as noah who had 2 fouls left for the 4th.... but the coach keep the team that made the comeback

they were clicking the best

Boozer was more aggressive than most nights.
i prefer him that way .... that just totally dissapearing and loosing confidence...he just needs to keep trying..and also try some defense....
That's what I'm saying.

His shots just weren’t falling, but it was good to see him aggressive, rebounding, and playing at least average defense.

Boozer will never be worth his contract

and if the Bulls completely switched him out for Taj it would make no difference, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if they were a better team for it.

Currently the best thing Boozer does is give this team depth and for a team that has trouble scoring he brings some relief, but again for his contract, they can get better options.

that's not truth

you don’t get many players better than booz for that money

yeah.... i mean... some argue Lee would have been better choice..but other than him that is... at the time boozer was concensus better than lee
Taj makes a fraction of what Boozer does

and overall is just as effective.

that's just not true. he's a good defender and a bad shooter

above average bench guy and that’s it.

Well, let me load up 2k12 and trade myself one of those better options
Obviously you can't trade him

because he’s overpaid and no ones wants him for the contract.

Further showing his value.

lol, neither will Chris Bosh, and if you can find one championship team that hasn't had an overpaid p[layer, be my guest.

And the Taj making us better… lol. Look at the best lineups this year, and the best from last year. How many have Boozer in them?

Not following your logic

So because every team has an overpaid player, that excuses Boozer….

And as far as best lineups from this year/last year, I don’t remember Boozer being the catalyst very often if ever, but I do remember Boozer being out and the Bulls not missing a beat in his absence.

This team is about Derrick, Luol, and the defensive intensity. Boozer as Ive said, is just good for providing depth.

Then say that, don't say Taj starting makes this team better.

Because that’s just blatantly wrong.

I said they would even out

and that Taj COULD provide enough overall ability to improve this team.

And every single piece of evidence is 100% against that.
Like the evidence that Thibs

sits Boozer during crucial situations ?

Yeah, like against Sacramento?

Wait, he didn’t sit. How many times do I have to say this? He sits when Taj sparks the team.

I'll say this

Boozer is very good at showing up against weak opponents

Just did this math...

Booz against plus 500 teams last year-16.7 points points per game.
Under 500-19 points per game.
Yeah, not that much of a difference.

2 pts is a pretty big difference

what was the fg% difference?

Yeah but I'm guessing most players post better stats against bad teams than they do against good teams.

It’s simply logical.

Not D-Rose

http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=9816#more-9816

and its just an observation. People want pump up Boozer when he has good games against Sacramento and Memphis but we need him to show up against the Miami’s and Atlanta’s.

And hes flat out not good

against good teams who routinely run offensive plays RIGHT AT HIM for easy scores.

Well one would think if anyone's gonna be an exception, it's the reigning MVP

I also remember reading that Rose is one of the few players who has a better adjusted +/- against top teams.

Did you notice that Taj is one of the worst in the league

against top defenses? Boozer is obviously somewhere in the middle. So anyone wanting to replace Boozer because he’s not killing the top teams, should be even more afraid of going to Taj, who’s performance dropped off more than 220 out of 239 players.

Nothing is more

frightening than Boozer attempting to play defense while hoisting up long jumpers on the offense end.

nothin else opened up on the lane..

ugh i hate giving excuses to him because he should ahve done better anyways….
One thing though… si that he was hurt not having a decent pick/roll play for him

He is not quick enough to drive the lane

That has nothing to do with if the lane is open or not.

And he’s not athletic enough or use post moves to play with his back to the basket, hence the reason he gets to the foul line as little as he does.

Maybe because better opponents probably have a better defense?

I didn’t look at that, and I’m too tired to do it now.

He only sits when

Taj sparks this team?

That is definitely not correct.

What's correct then?

That all of the Bulls best 5 man lineups are with Boozer in them?

Bulls are best when Derrick

starts being more aggressive and the Bulls in general don’t run a deliberate half court offense.

If they were to replace Boozer it would be the same situation.

oh, i get it.

the bulls lost to miami last year because they focused too much on an effective halfcourt offense when they should have placed more on Rose offensively and gotten better defensive starters

When did I ever say that was how

to beat Miami?

Their formula worked last season for most of the season because their overall depth would wear on their opponents and Derrick would come in for the offensive kill.

Against Miami, the overall talent level was too strong, especially with their wing players, forcing the Bulls to get help outside of Derrick which the Bulls could not get.

...
When did I ever say that was how to beat Miami?

You said it made them better, which being better, is hopefully beating Miami.

i broght it up because it contradicts your argument

that the bulls would be better with another defensive starter and more reliance on rose being aggressive.

Well it's not contradictory

because the Bulls at their best (last season) was not able to beat the Heat.

Except that their best

includes Boozer. I’m unclear how going to a less effective lineup would make them more capable of beating the Heat.

Their best has nothing to do with Boozer

That’s why Thibs benches him in late game situations (please watch the playoffs last season for further reference)

As much as I don't really like the guy,

the Bulls are better with him as a starter. It was proven last year. With that being said, I don’t really trust him to play in the 4th qtr of any close games (or when we’re trying to come back like this). And that’s a bit sad. If the Bulls are already in control of the game, sure leave him out on the floor.

*like in this game
...
Boozer being out and the Bulls not missing a beat in his absence.

Come again? The Bulls were 16-10 without him. That means they were 46-10 with him. I’ll take the 46-10.

*47-12 with.

15-8 without.

I'm not in this argument either.

Just wanted to make that correction.

Yeah, I tried to count that out myself, and just realized it was wrong because Booz only missed 23 games.

Thanks.

If I remember correctly

Wasn’t Noah and Boozer out ?

So the Bulls were forced to play shorthanded.

They played 3 games while missing both of them.

Went 2-1 in that stretch.

I had it saved

the record of the Bulls when both missed games. But I think it’s at work. They didn’t both miss many games together tho, only a few.

TAJ is no bulls started unless he develops solid midrange jumpshot.

which it bothers me he hasnt yet

'04 Pistons

Rip Hamilton was the highest paid player on that team at $6.5 million.

Ok, that's one example.
'05 Spurs
Nesterovic had the 3rd highest salary on that team, I'd consider that an overpay.
$6 mil for a guy who can competently play C isn't an overpay when you consider how few good centers there are in the league
Ok, I'll give you that one too, but I wasn't planning on you looking these up dangit!
lol...nice come back

i still think nesterovic was overpaid…but they had to sign him back them as there were few Cs available for the spurs to go after..]]Bigs are consistant hit/miss when it comes to overpaying

that team was the exception to a lot of rules
I read Kroger as Krogan

And of course, there's nothing wrong with how Noah is playing?

That’s pretty clear Boozer hate.

I never said a word about Noah. That's not what the conversation is about

No one was even talking about either of those guys until Juice decided to explain why Boozer isn’t playing

Well then no, it's not the first time it's happened to Booz.

Because when he’s not hitting on offense, Taj is in for defense. Is that so hard to understand?

So Taj is in for defense during a comeback tonight???

Is that what you’re saying? No Taj is on the floor because he’s more dependable than Boozer. Because Boozer’s defense is so bad that his offense isn’t worth having on the court is critical junctures of games

lol

Because when Boozer is having a bad offensive game, it’s not worth having him in there. Must I point out the records from last year when Taj started over Boozer?

i thinnk with that statement you are taking cradit out of ROSE's play early last season...
What?

October/November were arguably Roses two best months last year, and that was when Taj was starting.

they were the best 2 months offensivly because he had to carry the full load... then boozer came in with his ~18 pt avg
So then what does Boozers good start have to do with Rose?
Idk man

I’m not saying he’s the best player ever but this was a unique situation. Two days ago, reporters were writing about how he’s back, and on a mission. He was awesome. It’s clear that Thibs was going with a quicker lineup to counter the Hawks. That’s one of the strengths of the team, that we’re able to do things like that. No need to get down on Boozer for it. I’m sure he’ll play well tomorrow.

He's going to have to.

Rose and Deng will be gasping for air by the 8 minute mark in the first quarter.

totally agree.... tibbs adjusted to the situation...
Hey I'm with you

I’m probably one of Boozer’s biggest supporters here along with you. But 11 points on 13 shots isn’t good enough production for him. At best, he’s a 0 on defense, so he absolutely needs to efficient on offense.

Did you notice the aggressiveness though?

And his defense has actually been very good for his standards this year.

blaming boozer for not being officient on offense

in a game where the team was shooting like 29% for a good portion and ended at just under 34% isn’t fair. maybe that’s not what you’re saying exactly (and would be a reason for him to be on the bench at the end), but everyone was to blame so, whatever. i’m a big boozer supporter as well, and people do harp on stupid shit with him. this was a horrible game for everyone until the 4th… so we just went with the guys who were able to recover. nuff said.

he played pretty damn well since the goldenstate fiasco

that ill let him have his bad days, so long as he A) remains healthy B) has more good games than bad ones in the post season…

How isn't it fair?

Believe me, I know the whole team stunk tonight offensively, with the exception of Rose and Deng in the 4th. But Taj and Omer made up for their shitty offensive play with stellar defensive play, as they always do. Boozer and Noah have to be held to a higher standard.

I agree

I support Booz but not his best night

Taj didn't play that well either

He was terrible in the first half, and in the 4th quarter played solid defense without doing much else. Asik was the only difference maker out of the big men.

I feel like Taj is regressing offensively. The defense is still awesome though.
It was the same thing with Taj last year too

About once every two weeks he would have a couple nice plays and it would look like he was ready to make a leap offensively. Then he would follow that up by continuing to drop passes, brick jumpers and get called for traveling like he always does.

It's just odd considering how much love his shitty jumper gets.
Yeah, it seems like his jumper has so much movement to it.

His body, I mean. It moves everywhere.

Hes guiding it

Or hes thinking as the ball is coming, should i shoot it?

I don't doubt that he usually makes that shot in practice

Seems like more of a mental thing during games.

Yeah there's a lot of moving parts

Which of course means there’s a lot of things that can go wrong.

He took a dribble to his left and then shot in the first half

and I was ready to strangle him through the screen. His jumper is crappy when he’s standing still. it was ridiculous for him to even try that, when they needed a good shot so badly.

I think he needs to move in closer.

He seems to be taking too many that are beyond 15 feet.

I think Boozer actually had a pretty good game while he was in JBJ.

Damn. You give Noah and Boozer every excuse in the world, but the first time Rose fucks up, you’re the first one in his ass.

I put a bit more on Rose because he's clearly (by far) the best player on the team

I hold him to a higher standard. I know the other guy’s limitations, and to act like Taj and Asik are the shit, and Boozer and Noah suck, is incredibly shortsighted imo.

I don't see anyone really acting like Taj and Asik are leagues ahead, just that they were huge tonight.
I was responding to Mackjack

I know Asik and Taj were teriffic. Not denying that. But because they were good TONIGHT, doesn’t mean Boozer and Noah suck

Seriously though..

when was the last time Asik wasn’t really good?

He didn't do anything against GS.
Seriously?

PLENTY. Just goes to show how a fans mind is so jaded by contract size. If Asik were paid what Boozer was getting paid I’d love to see how you felt about him

Or even half of that.
Okay strawman. I'll dignify that with an equally annoying response.

At least my mind isn’t so jaded by pretty looking offense that I don’t understand the relative importance of a big man’s defense against his offense in today’s game.

I'm actually one of the biggest proponents of big man defense

It’s why I think Dwight Howard is the best layer in the game. You’re arguing with the wrong guy.

Thing is, the Bulls need all of their big men. To get mad at one, is to get mad at all of them. This team is not better without Boozer

I never once made that argument either???

I’m confused.. All I was doing was getting my obligatory support Asik post in and you jumped all over me.

Or

maybe I’m just sensitive

This

Don’t think I jumped all over you. I’m way too happy to jump on anyone

In the 2nd quarter tonight

he bumbled two or three possessions away in a row. Somehow the ball hit the backboard when he was receiving a pass at his waist.

Asik was huge....

Taj was by no means “huge” he is brutal on offense and overrated on defense, the Hawks couldn’t hit the front side of a barn tonight either.

Isn't that a heavy double standard?

I mean that’s very unfair if you think about it. Rose isn’t gonna be able to play like an MVP every night. No player can. So if he is, Boozer and Noah have to step up, especially Boozer because that’s what he was brought in for. I know they are limited, but so is Rose. He is by far the best player on this team, but to say he should have to pick up for Boozer and Noah more than they should pick up for him is clearly unfair. Especially if he’s doing his best to get them involved. I mean if its a bad night all around, its a bad night all around. But at the end of the day, we know Rose has twice the job that Boozer and Noah have having to be the primary scorer and facilitator for these guys.

Well, I'm actually trying to focus less on Rose too this year too

But you may be right

thibs LOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE deng lol
Noah and Deng for Howard. I'm ready for this

And I LOVE Deng

I want to keep deng now

Fuck Turkeyglue since we probably have to take him

No, find a way to keep Deng. -thinks about Clips trade-
Bulls AND Clippers?

go away.

Eastern Confrence

1 Chicago 5 1 .833 - 2-0 3-1 0-0 1-0 96.8 87.2 +9.7 Won 4 5-1
2 Miami 5 1 .833 - 2-1 3-0 2-1 3-1 106.7 97.8 +8.8 Lost 1 5-1
3 Indiana 4 1 .800 ½ 2-0 2-1 2-1 4-1 95.0 89.0 +6.0 Won 1 4-1
4 Boston 3 3 .500 2 2-0 1-3 0-1 3-2 96.5 96.8 -0.3 Won 3 3-3
5 Atlanta 4 2 .667 1 2-0 2-2 2-0 4-1 95.0 85.7 +9.3 Lost 1 4-2
6 Orlando 4 2 .667 1 3-0 1-2 1-0 3-1 94.5 89.0 +5.5 Lost 1 4-2
7 Cleveland 3 2 .600 1 ½ 2-1 1-1 1-1 3-2 101.0 94.8 +6.2 Won 2 3-2
8 Milwaukee 2 2 .500 2 2-0 0-2 0-0 1-1 95.3 90.8 +4.5 Lost 1 2-2

Best part.

NY=MIA

Best part...

NY=overrated.

oh man that game is goinf to be something

when do they play each other?

MIA=missing in action

not Miami, my bad.

Thinks about the atlantic division winner being .500

and getting the 4 seed. ugh.

January 27 in Miami

February 23
April 15

New York's a joke
I LOOOVE Cleveland in there.

Please don’t suck again, guys.

Especially that they would play the Heat right now
Did Indy beat anyone yet?
noone relevant, i think
Correct, all scrubs. Portland beat OKC tonight. Look out.
you gotta give it to our "should have been ours" aldridge
3 of the twitter trending topics are bulls related

Damn

LMAO at Kendall Gill trending.

Bulls only scored 26 in the first half and got the win.

hashtagUNfreakingBelievable

Asik is the best D backup big in the NBA

And cemented that tonight

and right up there as one of the worst O backup bigs in the NBA

and cemented that in the 1st half (and some of the second).

Yeah but his defense trumps his bad offense
hands of cement
funny but true
taj also has hands of stone

although he does seem to be able to grab it when i don’t expect him to, haha.

If he had an offensive game

he’d be an all-star. As it is, his defensive value is enough to make him more valuable than tons of players with better offense.

Willpower is tangible!!!!

Fuck hollinger for not including it in his PER calculation

hollinger is a troll
Chicago Green Lanterns!
Chicago had problems with the Zone

Atlanta had problems with Omer Zone

Chicago win

That was ugly....

…but it counts!

Did Asik tell the refs to watch the replay there in the 4th?

“You puny refs watch replay. Asik mad. Asik smash!”

BJ must not just be Derricks manager,

he’s mentoring him too. Derrick said BJ told him there comes times in games where he will need to take over so that’s what he did tonight.

Yeah I caught that too

Whatever works…

he's deferential to a fault sometimes and I think that accounts for the slow starts
Wow.. I cannot fucking believe our Bulls won!

How do we do that to decent teams like the hawks and lakers?
They defy logic some times. To my joy and amazement.
That is what an MVP does for a team.. Thats gotta be it!
That and a Turkish stone wall held together with Lu-Glue!

Rose said he cursed

Mom gonna get him!

Did Luol Get a Tech?
yup.
which was actually good because it gave a little break on roll of BS calls
4th quarter point totals for the Hawks each time they've lost to Chicago in the past 2 years.

16, 21, 20, 15, 19, 15, 18

The hawk blog still think Rose overrated blah blah blah
And I still think Joe Johnson is terrible.
Do we really care?
well

Just tell them that even with his new contract Rose still is cheaper than JJ

The Hawks are stuck in limbo

That’s fucked up lol

too much Kirk Hinrich on the brain
Also

Hawks played like a team kinda…Until Smoove and Joe Johnson went back to their shit….They were better off playing T Mac lol

props to josh and joe for hitting clutch shots though
JJ yeah, then he went iso too damn early and dribbled out the clock a few times

Josh should do nothing but dunks and play D, He is a dumbass sometimes lol

he cost them a ton

by ballstopping with bad 18 footers. each shot he takes from there is a shot taken away from horford or jj. if drew was smart he’d force things to run through teague and demand movement

I feel bad for atl to have him

They need to trade him somewhere get a decent big in return

he might have played shitty but they are a much worse team without him

even if they get a center. without that iso guy, no star pg…even horford playing in position isn’t going to add much more offense. you need a go to guy and unfortunately theres is him

I mean Josh
oh my bad.

in that case i agree

sports.yahoo.com/nba
Captain Clutch

Derrick Rose rallied the Bulls from 19 down to beat the Hawks.

Scores 30 points
Can we please put a moratorium on quoting tweets that don't contain any substance whatsoever?
captain clutch lol :))
how bout a "moratorium" on using big words for no reason
Moratorium is not a big word.
It's really not

Plus there’s no clear replacement word that means the same thing.

its a pretty big word. and you could say, "stop tweeting bullshit," for example
Fine

Everyone stop tweeting bullshit.

Happy?

so because you have a 2nd grade reading level, we have to dumb ourselves down?

how about we cut the bullshit tweets and ignore the bullshit comments?

man im just playing around

and, also, you’re doing a pretty bad job of taking your own advice

OH(!)

I see what you did there.

Are you asking for a moratorium on moratorium?
Hooray for dumbing down
I second that motion
btw, it's not a tweet :)
Damn it why isnt the lakers game on league pass
it's on nbatv

same as the bulls game…

can we agree

rose and deng should get some hard earned rest in the second and third quarters tomorrow, regardless of score? i get the thibodeau system of driving his guys hard, but this shortened season is no joke

They should, but they won't
Nor would they want it.
well, let's just hope the bulls can put em away early

and get rest that way..

that depends if they will play the quarters like shit again

The Bulls need a Memphis-like game tomorrow

Is it me

Or does Derrick Fisher’s jaw protrude really bad?

I left after halftime and just got home now

THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT?

Oh wait… we have Derrick MUTHAFUCKIN ROSE!

But seriously, huh?

u left after halftime?

seriously?

Left the UC or like your home or something?
Sorry, yeah, left the house for a doctors appointment

Now I feel better lol

because of the doctor or the win?
Moreso the win
Night time doctors appointment you say?

Your wife believe that?

He just went in for a cleaning
Dr works for All State

wears tan pants

owned
McGrawDHBulls Mike McGraw
Pargo walked into Bulls locker room with middle finger extended (jokingly). He’s still very popular with former teammates.
fuck that chucker
Careful Jannero

You don’t want to throw away that team ambassador job you got lined up.

He's still popular?

He was popular?
Shit…

I think in the ATL locker room, they give him the finger
game winner

http://www.nba.com/video/games/bulls/2012/01/03/0021100077_atl_chi_play5.nba

i hope ppl will be giving thibs credit

tmrw for the balls to call for rose as a decoy on the final play

that was balls.. and brilliant!
i heard the game on the radio, so thanks for the link

i know noah had a bad game overall, but hes still one hell of a passer….that was not an easy pass at all if you ask me

For everyone who hates on Rose' 3 pt shot

this game is why he needs it and shows how it helps the Bulls. The Bulls were dead in the water until Rose hit those 3s. Atl was packing the lane, the Bulls had no offense going. Rose hit some 3s, it opened up the lane for Rose to drive and start finding people. As soon as Rose hit those 3s Teague had to meet him at the 3 pt line and that opened up everything that happened after that. On the scoring play, Joe Johnson is so concerned with Rose past the 3 pt line he momentarily leaves Deng allowing Noah and Deng to connect on the winning score. Rose needs to keep taking that 3 pt shot

Only problem I have with his 3s

He just need to know when to take them…That time was the time

Its a tremendous weapon for him

He will only get better on when to shoot it

Truth

It’s a necessary weapon. It just needs to be deployed at the proper times. I think he’s figuring that out. Used it well tonight. (Aslo drove when he had to as well)

Agreed..

We have to learn to trust his shot. He’s the fucking MVP, and when it’s falling he is the most deadly assassin in the NBA. Teams get scared shitless when he’s hitting it and they collapse because from then on out he usually owns them.

on doug thonus' site

theres these two podcasters, i forget their names, but you remind me of one of them…he hates kirk hinrich with a passion and recently argued the other guy about rose shooting 3s…..

Truth

He has to be confident in that shot, and if it means that he takes it a little too much, i’ll live with that.

Would it be safe to say Asik is our best defensive big right now?

such a sick, effort-filled night. i still can’t believe we got him deep in the second round

Asik is horrendous offensively, but he put more effort tonight than boozer has his whole time here
asik is really the bizarro boozer
he had a nice

running reverse layup.

Kobe is such a gunner

he has more shots than Gasol and Bynum combined. Kobe is 5/14. Gasol and Bynum 8/13.

Wow, just made it home from the game...

First 3 quarters were unimaginably horrid live…last quarter was nirvana.

Anyway I can see a replay of the game?

I was at work during it…

other than what they're going to show on the highlight reel, you don't want to
Good point.
If you can find just the fourth quarter

that’d be best.

lol it looks like there's a replay on nbatv at 3am... haha

well 2am your time i guess…

LP broadband is free right now right? since it’s part of the free preview for league pass? other than that.. paddy is right.. you prob don’t even want to watch the first three quarters lol

Might be available on the archive on league pass.

Not 100% sure tho.

I nominate the up and under by Asik for the game recap photo.
just got back from the UC

first 3 qtrs were brutal but that 4th though. D Rose does it again…Lu w. the game winning shot…what a day for Chi sports

Looked at halftime score

Oh, it’s one of THOSE games. Checked the final score: WIN?!?!?!? AHHHHHHHHH!!!

"one of THOSE games"

doesn’t really begin to describe it, lol. 26… points…

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