In the Driver's Seat

Bulls got the big win they needed over Boston to put them in excellent position for the one seed in the East. Even more reassuring is that the two guys I'm most worried about in big games, namely Deng and Boozer, both played pretty well. And our three-headed SG monster has worked out OK lately as well. Bogans has given them good defense and is finally hitting some threes. Korver gives them a streak shooter off the bench. And Brewer has been great with steals, energy plays, and for his patented sneak-up along the baseline backdoor trick.

And to top it off, Rose is looking like a lock for MVP. One of his main competitors, Dwight Howard, just gave the Bulls a break by getting yet another technical for griping, and getting suspended for their upcoming game against the Bulls. Barring a collapse, the one seed is in the bag. That means Indiana first round and most likely Orlando for round two, with the winner of Boston vs Miami in the conference finals. If the Bulls had sat down at the beginning of the season and wrote down the most favorable scenario for them come playoff time, it would look very much like the position they are now in.

Let's rewind two years and remember that great playoff series the Bulls had against the Celtics. In that game seven, Ben Gordan had 33 points and Rose had 18. Celtics shot the ball better and were clearly superior at moving the ball around. Over that seven game series, Rose vs Rondo was close to a wash, with perhaps even a tiny advantage to Rondo. At the time, I said that the Bulls would have won if they had an upgrade over Tyrus Thomas at the four.

Now, Rondo is a bit better, but Rose is a whole lot better. We don't have a scoring SG like Gordon, but we have lots of good role players and a much better bench. Instead of Tyrus, we have Boozer and Thomas. We didn't have Deng for that series but that was probably an advantage. This year he's actually an asset. And the rest of the Celtics are about the same as before, just two years older.

Of course the playoffs are more than just being better than the Celtics, but the Bulls have shown that they can beat anyone this year in a series. And this just may be their best chance for a bit. They are going in with perfect seeding and are relatively injury-free. Next year, the NBA will most likely see a lockout. Superstar teams like Miami and New York may start to hit their stride. Plenty could start to go wrong, so even though the Bulls are relatively young, the future is now.

Boston game seven and offseason

Bulls could never quite recover from a hideous second quarter wherein they seemed determined to make as many turnovers as possible. Still, they had opportunities to make a run in the fourth quarter, but couldn't knock down the shots. They were particularly cold from the 3 point line and Boston shot over 50% from behind the arc. That's the difference in the game right there.

OK, well, a better season than could be hoped from this team. And a promising future as well. So far Paxson has proven to be a poor GM, but let's see if he can turn that around. Here's what I think he should do:

Trade Tyrus and Deng!! Should have done this two years ago when both had much more value but better now than next year when they will be worth even less. Tyrus will always be stupid and Deng will always be a wimp. Nothing the Bulls coaches can do will turn that around. Trading them for something worthy will not be easy but should be possible.

Resign Ben Gordon. He should have gotten Deng's money. Now give it to him. Guy had a great year. Yes, he has flaws in his game, and he's a midget, but he's our best player.

Salmons, Rose, and Gordon are the only players who shouldn't be considered for trades. I like Hinrich, but he makes too much money for what the Bulls use him for. Noah is a guy I've turned around on and would now like to keep, but if the right offer came around.... Same for everyone else.

Chris Bosh has got to be a guy the Bulls have their sights on. He's not a great defensive player though and not a particularly tough one either. I'd love to get him, but we also need a rough-neck to do the dirty work. We lost a lot of toughness when we traded Noc and could use that again. A Reggie Evans or Anderson Varejao type player would do.

In other words, we need two big guys. One who can score and one who is mean. Put an ad out!

Get your best trainers to work with Rose during the off-season. Last year, they were lucky enough to have the Olympic team to send him off to for a bit. Don't want to waste him in the Summer leagues, but he needs some good practice time.

And speaking of training, don't let Noah go to Florida! Or Monte Carlo, or anywhere where the Courvoisier flows like water.

We almost certainly won't get any help in the draft, so it's trade now or accept mediocrity.

Boston game six

Wow, just when you thought this series couldn't get any wilder - 3OT! It was an epic battle, one of the longest games I can remember watching.

It was an improbable victory for the Bulls because Gordon had a bad game and then fouled out, and Rose, despite scoring 28, did not have a great game either (turnovers). Fortunately our Sacramento imports picked it up as both Miller and Salmons played well. Noah had the play of the game with a steal and dunk in the third OT. And just how slow is Paul Pierce when he can't catch Noah on the dribble? I think he did a little too much celebrating last year.

Rondo, who had his first bad game of the series, had yet another cheap shot, this time on Hinrich, who should have emulated Big Baby and flopped over the table instead of coming right back at Rondo and getting a T. Speaking of Big Baby, he had a heck of a game and Bulls are fortunate he fouled out. And speaking of fouling out, Pierce and Perkins joined him, and that had to help at the end.

And speaking of heck of a game - Ray Allen! This guy defines the term "streak shooter" and he was definitely on a streak. I have no idea why the Celtics didn't go to him for the final shot, but I'm glad they didn't.

Vinny played Tyrus too much, actually giving him more minutes than Miller who was far, far superior on the court. Maybe he was hoping that Tyrus would scratch up the inside of Pierce's nose again. Ouch, that had to have hurt!

Winning washes away memories of bad play, such as the Bulls blowing another ten point lead in the fourth quarter or muffing several chances to finish this game off earlier. The Bulls really needed this one as that would have been a terrible loss to end the season on. Clearly these teams (as they lineup at present) are about as evenly matched as you can get. Since all the pundits were picking the Celtics to win in 5 or 6, the Bulls have done well.

Boston game five

This OT loss was about as tough as they come, particularly as there were some bad calls that went against the Bulls. Rondo's foul on Miller at the end was clearly flagrant, but the refs aren't going to blow the whistle there against the home team in the playoffs (although Scottie Pippin may well remember otherwise, since he once had a ticky-tack three point shot foul called on him at home that cost the game). And blowing a ten point lead with under eight minutes to play is never a good thing.

Miller looks really bad messing up those free throws, but it must be distracting to be in that position, plus needing stitches in your mouth.

However, we all know the Bulls weren't going to contend for the championship this year, so I'm going to focus on the positive things they can take away from this game:

Rose did not have a good game and we still went into OT and the last shot. He's only going to get better. He has to watch those turnovers while still being aggressive in going to the basket.

Tyrus sat on the bench for most of the second half. Vinny has finally found his best position!

Ben Gordon was clearly hurt, although he was still up for some heroics.

Noah continues to play well. No question he is the most improved player on the Bulls since midseason. Now if he could only learn that a free throw is not attempted in the same manner as tossing a beach ball....

Hinrich is playing well, although he still dribbles too much and doesn't get them into the offense quick enough. Salmons isn't playing as well as he can, but he's hampered by injury too and shows great promise.

I strongly believe that if the Bulls could have swapped Tyrus for either Perkins or Davis, then they win this series. Shouldn't be too tough to make a similar off-season move. Throw Deng in as well and we could well get someone even better down low.

Boston game four

Never would have predicted that the Bulls would win two overtime games in this series. Anyone who has watched them this year knows that they have perfected folding down the stretch to an art form. Ben Gordon can be relied on to make a big shot, as he did at the end of regulation, but the Bulls defense rarely makes stops during crunch time. I'm not even sure that they did it that much in this game. It seemed more like Boston missing some shots, but they did do it a few times, and it turned out to be just enough.

It would have been a brutal loss if they didn't pull it out, what with the missed free throws, bad calls, and the usual bonehead plays by Tyrus. I wrote several weeks back that the Bulls best lineup is the four guard with Miller, when they can get away with it. And Vinny went with that, but he switched in Noah and Tyrus sometimes as well. Noah was good this game, so I was happy with that. Tyrus should be on the floor only in short stretches and never after the third quarter, and should never be allowed to take a jump shot. He took one 300 degree turnaround jumper that I wouldn't even try in a game of HORSE and was lucky to graze the rim. Even worse, during a key moment towards the end, with the Bulls ahead by two and Boston needing to foul, he ignores Rose, who was standing right next to him, and instead dribbles down court and gets fouled. Then he bricks the free throw!

Of course a lot of the Bulls were bricking free throws, but fortunately not Salmons, who made some big ones in OT. Rose had too many turnovers again, but was more aggressive offensively, and played his best since game one.

A big reason the Bulls pulled out this double OT miracle was that Perkins fouled out. Not that he's that great, but the Celtic frontcourt was decimated and that allowed the Bulls to stay small without getting killed on the rebounds. The Bulls should continue to go at him early because he is foul prone.

A few misc thoughts:

Scalabine must lead the league in fouls per minute.

Rondo's headband push his ears into a Vulcan point.

Big Baby Davis nearly won an Oscar for his reaction to Miller's shove. If he would have shed a few tears I think he would have gotten that ejection to stick.

How far has Marbury's star fallen? He only plays five minutes in a double OT game.

Salmons and Hinrich definitely bother Pierce. Yes, he had 29 this game and shot well for stretches, but he missed 15 shots and looked frustrated at times.

Rondo has really improved his game. Rose is going to be better for playing a series against him. I also think Rose will eventually be clearly the better player, although he's not in this series so far.

When the announcers were speculating on what the Bulls were going to do when Luol Deng (and I should add "if he ever") returns, I could only scream: "Trade!".

Boston game three

This was the game I was afraid the Bulls would pull out of their playbook in game two, coming out completely dazed and confused. They had a ridiculous amount of turnovers at the start and this game was over midway into the third. Both teams played scrubs for the fourth quarter.

Tyrus Thomas is just a joke. Bulls would clearly be better off without him on the court but they simply have no one else to put in. Since it was a garbage game, Tim Thomas and Aaron Gray got some minutes and reminded us why they usually sit on the bench. At one point, early in the game, one of the TNT announcers said that Vinny had some "keepers" in Tyrus and Noah! Is he kidding me? Actually, Noah wasn't as bad as usual and as I've said before, he has improved a lot lately. He also has one less year in the league than Tyrus, so there may be some hope for him. There is no hope for Tyrus and I'm amazed that the Bulls can't see that. And how ironic is it that his much less touted college roomie, Glen Davis, is clearly a better pro player than Thomas?

Of course, you don't have a blowout just because of one guy and the Bulls were generally bad all around. Even Rose had 7 turnovers after receiving the ROY award with his family before the game. And Boston shot well. Pierce got his form back and they moved the ball around they way they need to.

At least the Jazz game was a good one. ;-)

Boston game two

A tough loss, but the Bulls typically play very badly after a big win and they played pretty well this game. Ray Allen is going to look like the hero because he got hot at the end, but the real reason the Bulls lost is because Boston badly out-rebounded them (21 vs 8 on the offensive end) and their big guys were able to score inside. Doug Collins said something to the effect that if you raise your eyebrows at Tyrus Thomas, he will go for the fake, and that is absolutely correct. Tyrus always goes for the block! He did get six in this game, which is great for fantasy sports, but bad in real basketball because he doesn't rebound, and he doesn't stay in front of his man.

At least Vinny was smart enough to keep Tyrus on the bench for long stretches of the fourth. Miller and Noah were both OK, but not as good as Perkins and Davis. Rose was fine, but not great like he was in game one. Ben Gordon was nearly the hero once again, and I'm sure that seeing his fellow Huskie get hot got his pulse up.

For all of the huge flaws the Bulls have in the forecourt, they would have won this one if Allen didn't catch fire at the end. Pierce looks slow and out of sorts during this series so far. Hard to believe that will last, but the Bulls are playing pretty good defense on him.

It hurts to lose a close one, but Boston can't be feeling comfortable going into the United Center 1-1. Salmons, in particular, tends to play a lot better at home, and the Bulls need him to stay in this series.