Bulls Burn Heat

For the third time this year the Bulls beat the Heat- this time in Miami. Each win has been equally impressive. The first in Chicago w/out Lebron, the second with Lebron in Chicago and today's in Miami after the overcoming a 15 pt deficit. A couple of takeaways.
First the Heat desperately needed to win following 4 straight losses. Second Derrick Rose again being clutch in the fourth quarter. Third Lebron, Wade and company unable to close yet another game. The Bulls and Rose are finally starting to get some national exposure, but are still generally flying under the radar.

There may be some huge implications with this game. If the Bulls can maintain the 2nd spot in the East that they now have, they will not have to face the Knicks. Also, in the case of a tie with the Heat, the Bulls have the advantage.

One issue that the Bulls have to overcome on the road is playing to their competition. They must get better on the road and today seemed to show that they are on their way. The bench has been solid and having the five starters healthy and gelling is finally showing its true composition. But the biggest advantage the Bulls have this season in Thibs. Tomorrow Chris Paul and N.O.

Thank you; bye, bye!

So what actually happened in the Skiles firing episode? Did the team give up on him or did he give up on the team? Though this firing was a surprise to everyone but Pax, Kruase, and maybe Wallace- Skiles has played the same card he usually does. Skiles is a builder of teams not a closer. Just as in Phoenix, the team and or coach became burned out on the team.

Skiles is actually quite a good coach, but only in an appropriate setting. He is, in fact, probably better than 50% of the coaches in the NBA-think Cleveland, N.Y., Memphis, LAC,Minn etc. With the season quickly slipping away, Pax pulled the trigger on Skiles. Paxon knows the Bulls probably won't get much better this year. This leads one to believe that the players and coach had given up on each other. Pete Myers will be the interim and Boylan may be the other interim. With Skiles out of the situation, its all on the players. They don't have a lineup that blends well and there is no flow to their game.

Perhaps its true as Wallace says, "he quit on us, so we quit on him." But a coach only quits on a team when he has exhausted all possibilities. After staying loyal to his starters for too long, Skiles finally brought in hungry youngsters. None of his combinations worked well this season. A coach can't play an entire team of youngsters and if the vets don't want to play, he's done.

So, in the end, Skiles moves on as he always does- winning his first few years until he loses the team. His bonus this time is that he gets to keep the remainder of his 6mil owed. The bulls also voided the offset rule that would negate his salary if he signs elsewhere. Skiles will definitely wind up somewhere next year if he chooses. But unless he adapts more to the veteran players, the results will be the same. I think the best place for Skiles would be in college. He could teach and indoctrinate his players and would be very effective with his knowledge of the game.

The Paxson Rules: Shitbag players equals many losses

Having prostituted myself for a corporate sky box to the Bulls game yesterday I was witness to just the third win of the season. This team is playing lifelessly. Kirk is horrible. The whole team has trouble scoring. Noah has almost no talent. As a twenty year Bulls fan this is absolutely unacceptable. Unfortunately, with Reinsdorf, there will never be any accountability with upper management. Paxson could keep his job indefinitely, even though an honest evaluation of his rein would only leads to an immediate termination.

So much has been made of Paxson's drafting philosophy. Only drafting players from established winning programs. So burned was the franchise by the Eddie Curry & Tyson Chandler fiasco that they wanted to go with players that had a strong practice ethic and had come from a culture of winning. The result of this persistent philosophy? Nothing. How about worse than nothing. The worst record in the Eastern Conference.

Ultimately, in the NBA, pedigree doesn't matter nearly as much as talent. The only real talented player on this team is Tyrus
Thomas. The rest of the scrub club might as well be playing in the WNBA.

These are the players that Paxson was afraid of trading for Kobe? Really? Is he this bad at talent evaluation? How much worse could they possibly be if they had traded everyone for Kobe? Kobe would be able to account for several wins just by himself.

The crowd heavily booed Captain Kangaroo when he passed on an easy layup and deposited the ball to no where. Deng showed some life in the third quarter but even he has plateaued. How many superstars take three years to develop? Not many. He is what he is. Not one player on the Bulls would start on a contending team. Oftentimes, they don't have the second or third best player on the court during a whole game.

The East being what it is and the NBA's everyone makes the playoffs mentality will mean that the Skiles led Bulls will probably make the playoffs. That should not be enough. That is far too low a measuring stick. If this team does not make a major trade or turn things around considerably, Paxson for sure and maybe Skiles should be serving peanuts in the United Center.

I know I had the Bulls making the Eastern Conference Championship, but after what we've seen so far, I'd say 43 wins and a first round exit seems more likely. Too bad. Bulls fans have been suffering for a decade now. It might not seem long in a town who has a team that hasn't won in a 100 years, but for a once proud franchise, it is too long. Da Bulls are going to be da disappointment this year.

Kobige or no ??

So, the word around lately- well, actually for the last few months- is that Kobe wants out of L.A. and is looking for a team- yes, we are only concerned with the Bulls part in this. No question: it would be great to get him- but is it worth taring up the team to just have him?

I will totally admidt that I love this Bulls team. But I also have to acknowledge that this team mite actually really need a superstar like Kobe to jump to Championship contender status. What is to be done?

For keeping the present team to-gether there are a lot of arguments. I always love when a team is assembled young and kept to-gether. The Bulls have followed this pattern the last 3-4 years. The core of Deng, Heinrich, Gordon, Nocioni, and Duhon have gotten better each year. They all have faults- Heinrich pushed around too much, Gordon streaky, Duhon maybe just a bit player in the future. But each year they have meshed to-gether a little but better and seem poised to do well in the conference. The last three years they have started out badly before rebounding in the latter half of the season to get into the plyoffs. Last year the sloppystart @ the beginning of the season was minimal. Here's saying that they get off to a great start this year and get the #1 seed in the conference.

I also like the addition of Smith and Noah. Neither is a Kobe like superstar- Smith will play his part and Noah will have his part defined for him by the end of the season (he'll do well)- but the Bulls will be improved by their additions. And the project that may yield the most in the future- Tyrus Thomas- I feel will contrib way more than he did in his rookie year. I like this prospect a lot.

Again, I see the Bulls with the best record and #1 seed in the east @ the end of the year. Yes they will. But is this good enough to win it all??

And there we have the difficulty of the whole matter. I don't think that this team is capable of winning it all- and they need someone like Kobe to push this team to the top. Defensively they are a great team, even though a bit weak @ center. However, it's the offense that could really use a giant scorer.

But to rip apart the whole team?? Along with draft picks, the Bulls would have to match Kobe's salary with a number of players. I don't see this team as the cohesive team if Deng, Gordon, and Heinrich go. It would be too much of a drastic makeover in such a short shive rof time. Now, don't get me wrong- a team built around Kobe would do just fine- but are we going to take the risk? Again, Is ee the Bulls winning the conference this year, but not it all. My thinking is is that if the trade can be done w/out destroying the makeup of this team- and, to tell you the truth, just adding Kobe will change (not destroy) the make up- then get it done.

However, I have faith that this team will be going places. Maybe next year, But I'm willing to let it all jell this year for next year.

Progression !!!

It was just a joy to watch. So exciting. And yes, I had them left for dead, but now I'm jumping on the bandwagon:

WE MUST DO IT!!

Several different thoughts, jumbled all over each other=

Shot after shot after shot went in. Until i checked the box score earlier, I though the Bulls shot 100%. Thank you Jesus for a hot hitting fool like Little Ben G., who will never miss another shot until the end of time.

Kirk!! Just loved the play where he midded a three from the left corner, ran for the daylight in the other corner while ignoring the ball bouncing out near him (he knew his teamate would get it and get it to him)and then drained the three. 13 assists for THAT fool.

He was invisible, right? Talking w/ Crankface, and we both were like "and we didn't even need a big game from Deng". Yet again, the box shows Luol with 20 points, seven boards, and four assists. Hopefully he'll have just as invisible a game Thursday.

Tyrus Thomas, SLAMMING !!! Just like the rest of the team, when we needed some play out of the ordinary, here was Double T two handing'm down. After Kirks three (above), my favourite was the alley-oop he put down from Ben Wallace in the third quarter. He was energy that the Pistons just couldn't deal withon top of the rest of the teams play.

P.J. Brown, hustling on the break, hitting the shots (15 points), and getting the boards (eight). Great game !!

So, Thursday. Yes, very obvious that they can pull it off @ home. Detroits gonna make some changes, but luckily there's only one day they can practice them. I suggest get in the faces of the Bulls shooters more; but then hopefully we can get inside more. The Bulls need to avoid cold shooting and keep the stifling D going.

Lets go Bulls!!

Survival !!

So, the Bulls didn’t look all that outmatched Sunday in their 102-87 defeat of the Detroit Pistons to stay alive and provide some hope in their forlorn playoff series. They played with a seriousness from beginning to end that seemed more real than any other time in this series. From the beginning, they got the ball inside with great passing and ball movement that the Pistons defense could not keep up with. At times the Bulls seemed to be playing the ballgame that beat Miami.

Although the Pistons would have some leads in the first half and the Bulls seemed in danger of collapsing as the fourth quarter rolled on, they held on and closed out Detroit with a youthful display of movement, crisp passing (although some passes were horribly forced and resulted in some buck -ugly turnovers), and tough D. Where in game # 3 the Bulls collapsed in the third quarter, this time they extended the lead and looked ready to really womp the mo-town crew. Although there was some unsteadiness in the fourth quarter that looked like another disastrous collapse in the making, they held on and gained a lot of confidence. There was no disaster: the Bulls held their own and won.

The list of contributors was great. Ben Wallace had a 17 boards and hit 5-8 ft’s. Kirk Heinrich had a great game on both offense and D. And Ben Gordon, after a nothing 1st half, had a solid 2d half on the way to 19 points that was highlighted by an incredibly important three point shot late in the game that helped stunt the Pistons comeback. And Luol Deng continued his outstanding and continually getting better play. Luol was the only player not to sit the entire game. However, it was the playing great as a team to-gether that won the game. I can guess that the practices the team had in preparing for this game had a huge effect: the Pistons were the same team- it‘s not like they had a bad game- but now the Bulls seemed to have answers. The biggest change was getting the ball inside and actually scoring. The Bulls tried that in the first three games, but only now did they succeed when the game was on the line and not hopeless over.

The future? Methinks it ends Tuesday nite. We got what every team wants in a series down 0-3: that first win. But Detroit has such a good team and they so dominated the Bulls in The Palace that I have little hope for a game six. But one never knows: as I stated above, there was no collapse and the Pistons were beaten. If they can somehow survive another game in Michigan, maybe…………………

I am seeing the comparisons betwixt the Bulls-Pistons from now vs. the way back rivalry of the late '80's and 90's. It's not that it's these two teams, Chicago and Detroit. The uniforms may be the same, but the personnel and focus of both sets of teams are radically different from way back. It's not that the Bulls are the up and coming team that has to learn and live another year or two before they can successfully challenge the giants. The comparison I see is that these Bulls are getting their asses kicked by the Pistons.

That's just the way it is. Detroit, in their first two home games, have never even looked sweaty. As Rosario said, I'm tired of seeing these guys smile. The playoff series in '88, '89, and '90 all ended with the Bulls getting a little closer each year, but beinbg dominated when it really counted. As these series went on, the Bulls were able to get some wins @ home. Eventually they superseeded the Pistons, but those early series seemed just as this- a championship caliber team pushing around youngsters.

Thursday nite the Bulls have to respond with a big game, but the team seems utterly demoralised on the road court. Detroit moved the ball well, played d, and shot well. The Bulls were the absolute opposite. Again, the body language says it all- smiles -v- downcast grimaces.

I can't see the Bulls even winning one game they have been so outplayed. Thursday nite the series comes to Chicago, and the Bulls have to win. If they can control home court for the next two games, then they will only lose this series 4-3.

Lets go Bulls.

Can 2007 be like 1991?

Who can forget the end of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals when the classless Pistons walked off the court with 7 seconds left. Refusing to shake the Bulls hands. This was after the Pistons had beaten the Bulls the year before in the Eastern Conference Finals. This victory propelled the Jordan Bulls into one of the greatest dynasties in the modern NBA. The Bulls circa 2007 certainly aren't the Jordan Bulls, but could a victory over the Pistons be another defining moment in Bulls history?

I hope so. But honestly, I'm not optimistic. If you break it down position by position, the Pistons play like the Bulls, but are better at every position. I think Skiles might have the advantage or Flip, but Chauncey is better than Kirk, Rip is better than Gordon, Tayshaun and Luol might be a wash, Rasheed is better than Nocioni or Tyrus and Webber, while a defensive liability is better than the Wallace.

Can the Bulls win? Yes. They need to win one of the first two games in Detroit and finish the series in six. The Pistons have not been a great home team, the Bulls need to take advantage of that. Our Wallace has played some of his best games against Detroit, let's hope that continues. With Dallas being unceremoniously dumped by Oakland ( where exactly is Golden State)the door has been opened. This Bulls team has as realistic chance of winning the NBA Finals.

All the exciting things about the Bulls this year, unselfish play, no real superstar, the extra pass, great defense can also be said about the Pistons. Let's hope the Baby Bulls are all grown up and ready when the Bad Boys Earth Two come to play.

Prediction: Pistons in Six

Just Finish !!

After giving fans a chillingly bad vibe in the N.J. loss to end the regular season, the Bulls punished the Miami heat 4-0 to complete only the second opening round playoff sweep of defending champions in N.B.A. history. And they looked good doing it. A lot has been written about how this Bulls team resembles the early 90’s model in being built slowly while being allowed to grow. They are a hugely different from the Frankenstein model Miami sports: Shaq, ‘Zo, Payton, Williams, and sundry other parts assembled from afar. A healthy Dwayne Wade last year allowed Miami to win it all, but the collection of yesterdays stars and Dwayne Wade could not keep up with the Bulls in any facet of the game this year. This team has been allowed to mesh to-gether well, and the addition of Ben Wallace to the core has been a major plus this series.

It was good to see the Bulls respond to the season ending N.J. loss which dropped them from #2 to #5 in the important playoff seedings. Losing the opportunity to play two straight series against weak opposition to open the playoffs and instead pairing them first against the champs and then the #1 seeded Detroit Pistons could have crushed a teams psyche. But, these was no way even close that these guys were effected.

The Bulls are a talented, deep, young, defensive minded team that used all of these things to overwhelm the Heat. The truth was out the first quarter of game #3. Down 2 games to none, the Heat had to respond by coming out all championship style- but instead it was Luol ‘denging down shots, Wallace boxing out, and the Bulls hustling everywhere. To me, the Heats championship ran out unofficially early in the third quarter of this game when the Bulls survived a furious quarter and a half surge* and put the game away. Shaq had gotten some baskets with his inside immovable positioning, but the defense tightened up and frustrated the Heat, and Ben Gordon started to hit shots.

In Sundays game I just saw a beaten Miami side from the get go, despite the few scattered heroics of what was essentially the rear guard of the championship. Again, the Bulls were able do what they wished almost the whole game. The 4-0 series win was fairly indicitive of how both teams were paying.

Now Detroit. They also are coming off a 4-0 sweep, and seem to be a bigger problem for the Bulls then the somewhat injured and old Heat. However, I have the same good feeling about this team, and the 1st round only strenghtened it. This teams should be going to the finals, if they can get past the Pistons. And they will.



*=funny-I hesitated to use this word.

On the Brink?

To Quote the famous Commandant Hilts, " How the fuck did this happen"? The Bulls went from number two seed to number five in an instant. They now have the unenviable match up with the Heat. This incarnation of the Bulls have always played the Heat well, but this Heat season is quite bizarre.

The Heat begin the season with Shaq out, then Riley goes out, and then the season ending injury that wasn't hits Wade. All this led to a well rested and very resurgent late season rally for the Heat. The most important factor that can be gleaned from their season is that Shaq can still play hard every night if he is forced to or feels like it.

Where does this leave the Bulls? In a seven game series, the Heat definitely have the advantage. Shaq will wear down our frontline as they double team him. Though Wade hasn't been the same since the injury, he is still the most clutch player in the East.

Ah, playoff Basketball, what a time. The good players become great and the great players become immortal. Miami has two immortals already, but the Bulls have nothing to lose. If they go out in the first round, it will be said that they had the unfortunate match up of meeting last years champs. Statistically it looks very bad for the Bulls. Champions are rarely defeated in the first round under the current playoff system.

Bulls in Six!

No Doubting Thomas

The Bulls are now a season high 10 games over .500 after their victory over the Celtics last night. The Celtics certainly are a sorry team and Doc will be gone at the end of the year. Truthfully, Danny Ainge is the one who should be fired there, but that is another post.

I've been frustrated with the Bulls this season, impatient with their perceived lack of progress and zero low post game. Last night that all changed. Tyrus Thomas had a team high 23 points and was aided by Wallace's 19. That's over 40 points for our bigs! True to form for a Skiles team, the '06-'07 Bulls are improving as the season goes on and are 9-3 since the All-Star Break. What has been even more impressive is that this has all occurred with Nocioni sidelined. Nocioni's absence has allowed Tyrus Thomas to get some real playing time. I was very excited about his draft pick last June, but had been disappointed with him. Again, credit my impatience. After waiting for Eddie and Tyson for all those years, I had grown weary of waiting again. Thomas, however, might really be worth the wait.

No Doubt, Johnny 'Redd' Kerr belongs, along with Ron Santo, in the Chicago Sportscasting Retirement Home, but he did manage a coherent thought last night. He mentioned how the Bulls haven't figured out how to utilize Tyrus Thomas' athleticism yet. And I agree. Watching him last night, I was struck with how athletically challenged the Bulls have been for so long. Thomas can sky! Ben Wallace was throwing up assists all over the basket. It really was a pleasure to see someone in a Bulls uniform with some athletic ability.

If Thomas can build on this, we can get Nocioni back, this Bulls team has a real chance to go farther than the first round of the playoffs. After that, who knows?

Finally, those green unis have to go. They are horribly ugly. Please retire them.

Looking Good

The up and down season for the Bulls is in the midst of an upturn lately. They have beaten Cleveland away, Washington @ home, and just lost away to Detroit today. With the trading deadline passed and the Bulls roster settled for the rest of the season, playing well against possible playoff opponents is very important. And winning games, especially with the question around the health of Andres Nocioni for the rest of the year, takes on added importance if the team is to get a high seed. On Friday I was able to attend the game against the Wizards, and the Bulls looked pretty good. It was a good match up in looking forward to the playoffs: Washington had the second seed in the Eastern conference @ game time.

I went with my girlfriend, nieces #1 and #2, and two of #2’s frenz. Although they all wanted the home team to win, it was fairly obvious that only #1 and I could name even one player on the team. What did that matter to them? Modern N.B.A. games are crammed with bingo games, the LovaBulls, and t-shirts launched like R.P.G.’s to the upper accesses of the stadium. Remember when you could go to a game in Chicago and just hear to organ @ the old Stadium or famous Nancy Faust teaming with Harry @ old Comisky? The lengthening of t.v. commercials and the destruction of the modern attention span means that we are stuck with these distractions during all pro games. So, along with the five ladies I was with, cheered along trying to win Bulls Bingo (I'm sure the fix is in-never won), rooted for #1 in the bottled water race, and gloried when the bulls finally hit 100 points: FREE BIG MACS !!! I must admit, it made the game for 2/3ds of my crew, but I do miss those non televised high school games where a 20 second time out actually is 20 seconds.

The game, you ask? So, the Bulls looked good against the #2 team in the conference?

They did. Not great, but they got it done. Throughout the game, the offense consistently moved the ball around and found the open man. However, the Bulls could not hit the net consistently through the first half. It was frustrating to watch the ball get to a wide open player only to see the shot miss time and time again. The notion that the Bulls needed to address their offense deficiencies was squarely in my mind throughout the first 24m.

Despite the shitty shooting, the Bulls were leading by five @ the half and seemed the better team. It was, as always, the defense that kept the Bulls on top of the game. The Wizards had some nice shooting in the first half, but they were also forced into several 24 second shot violations and had other hurried shots forced upon them. Ben Wallace typified the smothering defense of the Bulls. He was able to chop the ball out of a Wizards players hands for a steal and then later track down and break up a court-long pass cornerback style. He also had 12 boards.

With Nocioni possibly out for the year, the rest of the team will have to replace his energetic in-your-face effectiveness. Coach Scott Skiles has indicated that Malik Allen, and to a lesser extent Tyrus Thomas, will get expanded minutes. Ten Bulls played tonight. Another player seemingly destined to get more playing time (18m tonight), P.J. Brown, disappointed. Twice I noticed him slacking to loose balls that seemed within his reach. Both times he refused to put his body in between the ball and the opposing player. Anything but hustle, it seems. He played less in the second half.

The second half showed the Bulls shooting better and clamping down on D. The Bulls, @ one point leading by 14 points, survived several questionable referee calls (Chris Duhon was tossed in a scramble for the ball that totally looked 50/50) and a Washington run to close the third quarter that cut the Bulls lead to three points. However, that was it for Washington. The Bulls asserted themselves in the first three minutes of the fourth and kept the game in their grip for the remaining time.

Player of the game? Luol Deng continued with his outstanding play of late with a career high 32 points to go with 11 boards. Captain Kirk closed on a triple double (14p, 12a, 8r) and looked great running the offense. But the player who kept riling up the home crowd was Washington star Gilbert Arenas. He finished with 36 points and @ one point had 18 straight points for Washington.

So, which way are the Bulls going? Going up, going up? Maybe. The conference can be there for the taking. Miami just got Shaq back, but now Wade is hobbled and the team is @ .500. The Bulls had a good lead in Detroit yesterday, but couldn't make it stick. As I write, I can see the Bulls maybe making it to the second round this year-anything less I feel would be a disappointment. However, I'm guessing that the Bulls will have another year to grow and add another player in the off season. Bit by bit seems to be the word on this model of Chicago bulls.

Skiles Skating on Thin Ice

The Bulls start the second half of the NBA season with a disappointing record only 4 games above .500. Skiles has been demanding that it is time for his players to play like NBA players now, that they can no longer get by on being kids. Well, I think Skiles has look in the mirror and wonder what kind of job he has done. This team has too much talent to have this record. It has been ten years since the Bulls have won a playoff series.

What has Skiles done? It seems, that besides the Bulls re-upping his contract last year, that if Skiles does not get this team to least to the Eastern Conference Finals, serious consideration has be made for replacing him.

What worries me more is that to win in the NBA, you need a marquee, superstar player. Oftentimes two. Its clear the Bulls need at least one more player. If that player is Paul Gasol or not, I'm not sure. The more important question is how will this new marquee player react to Skiles. Skiles job was to give the 'kids' discipline. Has he accomplished this? It's debatable. The Bulls lose an incredible amount of large leads. This is mostly due to Skiles poor in-game coaching skills. No one ever accused Skiles of being smart, but just being a disciplinarian is not enough anymore.

The city is hungry and due for a winner. Perhaps Skiles should be given the same ultimatum as Isiah, produce significant improvement or be let go.