Chicago Bulls Thread

[Andrew]

Taj's dunk:

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

The way Boozer played in the first half, I thought he might come close to 50, mad as that may seem. If he had it might not have come down to OT and such a close call, but they got the win so as usual, we'll take it. Deng with the cold blooded gamewinner:

phpBB [video]

[Dan's Brain]

The Toronto bench completely and utterly outplayed the Bulls' one. Boozer was just phenomenal. The Bulls now have three legitimate All-Star chances again. Booz is leading the East in double-doubles, which keeps surprising me when I hear Stacey King and Neal Funk bring it up. His play since the New Year has been extraordinary: aggressive, self-assured and defensively, he's been relatively competent. Rip was also pretty solid, Thibs probably should have gone back to him down the stretch, rather than Belinelli, who was struggling.

We're running out of whipping boys.

[shadowgrin]

http://chicagosidesports.com/peekaboo-d ... he-corner/

[Andrew]

I think that one's my favourite.

[The X]

Belinelli!!! Jimmy Butler played came up with good baskets in OT. Bulls did well to get the W.

[Andrew]

Amazing shot after losing control of the pass. Wow.

phpBB [video]

I was holding my breath on that last play though; obviously they didn't want to foul, but Lee ended up getting a decent look because of it. Clutch shot by Hinrich at the end of regulation too. Deng leaving the game with a hamstring injury is troubling, supposedly it's not serious though so hopefully he's good to go tomorrow and was simply being held out as a precaution.

[Dan's Brain]

It was pretty outstanding. Far too many turnovers early on and Deng's injury was hard to swallow, but every other aspect of the game was hugely pleasing. Boozer continued his general amazingness and Rip made some very difficult clutch shots as well. Butler filled Deng's void extremely well, keeping Pierce cold and making some big baskets of his own down the stretch.

Super fucking clutch shots from Belinelli and Hinrich.

[Dan's Brain]

Great, great finish against the Lakers. Kirk was unstoppable. The Bulls' hitherto crappy outside shooting was well on song and the defensive play of Noah and Jimmy Fucking Butler was flipping terrific. Not much of a stat sheet from Booz this time around, but he was working well within the offense and set some great picks, particularly for Kirk.

They maybe didn't get to the line enough (although, there were a number of instance where trips to the line would have been in order) and they were thoroughly outrebounded (which shouldn't ever happen to this team), but they pulled the stops out when it counted to avoid the let-down, which has been a bit of a curse lately.

[Andrew]

All without Deng, too. Hopefully he's not out too long but a nice job getting the win despite being shorthanded.

Apparently Rose is close to getting involved in some full contact practices. I'm guessing that still means he's a few weeks off given the understandable caution they're taking with him, but any positive news on that front is obviously very welcome.

[benji]

phpBB [video]

Who knows if this is a game winning shot if the Pistons bothered to put some three point shooters on the floor for the last play.

[Andrew]

Belinelli coming up big again but yeah, the Pistons certainly could've had that game. Butler took on Deng's role in every possible way in his absence: he scored, he defended, he rebounded, he picked up a few assists and of course, played 46 minutes.

[Dan's Brain]

Jimmy Buckets is turning into quite the 4th quarter specialist. He's getting better and better all the time. Pushing for a spot in the Rookie/Sophomore game at the rate he's going. Awesome hustle from Noah on the ball-save, too. Also a great 4th from Nate.

[Andrew]

They just followed up a great win over the Warriors with a rather lousy loss to the Wizards, though Noah fell just shy of a triple double with 9 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.

[Dan's Brain]

They can't seem to put a 4-win streak together this year. They looked completely bereft of energy, whereas the Wizards, also in the midst of a back-to-back were right on their game.

[Andrew]

Fortunately, the Pacers have dropped a few recently and the Bucks are a few games back, so once again they find themselves atop the Central Division.

[shadowgrin]

of course, played 46 minutes.

It's scary how Thibodeau would be if he learns how to manage the minutes of his players like Pop does.

[Andrew]

If Butler continues to develop nicely playing behind Deng, then perhaps he'll be able to trust him enough not to play Deng 40+ minutes quite as often.

[Dan's Brain]

It was good to see them playing simultaneously quite a bit against the Bobcats. Butler is probably a long-term shooting guard once his offense develops further. But I could see them closing out games with that line-up when Rose comes back.

Decent win against the 'cats, too. The lid seemed to be on the basket during stretches but the defensive effort and the play of Noah, Jimmy and Nate was all very consistent. Boozer's superhuman stretch might be coming to an end now. He's reverted back to serviceable over the past few games.

[Dan's Brain]

New kinds of undermannedness over the last two games, but they've managed to pull out an outstanding win over Atlanta and a big effort in the loss to BK. Wasn't the best shooting night against Atlanta, but their offensive rebounding and awesome defense won out. Almost a 20-20 game from Taj and Deng, Nate and Jimmy B played excellent all-around games. It was an even more satisfying win than the 98-59 one over the Hawks a couple of weeks ago.

And a Vlad-Rad sighting!

He was terrible.

[Andrew]

Definitely a good couple of games despite being shorthanded, the latter result obviously being the more enjoyable. Those performances are certainly nice to see, Gibson sure stepped up and Butler continues to impress. A little troubling to see four of the five starters playing over 40 minutes against the Hawks, but I guess that's Thibbs for you.

[Dan's Brain]

A little troubling to see four of the five starters playing over 40 minutes against the Hawks, but I guess that's Thibbs for you.

Probably quite likely to continue against Indy with Kirk and Noah expected to miss again and Boozer "iffy". Also, Nate Robinson was Eastern Conference Player of the Week, which was unexpected.

[Andrew]

So long as no one else goes down with an injury and those guys can return fairly soon, I guess.

Certainly surprising to see Nate recognised, but that's pretty cool. He's turned out to be quite a good pickup.

[Dan's Brain]

So long as no one else goes down with an injury...

Nearly Marco, nearly.

Weird game, though. Was half expecting a 20-point-loss, so not a total disaster. Really, really missed Noah and Hinrich's D in this one. Great play by Marco after he got back on the floor, but soft D really cost them.

[Andrew]

I was expecting much worse as well, being on the road against a Pacers team that has done quite well without Danny Granger. Neck-and-neck for that coveted Central Division title.