First half -- Gooden keeps us in the game, but Ben has his moments. Rose is having another sub-par outing so far. Noah is showing some surprising energy. Noc is helping on offense, but the Clips are going at him on defense. Deng is typically MIA.
Tyrus is mysteriously announced as having a concussion. When did that happen? They are speculating last game, but maybe this explains his performance so far in the NBA.
Third quarter -- Bulls start out very sloppy and are lucky the Clippers don't catch up faster. Gooden cools off, Ben and Larry jack up some bad shots, and we don't get back on defense. Rose and Noc are the only Bulls who show any signs of having a pulse. Thornton is eating Deng alive, not quite as badly as Gay did a few nights back, but he's clearly a very weak defender. Noc is a weak defender too though, so we have few options at the 3. Strangely, they are both playing together for long stretches. Why dey do dat? I guess we want to play a small lineup to maximize the advantage the Clippers have inside.
Oh, and we run the Ben Gordon end-of-the-quarter play and get a clock violation. Rose was out though, so I guess we had no choice.
Fourth quarter -- Noc keeps up close. He has a fabulous block at the 6:30 mark. Then he scores on a jumper next time down. Then he hits a couple threes. Rose starts to show some life. He drives the lane a couple times and they foul him. Ben makes a clutch drive at 1:50. Randolph, Thorton and Camby continue to kill us inside.
We're dead in the water when their Gordon fouls our Gordon for a four point play!! Clips have the last shot, but Thornton, inexplicably holds onto the ball and then jacks up a fadeaway!! And this is with Deng pretending to guard him, Zach killing us inside, and Camby just waiting to swoop in for a tip-in. It's a miracle we got to overtime.
Actually, the Bulls have been amazingly lucky the last four games. Memphis and New Jersey missed more easy layups against the Bulls than I've ever seen. And Charlotte missed plenty of easy shots too.
Anyway, back-to-back overtime games!! Let's hope we play better at home than we did at Charlotte. Clippers have truly given the Bulls the gift of an extra five minutes.
Clipps immediately go insde to Randolph and he scores easily. Ben jacks up a bad shot. Randolph travels, Rose misses. Clipps go inside to Randolph and he gets fouled. Noc misses a tough shot and Gooden misses the putback. Clock violation for Clipps. Could they give us any more chances?
Rose sets up an easy jumper for Deng. Only his second fg of the game! Thornton blows by Deng and it seems that Noc fouls out trying to step in. Then they change the call to Randolph! Huge.
Rose gets fouled and they don't call it. Clipps miss. Then the Gods smile on us. Rose loses the ball but we don't turn it over. And Deng makes an outside shot! He's been terrible the entire game but thankfully he's made two jumpers at the end here. Randolph gets an offensive foul and then argues it, like the big baby that he is, when it was clearly a correct call.
51 seconds, one point lead, Rose takes it to the hoop, makes it and gets fouled. That's the Derrick we're used to! Then Eric Gordon throws the ball away. He's going to look like the goat, but he wasn't the only Clipper to blow this game. And aside from two bonehead plays, Eric played pretty well.
Camby ended up with 27 rebounds and 19 points! Why isn't he on one of my fantasy teams? Randolph had 30 points. Thornton had 20. Noc and Gordon each had 22 points. Gooden had 18 points, 11 rebounds.
Winning NBA games is often a really fine line. I think that is why home court advantage is more important in the NBA than in most sports. The players are often tired and need that extra boost from the home crowd. Of course, the good teams can win on the road, but the Bulls are not a good team and can only squeak out victories like this with some good fortune and a home court advantage.
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