Open Game Thread #29: Bulls vs Orlando Magic

Too damn early.

Smith is playing well.

That being said, the defensive execution was pretty horrendous.

Gee, I am so glad I forgot the game was this afternoon so that I could hear the TV commentary.

1. the Bulls are winning
   
2. the Bulls seem to be having fun
   
3. the Bulls bench is outscoring the other bench yet AGAIN today
   
4. BG is playing well (HOW many games in a row now?)

As long as they keep winning, I say THANK YOU Jim Boylan.

As far as BG and Du - even though BG is more accomplished than Du, it seems to serve the team better with Du starting and BG coming off the bench....right now anyway.

Keep it up gentlemen.

You can"t just lower your shoulder.

And really, guard the three point shooters.

They really need to worry about him as much if not more than Howard....

This might be a fun 4th Q to watch....maybe even beat this very solid Magic team.

And watching that stupid BG foul just now added fuel to the fire

(2) Last possession in regulation. Gordon has the ball again. He gets Lewis on a switch. He dribbles at the three point line and forces up a three pointer against a much taller player. Predictably, the ball ricochets off the backboard. (BTW, I singled out Gordon because he was the ballhandler on the two fateful plays, but obviously he was excellent the remainder of the game.) The Bulls have to revamp their end of game sets;

(3) Jameer Nelson is a mascara wearing, midget fucking scrub. Allowing him to score twenty plus is a humiliating joke. And you want to know the worst part? He did the same thing to the Bulls LAST year. Unreal. Duhon's defense on the second to last Magic field goal in OT was disgusting. Terrible;

(4) The defense on Turk on the game winning shot was also abominable. I believe the Magic ran the exact same play they ran at the end of regulation. And yet he gets a wide open shot. Who the fuck was supposed to guard him there?

He was open for the 3... but he is Duhon, making the shot ill advised.  (wallace stole the ball at half ct, then dished it to Deng who passed it to an open DUDU in the corner)

Dwight Howard went for 17 and 22, so please let me know how Ben did a good job on D.  Part of your defensive assignment is to keep your man off the glass and Howard was getting rebounds at will.  I understand that Howard is an awesome player, but Wallace did little to stop him from dominating.

On offense, things grind to a complete halt when Wallace gets the ball.  He is completely immobile, so a pass to him requires players to come get the ball from him if he does not immediately identify an open player to pass to upon his receipt of the ball.  When he is open under the basket, he kicks it out because he is scared to shoot.  When he does shoot, he misses.  

People have said it before, but the Bulls really do play 4 on 5 on the offensive end.  He was 1 of 6, and at least 4 of those shots were completely makable.

In what universe is 2 points on 16% shooting and 12 rebounds in almost 46 minutes acceptable numbers?!  Think about this: if Wallace shoots 33% (which is also a bad percentage) the Bulls win!  

I understand that people want to justify lighting $15 million a year on fire to feel better about themselves, but the numbers do not lie.  I just do not see how the Bulls can win with this guy on the floor.  When he wants to play (which is not every night) his defense is good to very good, but rarely exceptional.  That defensive effort does not come close to making up for his deficient offense.

On the coaching side, I did not understand why they didn't play Smith more since he was really productive.  Similarly, Tyrus came in and had 2 points, 2 boards and a block in 5 and a half minutes.  I thought that his performance merited more time.  These guys should get minutes at the expense of Wallace as each can contribute points and play at least adequate defense.

Finally, Duhon is garbage and should not be on the floor if he can't hit open looks and free throws.