Hate to think that the Bulls are better off without their most expensive off-season acquistion, but it often looks that way. It has certainly looked that way during the past few games with Boozer going out with what seemed like a minor ankle turn. They move the ball better on offense and both Taj and Big Sexy are certainly better defenders. Boozer is a bit of a Black Hole offensively. He slowly pivots and then holds the ball for several seconds before doing something, and all too often what he decides to do is either take a fade away jumper or cause a turnover.
Hard to complain about the Bulls when they are tied for the one seed in the East! Clearly this is above expectation. Thibs should be a lock for coach of the year. Rose is looking legit for MVP, although I still have some doubts about whether he deserves it. Regardless, both Rose and the Bulls are playing very well right now and just before playoffs is a great time to be able to say that.
The bench have been the real heroes lately. Everyone on the second unit has been rock solid during the past few weeks. Not that the starters have been bad either. Bogans has clearly upped his game lately, and even my favorite-Bull-to-bash, Mr Deng, has played extremely well.
So why am I still not certain that the Bulls could win even a first round playoff series? The playoffs are just a different level of intensity and I wonder how flawed players like Deng and Boozer will hold up there. Not to be a pessimist, because the Bulls are in a great position right now and they can realistically beat any team in a series. I could not have said that early in the year, but they have proven that they can play with anyone.
They clearly have momentum and esprit de corps. Even Scalabrine (who I have to sometimes blink my eyes because I see Jackie Moon on the court when he comes in) has shown some true leadership. Bulls fans get a free Big Mac when the Bulls win a home game and score more than 100 points. However, the NBA also has an etiquette where teams don't try to score with the game in hand with less than 24 seconds left. So, the Bulls found themselves in the uncomfortable situation where they had a sure win with 98 points and got the ball with 21 seconds left. Of course the home crowd was screaming for a basket but Scalabrine demanded the ball and held it to the end. Then he followed up with an apologetic Twitter tweet to the fans for not getting them a sandwich. That's the veteran savvy that takes away the pressure from the guys who actually win the games!
A bit early to predict playoff seedings, but the one and two spots are clearly looking better than number three. The three seed will most likely face New York, or a suddenly hot Philadelphia, while the one or two will most likely see Charlotte or Indiana or whoever starts to fade in the stretch.
