Now that it is basically all over for the Bulls except for the crying, let's look at how they got there and where they are going. In game two, the Bulls mysteriously didn't show up. Boozer was typically awful, but the overall energy level was missing. It was a tragic game to give away at home in a series where every game is tight.
Bulls did come with energy in game three, but unfortunately the Heat were too hot, most particularly Bosh, who was just hitting everything he put up. Some of those points were bad Boozer defense, but plenty of them were just Bosh hitting the jumper after Bulls bigs rotated off to double team James. This is the dream setup for Miami, because when Bosh can hit the jumper before the defense can rotate back onto him, it is nearly impossible to beat Miami. You have to give a lot of credit to James (Miami's clear MVP for this series) for being able to force a double team and then get Bosh the ball quickly.
Game four was a tragic overtime loss. Pretty much every Bull except for Boozer played hard on defense, but Rose was off his game offensively, much as he has been the entire series, and the Bulls just don't have enough scorers to cover for that. They had golden opportunities to win this one in regulation, but came up a bit short. Those crucial fourth quarter miscues have doomed them against a team that is just enough ahead of the Bulls offensively as the Bulls are against them on defense.
That fourth quarter also illustrates why I'm a confirmed Boozer basher, even for a game where he was OK offensively. At one point, Miller came charging wildly into the lane, dribbling almost out of control. Miller is not fast and Boozer had plenty of time to stop over and take a charge, but Boozer perpetually has his feet cemented to the floor on defense, so all he did was wave at him as he went by for a layup. A play later, he did the same thing to James, only fouling him for good measure to give the Heat a valuable three point play. Meanwhile, on the other end of the court, Haslem (the un-Boozer) slid over to take a huge charge. It was actually a dubious call, but the fact is that Haslem put himself in a position to get it and Boozer never does.
And that is the present and future of the Bulls, and a big part of the reason why it is a sad joke to give Forman co-executive of the year honors, ironically with Pat Riley. Much as I hate Miami's whinny Big Three, the Heat are in far better shape for the future than the Bulls. Our biggest free agent acquisition, Boozer, is an expensive albatross around our necks for years to come. He is basically untradeable and I have almost no hope for a Deng-like performance leap. And speaking of Deng, I think now is a great time to unload him while his stock is high! We have no answers at present for the fact that teams are going to get better at ganging up on Rose, much like Miami is doing, and the Bulls will struggle to find alternative scoring.
As a side-note, Asik's series ending injury is a bigger factor than most people realize. Even though he normally comes in for Noah, we now have to leave that to Taj, which means more Boozer in the second half than is good for us.
Still, Boozer doom and gloom aside, it was an excellent year for the Bulls. They did better than expected during the regular season and about as well as expected in the post. If Forman can somehow improve on that next year, then he'll earn the accolades that his mistakenly received this year.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Good Bulls Show Up
Game one started off scary for Bulls fans, with the Heat getting a few quick steals and dunks. Rose looked more like a careless Russell Westbrook than the steady MVP and the ball seemed to be bouncing Miami's way. But the Bulls quickly composed themselves, primarily through solid defense and hustle plays and were tied at half.
About midway through the third quarter the Bulls went on a quick spurt to change a small deficit into a ten point lead. Then they maintained that lead until late in the fourth, where they blew it open to seal the game. It is common to see a situation like that in NBA games. As the fourth quarter shrinks, teams down by ten or so start to take riskier shots, trying to get back in. They either make them and create a close game at the end or wind up losing by more. So, when you see headlines like "Bulls Crush Heat" keep in mind that this game was basically even the entire way except for that short burst in the third quarter and the pull-away at the end.
Still, that doesn't make it any less sweet. Clearly, this was the Bulls team from game six against Atlanta and not the fumbling goofballs that had so much trouble with the first two series. They played hard the entire way, particularly on defense and while rebounding. One could argue that the second chance opportunities that the Bulls got with offensive rebounds was the difference in the game. Outside of getting caught in the air on some fakes (and then fouling) the Bulls did a fabulous job on James and Wade. Bosh had a big scoring game, but I think a lot of those were due to excellent passing by James when the Bulls doubled up on him.
I basically started this blog to vent about the stupid things the Bulls seemed to be always doing. This year, I'm suddenly seeing them correcting just about everything I point out. A lot of credit for that has to go to Thibodeau. I complained about Deng's defense, toughness and shot selection for years and suddenly he improves on all three. More recently, I complained about court time for Boozer and now we have our second game with no Boozer in the fourth quarter. Mind you, he wasn't awful while he was in there, although he did get one of his infuriating defensive 3 second technicals.
Which brings me to The Tajinator (*nickname patent pending)!! Taj was a monster out there in game one! He gave us a poster jam over Wade for a three point play. He blocked James on a drive while guarding him one-on-one. And just to make the evening perfect for the fans, he had a highlight one-handed put-back jam near the end of the game. Truly, if you didn't see that last one, go to youtube right now, search and be amazed.
Miami is vulnerable in the frontcourt, particularly with Big Z and Haslem nursing injuries, so having our bigs play well is one of the keys to the series. Noah was all intensity and motion. Taj was amazing. Asik was very solid, not fouling as much, as he is prone to do. Boozer was still stupid, but he did a lot of things right as well, such as rebounding. He had a couple baskets directly off of offensive rebounds and this is something we have too rarely seen from him.
One thing Miami tries to do in order to offset this weakness is to go small and force a Bulls big man to come out on a three point shooter. This worked a bit for them, with Jones knocking down some three point shots over slowly closing Bulls bigs. But the Bulls adjusted their rotation to minimize this and I think more than made up for it with the rebounding advantage. This is going to be a mini-battle throughout the series as both teams make adjustments to take advantage of mismatches.
It's a great start for the Bulls but I can't help thinking that the Bulls must win their home games in order to take this series. We've seen this team lose focus during the previous two series. It is best to keep Miami on their heels. Once they get their cocky swagger back then they play the way they opened game one and the Bulls will have big trouble with that. Bulls need to use their depth to keep up defensive pressure at all times. If I were Miami's coach, I'd tell James and Wade to drive more, looking for fouls, kickouts for open threes, or easy baskets. The Bulls need to be ready for that.
About midway through the third quarter the Bulls went on a quick spurt to change a small deficit into a ten point lead. Then they maintained that lead until late in the fourth, where they blew it open to seal the game. It is common to see a situation like that in NBA games. As the fourth quarter shrinks, teams down by ten or so start to take riskier shots, trying to get back in. They either make them and create a close game at the end or wind up losing by more. So, when you see headlines like "Bulls Crush Heat" keep in mind that this game was basically even the entire way except for that short burst in the third quarter and the pull-away at the end.
Still, that doesn't make it any less sweet. Clearly, this was the Bulls team from game six against Atlanta and not the fumbling goofballs that had so much trouble with the first two series. They played hard the entire way, particularly on defense and while rebounding. One could argue that the second chance opportunities that the Bulls got with offensive rebounds was the difference in the game. Outside of getting caught in the air on some fakes (and then fouling) the Bulls did a fabulous job on James and Wade. Bosh had a big scoring game, but I think a lot of those were due to excellent passing by James when the Bulls doubled up on him.
I basically started this blog to vent about the stupid things the Bulls seemed to be always doing. This year, I'm suddenly seeing them correcting just about everything I point out. A lot of credit for that has to go to Thibodeau. I complained about Deng's defense, toughness and shot selection for years and suddenly he improves on all three. More recently, I complained about court time for Boozer and now we have our second game with no Boozer in the fourth quarter. Mind you, he wasn't awful while he was in there, although he did get one of his infuriating defensive 3 second technicals.
Which brings me to The Tajinator (*nickname patent pending)!! Taj was a monster out there in game one! He gave us a poster jam over Wade for a three point play. He blocked James on a drive while guarding him one-on-one. And just to make the evening perfect for the fans, he had a highlight one-handed put-back jam near the end of the game. Truly, if you didn't see that last one, go to youtube right now, search and be amazed.
Miami is vulnerable in the frontcourt, particularly with Big Z and Haslem nursing injuries, so having our bigs play well is one of the keys to the series. Noah was all intensity and motion. Taj was amazing. Asik was very solid, not fouling as much, as he is prone to do. Boozer was still stupid, but he did a lot of things right as well, such as rebounding. He had a couple baskets directly off of offensive rebounds and this is something we have too rarely seen from him.
One thing Miami tries to do in order to offset this weakness is to go small and force a Bulls big man to come out on a three point shooter. This worked a bit for them, with Jones knocking down some three point shots over slowly closing Bulls bigs. But the Bulls adjusted their rotation to minimize this and I think more than made up for it with the rebounding advantage. This is going to be a mini-battle throughout the series as both teams make adjustments to take advantage of mismatches.
It's a great start for the Bulls but I can't help thinking that the Bulls must win their home games in order to take this series. We've seen this team lose focus during the previous two series. It is best to keep Miami on their heels. Once they get their cocky swagger back then they play the way they opened game one and the Bulls will have big trouble with that. Bulls need to use their depth to keep up defensive pressure at all times. If I were Miami's coach, I'd tell James and Wade to drive more, looking for fouls, kickouts for open threes, or easy baskets. The Bulls need to be ready for that.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Finishing off the Hawks
To finish recapping the Atlanta series, Rose was completely unstoppable in game three, turning in a 44 point performance that would justify any MVP votes cast for him. Bulls came out amazingly flat in game four, but hung close until midway into the fourth quarter before collapsing completely. Boozer was horrific but all the Bulls looked like they were just expecting Rose to rescue them at the end. Thibs gave us some inspired coaching in game five, benching Boozer, and less importantly Noah for the entire fourth quarter. Asik, and more importantly Taj, came up big when their numbers were called.
And there was carry over into game six as well, since both Boozer and Noah started the game off very energetically. Boozer actually slightly resembled the offensive player the Bulls thought they were going to get, and he wasn't quite as completely pathetic on defense as usual. Overall, this was probably the most impressive game of the playoffs for the Bulls as just about everyone played well. Rose only had 19 points in this game, far below the 30 to 40 he'd been getting, but he had 12 assists. It was the first playoff game where the Bulls looked like they would have a chance of beating the Heat in the next round.
Speaking of which, this next round will be quite the challenge. I know the Bulls have home court advantage and had good success against Miami during the regular season, but it is no surprise that the betting odds favor Miami. Even at home the Bulls are 4.5 point underdogs. Miami is playing quite well in the playoffs and the Bulls have struggled more often than not. If the Bulls play like they did in game six, then they can win against anyone, but they will come up short if their play remains inconsistent.
And there was carry over into game six as well, since both Boozer and Noah started the game off very energetically. Boozer actually slightly resembled the offensive player the Bulls thought they were going to get, and he wasn't quite as completely pathetic on defense as usual. Overall, this was probably the most impressive game of the playoffs for the Bulls as just about everyone played well. Rose only had 19 points in this game, far below the 30 to 40 he'd been getting, but he had 12 assists. It was the first playoff game where the Bulls looked like they would have a chance of beating the Heat in the next round.
Speaking of which, this next round will be quite the challenge. I know the Bulls have home court advantage and had good success against Miami during the regular season, but it is no surprise that the betting odds favor Miami. Even at home the Bulls are 4.5 point underdogs. Miami is playing quite well in the playoffs and the Bulls have struggled more often than not. If the Bulls play like they did in game six, then they can win against anyone, but they will come up short if their play remains inconsistent.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Boozer Bashing
Knocking Carlos Boozer is old hat for me, as I've been doing it since even before he got here. The real red flag for me was seeing how happy Utah fans were to see him go, and knowing that if Jerry Sloan couldn't get him to play defense, then nobody ever would. Now it seems like most of Chicago has joined the hate-wagon, with fans booing him at home and old timers like Horace Grant calling him out.
The Bulls have rallied together on this subject, with everyone from players to coaches cutting him slack, mostly excusing his poor play because of injury. It is right that the Bulls do this and a good sign of their team unity. However Carlos Boozer hasn't been playing badly because of his "turf toe" injury. He plays badly because he is lazy, stupid, clumsy, and a bit of a head case. Grant was too kind in his criticism. If Boozer's play was anywhere near as effective as Horace Grant's (a guy who was the fourth or five option on his team) then no one would be booing him at the United Center.
Have you ever seen a veteran player get as many defensive 3 second calls as Boozer? Have you ever seen a power forward less effective at defending the pick and pop, or on helping out on the weak side? Have you ever seen a player make such a spectacle over the very few times he actually does score a basket, obnoxiously wagging his head back and forth, as if trying to knock that tiny pea brain of his back into place? And how about all the mishandled balls? Or the constant bitching and glaring at the refs when he thinks he's fouled? Have you ever, ever, seen the guy hustle back down the court when the other team has a chance at a fast break? And few players shout obscenities as loudly as Booz does on the court; you can always hear him even over the TV filters. Yes, it is no surprise that Bulls fans, who are every bit as discerning as Jazz fans, have starting booing the guy.
I joked earlier that Boozer was my new Deng, the Bull I used to bash up until this year when he suddenly decided to play decently. But now I would say that Boozer is becoming my Tyrus Thomas, a guy whose play is so staggeringly predisposed to infuriate that it becomes impossible to watch him without becoming incensed.
I'm an optimist though, so I'm not completely giving up hope. I've seen Boozer have good offensive games, not as a Bull actually, but last year against the Bulls. No doubt Paxson and Forman saw that game as well and decided then and there to sign him without doing any more research on the matter. The point is though that he is capable of producing good offense. And even though he's a wretched defender, he's OK defending on the ball in the low post, a position that utilizes his shoving skills most effectively. The Bulls should chop his minutes down and use him in spots where his strengths would be most effective and weaknesses least damaging.
It is possible to be a very good player in this league and be a poor defender. Zach Randolph is a perfect example of that. LaMarcus Aldridge also comes to mind. I'm sure the Bulls were hoping to get a player close to that level when they signed Boozer, but so far they've gotten nothing. And don't try to show me stats that he's rebounding, because he's a master of the "poach rebound". Every time a defensive rebound comes down in a spot where Boozer and some other Bull could equally get it, Boozer claws at it like a maniac while Noah, Taj, Thomas, etc, wisely let the crazy guy have the ball before it gets knocked out of bounds. In other words, his rebounding stats are inflated.
OK, now that I've beat that horse to death, let's take a lightning look at the Hawks series. Bulls came out flat in game one, Atlanta hustled and shot the ball well, so they won. In game two, Bulls defended well and both teams shot poorly. Bulls won that one with defense and rebounding. The big surprise is that Rose has not been able to have a monster game with Hinrich being out of the lineup. His backup, Teague, has played far better than anyone expected and Rose has been a bit off. Not sure if it was the MVP distraction or what. Even with home court advantage taken away the Bulls should still win this series, even with a pathetic Boozer. However, they will not get by the Heat playing at this level.
The Bulls have rallied together on this subject, with everyone from players to coaches cutting him slack, mostly excusing his poor play because of injury. It is right that the Bulls do this and a good sign of their team unity. However Carlos Boozer hasn't been playing badly because of his "turf toe" injury. He plays badly because he is lazy, stupid, clumsy, and a bit of a head case. Grant was too kind in his criticism. If Boozer's play was anywhere near as effective as Horace Grant's (a guy who was the fourth or five option on his team) then no one would be booing him at the United Center.
Have you ever seen a veteran player get as many defensive 3 second calls as Boozer? Have you ever seen a power forward less effective at defending the pick and pop, or on helping out on the weak side? Have you ever seen a player make such a spectacle over the very few times he actually does score a basket, obnoxiously wagging his head back and forth, as if trying to knock that tiny pea brain of his back into place? And how about all the mishandled balls? Or the constant bitching and glaring at the refs when he thinks he's fouled? Have you ever, ever, seen the guy hustle back down the court when the other team has a chance at a fast break? And few players shout obscenities as loudly as Booz does on the court; you can always hear him even over the TV filters. Yes, it is no surprise that Bulls fans, who are every bit as discerning as Jazz fans, have starting booing the guy.
I joked earlier that Boozer was my new Deng, the Bull I used to bash up until this year when he suddenly decided to play decently. But now I would say that Boozer is becoming my Tyrus Thomas, a guy whose play is so staggeringly predisposed to infuriate that it becomes impossible to watch him without becoming incensed.
I'm an optimist though, so I'm not completely giving up hope. I've seen Boozer have good offensive games, not as a Bull actually, but last year against the Bulls. No doubt Paxson and Forman saw that game as well and decided then and there to sign him without doing any more research on the matter. The point is though that he is capable of producing good offense. And even though he's a wretched defender, he's OK defending on the ball in the low post, a position that utilizes his shoving skills most effectively. The Bulls should chop his minutes down and use him in spots where his strengths would be most effective and weaknesses least damaging.
It is possible to be a very good player in this league and be a poor defender. Zach Randolph is a perfect example of that. LaMarcus Aldridge also comes to mind. I'm sure the Bulls were hoping to get a player close to that level when they signed Boozer, but so far they've gotten nothing. And don't try to show me stats that he's rebounding, because he's a master of the "poach rebound". Every time a defensive rebound comes down in a spot where Boozer and some other Bull could equally get it, Boozer claws at it like a maniac while Noah, Taj, Thomas, etc, wisely let the crazy guy have the ball before it gets knocked out of bounds. In other words, his rebounding stats are inflated.
OK, now that I've beat that horse to death, let's take a lightning look at the Hawks series. Bulls came out flat in game one, Atlanta hustled and shot the ball well, so they won. In game two, Bulls defended well and both teams shot poorly. Bulls won that one with defense and rebounding. The big surprise is that Rose has not been able to have a monster game with Hinrich being out of the lineup. His backup, Teague, has played far better than anyone expected and Rose has been a bit off. Not sure if it was the MVP distraction or what. Even with home court advantage taken away the Bulls should still win this series, even with a pathetic Boozer. However, they will not get by the Heat playing at this level.
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