[Wrote this as the second half began, and scheduled it to post overnight. So hopefully there was some monumental comeback to make this seem silly in retrospect, but I doubt it]

Didn't count. You see...Vinny started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes.

Aaron Gray. And Larry Hughes. Hughes at SF! Gray at a basketball position! In a regular season NBA game!

So, yeah...think of that as preseason. Didn't count.

I came home with about an hour of saved game to catch up on. I saw that Larry Hughes and Aaron Gray were starting, thought: "what the hell". Then the Blazers clowned a team starting Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes. Expected. The Bulls couldn't quite match up, because they had Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes in their lineup.

After seven and a half minutes, the first substitution. Noah for Gray. The Bulls are down 23-7. Why it took that long to realize that it wasn't working....well I guess if you don't go into the game realizing it won't work in the first place, the chance that a few minutes will change one's mind is remote, no matter how bad it looked.

Around then I muted the TV and was liberal with the fast-forwarding. No reason to listen to analysis of a game where one team started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes, and the other didn't. (I mean, if the Blazers started Gray and Hughes too...I suppose the game could count again)

Speaking of analysis, wasn't it cute how we tried to discuss how the Bulls would match up with the Blazers today? Now it's not really fair, we were operating under the premise that the Bulls would treat it like a real game. Where the record counts and everything. Nah, they started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes. Wish I would've known that ahead of time.

I'm glad Aaron gave them a big body (or whatever VDN stammered pre-game), and Hughes was able to stick that big guard, Brandon Roy...

Matchups!

I suppose as the first quarter drudged on, there was a chance of another comeback like the one against Dallas. But that was a home, against a leadfooted veteran team. In this one, the Bulls maintained the suck, and were down by 30 at the half. 

Nobody else gets much blame, they were dealt a crappy hand (what with Hughes and Gray on their side, and the Blazers getting to play against them and all), and when after 7.5 minutes the game is already extended garbage time where guys are on their own on offense, and the opponent has a hell of a confidence boost going against you....well, I don't really care how the team performs, as it wasn't a real game. Everyone gets a pass, they were sabotaged.

Eat a turd sandwich, Vinny and Pax!