Game Thread: Bulls vs. Bobcats

Just got home and we're in third quarter.  They look horrible.  Anyone have any comments?

As i said in One F's preview, this doesn't exactly surprise me but it still disappoints me to be getting killed by a team that, depsite improvement, will still be one of the very worst in the association.

season's over

And they come back to tie it with a 3 by Songalia with 5 seconds left.

Are you kidding me?

Is there anyway they lose this game now?

still, why were they getting pounded by this team?  i guess after years of being so horrid we've forgotten that there are a fair number of games we're SUPPOSED to win.  and this was certainly one of those.

Piatkowski and Songalia.

What the hell just happened there?

Same 'ol Bulls. Let the other team get out to a double digit lead early. Fall farther behind in the second half. Stage a furious comeback. Win a nailbiter in OT.

I don't care that they won.  I don't care that they came back from 25.  This was a horrible game and an incredibly bad predictor for the rest of the season.

It came across on TV/radio that the crowd was rocking?  I'm shocked.  I was there, and Ozzie F'in Guillen got a bigger ovation than the Bulls at any point.  

Sure, it was exciting.  But it's still depressing that they fell behind that bad to the Bobcats.  They looked like complete doo-doo most of the game.  Even during the comeback, they managed to do it in the most unimpressive manner ever.

Positives: I like the new scoreboard.  

Well, I must admit, I was horrified.  I was telling myself that they were going to struggle early in the season, but they'd find their way eventually, and, well, if they were in the lottery this year, was that really so bad?  And they did look horrible.  But I gotta tell you PDaddy, it was a beautiful thing to watch that comeback.  It may have looked ugly live, but it was all about heart, tough D, and clutch play.  I think the Bulls showed that, yes, they are going to have trouble early, trouble scoring, and trouble scoring early.  But they also have tremendous heart, and a crazy knack for making the hustle play or clutch shot when the game is on the line.  I found myself thinking that Duhon was going to be a HOF-er!  I mean, c'mon!  And how about our new Lithuanian friend Songaila?

Champions or not, this team is an entertaining roller coaster every night.  Next time the Bulls are down by 25 in the 3rd, are YOU changing the channel?  I'm not!

As an addendum, may I say that the OT win is particularly sweet given that the Knicks LOST in OT.  Against what is probably a superior team, granted.  But still, a nice beginning to the ultimate goal of switching picks with them in 2007, which means that everything is working out as it should.  Go Chicago Bulls -- may half your games be this much fun to watch after halftime.

I take some solace in knowing the defense can't be that bad for long. Else Antonio Davis was really Ben Wallace and we never fully appreciated it.

Was at the game tonight.  Yes, there were some serious concerns on a number of levels but it was one of the better comebacks they've had in recent memory and the last Q/OT were as exciting as anything.  We'll deal with the negatives later, let's just enjoy the win and one of the strangest phrases we'll ever say here: Chirs Duhon, Triple Double."  

Ok, you know why I'm upset about last night?  I'm beyond being "just happy" when they win.  Lucky to get a win is so 3 years ago.

The Bobcats are likely the worst team in the NBA (non-nomad division).  Yes, not quitting was good to see.  But I think this team should be beyond moral victories.  An OT win (even without the comeback) against Charlotte should be alarming.  Maybe if they played without Kirk the entire game, it'd be acceptable.  But they actually played significantly better once he got hurt.

Chandler looked like a rookie again.  Gordon looked horrible (and he didn't even like he was trying until the 4th quarter).  Deng and Noce looked incredibly slow on both ends of the balls.  Sweetney is fat.  Thomas looks like he's going to be a ballhog.  Songbird (thanks, I like it) looked tenative and weak.  I mean, Gerald Wallace looked like Kobe out there last night.  

It's early, so I'll try to keep things in perspective.  But I'm officially saying that I'll be surprised if this team makes the playoffs (their division is going to eat them alive).  And no, Curry wouldn't have made a lick of difference.

Note: I'm going to save this post, and post it when they're playing at home in the first round so that I have official proof of my idiocy.

Songbird is the right idea, but too anglo.  We need something that sounds vaguely like a Euro nickname.  I propose Lala.  As in "Lala made a 3 last night that made him look like he's taken way more than 3 3-point attempts in his career."

I'm not ready to make any generalizations on the team yet. Give maybe 20 games?

Well then again this is what blogs are for. I will have the flamethrower out by the weekend if they look this bad again.

I know I am, but I do think it's still a bad sign of things to come.  I'm not on the ledge, I'm just not as optimistic as I was a couple of days ago.  Skiles kinda agrees with me about that game:

Coach Scott Skiles had a lot on his mind Thursday as he tried to pinpoint what caused the Bulls' meltdown through three quarters against Charlotte. Their struggles had them down by 25.

"Maybe in the middle of the season, if you're playing pretty well and you come out just one night and don't play very well, you can blow it off and move on," he said. "But that was opening night. That has to be looked at and addressed."

How bad did the Bulls look a day later on tape?

"Sometimes you play a game like that, and you look at the tape and realize that it's not as bad as it seems," Skiles said. "This is actually worse."

Seriously, if I'm not mistaken, Artis Gilmore has the highest career FG percentage in the history of the NBA.  And was supposedly one of the strongest men ever to play.  Trade TT for a 32 year old AG and the Bulls win the title THIS YEAR.