Bulls again show their worth (Rose/Noah a lot, others notsomuch) in close loss to Lakers

when it comes to free throws. Sometimes I get flashbacks to Rose’s Memphis days and how they choked away big leads (and sometimes games) with their lack of quality free throw shooting. This has always been an issue with Rose but the rest of his game (and the team’s inability to get deep into the playoffs) has masked this. It’s clearly mental too; especially for Deng who takes a three second pause before taking the shot.

This needs to be fixed. Even with a bad shooting night had the free throws fallen then the late 3-point surge by the Laker bench would not have been so debilitating.

When can we trade Watson, Korver and a #1 to bring back Ben Gordon?

shot soon. He has to make those shots. I found myself cringing every time he shot last night.

Joakim and Derrick were a dynamic duo last night. Love both of them.

The Bulls just played the two best teams in the NBA this week on the road ( I’ll play in Norleans any day) and competed til the very end losing both by about 8. They played with these teams for 3 quarters having slight lapses ( 3rd in SA and 4th in LA) that cost them the game.

Watching them compete from the 3min mark til end in both games made me think about the pros and cons of Thibs doing this all season. Last night the Bulls got 4 stops in a row from the 2:20 mark til 50sec mark…. they just didn’t hit 3s to get the lead from 8 to 4 or something, same sorta finish in SA.

With Rose and Noah’s competitiveness, plus Thibs ability to call out defensive assignments late in games… I think the Bulls will steal at least 3 games they had no business winning this season. I’m not talking about an odd BG game where he goes nuts from behiend the arc, I’m talking about being down 7 with 1:30 to go and them knowing they are going to shut down a team and win the game.

Now, as I was watching this last night knowing they have PHX the next night, I did worry about mins of the Big 3 ( Noah Derrick and Taj). All were under 40 mins so I wasn’t that worried checking the box score, but in future back to backs I hope Thibs knows when to call off the dogs ( like he did correctly in the Knick anomaly game).

I mean does ANYONE understand why bogans is still playing?

when it looked like Rose was either fouled or tripped and somehow LA got the ball?

As much as I like the Charlotte pick I would trade it for Mayo. We are a SG away from the contending

And don’t feed reporters that crap about how you were upset that the Bulls didn’t offer you anything here in the offseason. You were going to really pick the Bulls over the Lakers?

even thought we lost, it was an awesome effort. We hung in there even when shots weren’t falling (on both sides). Love Noah..even my laker haters were throwing out fake trades (Noah for Odom).

We need a 2 tho….cuz there is definitely a HUGE HOLE in that lineup. Plus when Korver isnt hitting shots, were basically fuked in the 4th if its a good team like LA. (Unless Deng is hot)

How bout Taj? That kid is awesome and tuff. Everytime I think he’s gonna crumble like an ’07 Deng, he gets up and hustles back.

BTW..Fuck a Melo trade..just gimme OJ or any decent 2..keep Taj maybe get rid of a pick and JJ and we ready like Pastor Troy

kevin (boston)


so when the bulls get boozer back….that’s the celtics’ main competition, right?
Bill Simmons
  (2:05 PM)


That’s the Eastern team that scares me the most, especially if they can upgrade the 2-spot and do a little better than Ronnie Brewer. I’m terrified of them trading for Rip Hamilton. Repeat: terrified. Sorry Miami… I’m just not scared of a two-man team that has its best 2 guys basically alternating possessions. And sorry Orlando… I don’t see how you’re any better than last spring.</blockquote>

link

three things, lakers have a better bench, kobe, and they have better shooters

If we can up grade those parts what the lakers have, we would better than the lakers

i was really impressed by the coaching, more than noah and rose, who were pretty good(rose) and excellent(noah) themselves.

the defense was highly organized. i liked that from the very beginning the gameplan was to frustrate the lakers post-centric offense. on pretty much every miss your team put forth the effort of getting in transition. wow, just solid, sound basketball.

i think boozer is going to bridge the gap between the starters and bench. your team will have a bonafide go-to-guy on the floor at all times when he’s back in the fold.

1) It’s wierd hearing people talking about the Bulls as an ‘elite’ team. Their record would suggest otherwise. If the Bulls were Miami, everyone would be on the Bulls backs for having such a poor record. The Bulls always start off with a tough schedule and they’re always called out for being an average team because of it at each seasons beginning. If they’re liking the Bulls now, just wait till the usual ‘cruise control’ part of the schedule hits in March and they have their traditional great run to the playoffs. Maybe because everyone is thinking with Boozer, Bulls win some of these tough losses but we really have no clue yet.

2). We’ve gotta stop thinking each loss is a good loss with the exception of the New York game. These lapses in the 3rd or 4th quarters are what separates us from being a legit threat. The games against Boston, OKC, SA and LA were lost because somewhere late in those games, the Bulls look predictably lost compared to the other teams who seem to just wake up when us Bulls fans expect them to. We’ve been through it so much before, so we expect it now. And what happens? Expectations are met and we become grounded again. When they beat such a great team, we freak out cause we’re teased by the potential on this team and we get sucked back into thinking that maybe they have turned the corner. But then the games like SA and LA turn to moral victories like so many ove the last 5 years. I’m over it. I want the wins. I want the real victory. I want to expect the Bulls to run away with games rather than expect them to have their usual lapse.