2011 Playoffs: The Bench Mob is dead, long live the Bench Mob?

1) I’d love to see Asik get some more minutes too. He doesn’t have to play a whole lot more, but six minutes at the beginning of the second instead of two, could go along way to help him figure out playoff basketball. This is particularly important if we play Howard next series, when we’ll need Asik (hopefully to do more than just foul). I also believe although Thomas has been great, he does have limited amount of energy, and taking 2-3 minutes from him and giving them to Asik would immensely help both players without hurting the team.

2) I don’t think it is fair to call Bogans a cancer. A hole on offense, yes, a bad player, yes, someone who needs to sit more, yes, but I associate cancers with players who either have bad attitudes and personalities or a gunner mentality that takes everyone else out of the game. Bogans is neither. From all accounts he is a great teammate, and as is obvious he doesn’t take bad shots.

We don’t need another at the 2, just a complimentary player. I am not supporting Bogans (and would rather Korver/Brewer start), but I am advocating that another “star” next to Rose would not work as well as one these complimentary pieces.

While I’d like to see a little more time for Omer, I don’t think there has been much of a change from the regular season game plan.

Also, a more obvious point, it’s not the regular season anymore, this is the playoffs, you are supposed to adjust the game plan to suit the situation, throw in some injuries etc and it’s not overly surprising that you can find some disparity in the advanced stats between the regular season and the playoffs.

I don’t really care, but for those that do, I’m sure you could find similar stats on a lot (if not all) of other teams, where the stars and starters play heavily increased minutes in the playoffs, it almost goes without saying, you want these guys on the court.

were 2-0 and doing what needs to be done to win at this stage, when we start playing the Orlando\Boston\Miami’s of the world and the time calls for it, I’m sure Thibs will go deeper into the Bench Mob as the games get more physical and starters need more frequent rest.

Were good people, I know its tough for some of you with a #1 seed team, 2-0 in the playoffs, on an 11 game win streak, whats to whine about? but you’re getting a little crazy when you start pulling apart Bench Mob minutes in games that we won.

LOL

Yeah the only major difference has been KT taking over for Asik’s minutes, which I can’t say I’m enthralled about.

I question whether the lack of difference between starters minutes and bench minutes is due to Boozer’s foul trouble in game 1. Game 1 he played 26 min., game 2 he played 41. A difference of 15 minutes, assuming a similar substitution pattern had Boozer not been in foul trouble the minute differential would have been 176 to 144, which becomes substantial.

I am also curious to know if Thibs is playing Noah at the 30 mpg because he is still recovering from the injury and is either not conditioned well enough, or the ankle needs rest. If Noah were 100%, would he be playing more?

they’re not in as a unit as much anymore, is my point.

And Asik’s disappearance is noteworthy, if also expected.

What was unexpected for me, was how Indiana’s second unit was able to score so easily against the vaunted defense of the bench mob.

I thought CJ had a very good game two (awful game one), Korver’s obviously been big. Kurt Thomas has been very good relative to my expectations.

But yeah, as the ‘bench mob’ unit it hasn’t worked out, and actually that was happening in some games down the stretch of the season as well.

sometimes he looks like he’s not favoring the hand, but his productivity is down

its not liek we paid a load of cash for him + he’s thibs boy toy ala shawn michaels

Outside Korver and Watson, a good portion of our bench is more defensive-minded, and right now we’re looking for ways to score.

Omer has seemed to play his best when he’s seen extended minutes, and he just hasn’t seen any extended or consistent minutes in quite awhile.

plus he’s had plenty of burn in turkey. his somewhat bad play is a combination of inconsistent playing time and a smaller sample size.

less KT, more omer.

It looks awful but I remember last year and at the beginning of the year it was going in and a decent percentage. It seems like every time he gets the ball in the high post he doesn’t have any confidence with the tornado.

From Wikipedia: a “group of people [or person!] who clandestinely undermine[s] a larger group such as a nation [or ECF-bound basketball team] from within.”

Just kidding, Scal. So long as you’re exercising your excellent cheerleading and locker room skills from the bench, you’re okay by me.

that it was the nickname of the Kings’ bench during his years as well.

I’d suggest “This Bench No Stench!” in honor of Omer’s surely improving english skills, but it’s a bit cumbersome.

those home ticket prices are straight up ridicilous…i mean we have to many winning teams…i had to spend my yearly ticket allowance on that Bears Packers NFC title game

I went to a Bulls – Warriors game in Oakland while I was in college. This was the year the Warriors had the cheapest average ticket prices in the league, and nosebleeds were $45 a pop.

Side note: we lost that game, thanks to Ben Gordon airballing not one but two, wide-open three-pointers in the last 20 secs. Because of that loss, the Bulls ended up a game short of the 5 seed and played Detroit in the second round, getting beat down. Conversly, the Warriors made it into the playoffs based on a tie breaker, and went on to upset the Mavs in the historic 1 v 8 match-up.

I went to the game at MSG the other night, and was HAPPY I found a decent seat for $150 on craigslist.

I guess the downside to living in a place where you can get tickets that cheap (Indiana) is that you have to live in that place.

it seemed to me like he was letting the guys take a few shots in a row and after a few in a row didnt fall, you could just tell Derrick wasnt going to pass and was gonna take a shot

Just curious. Were you a Bulls fan during the “Hinrich era”?

Because they will have to defend that first step stronger.

Pacers ‘clog the lanes’ stuff isn’t just aimed at Rose. Deng’s a slasher principally with the ability to hit jumpers as well. I think his offense would pick up a bit if they can find a way to get him some room to work his way inside some more.

if deng is playing this shitty guarding danny granger.

what can we even expect from him when he has to guard lebron for 4-7 games

He just seems listless out there during the 1st half.