Some game two tidbits

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 23, 2007 11:54 PM CDT in News

Damn, one of the Bulls beat writers need a blog so we can get info like this:

Cast in the role of Luol Deng was Dorell Wright. And there, matched against Wright was Dwyane Wade. Translation: Wade was preparing for another go-round against Deng, after the Bulls forward took advantage of his height advantage to score 33 points in Game 1.

Cast in the role of Ben Gordon was Jason Kapono. And there, matched against Kapono was Eddie Jones. Translation: Jones was preparing for another go-round against Gordon, after the Bulls guard took advantage of his quickness edge to close with 24 points and a career-best 11 assists in Game 1.

Time after time, when assistant coach Erik Spoelstra diagrammed a Bulls play, Wade moved to Deng's spot and Jones shifted to where Gordon would be stationed.

After practice, Riley only would offer, "We may change some of the matchups, but I don't think I'm changing the starting lineup."

Maybe Jones will be a step slow because he thinks guarding Ben Gordon is like walking alongside Jason Kapono?

Either way, just because the lineup mismatches were there in game one doesn't mean the Bulls will automatically exploit them as well as they did in that game. But I'm just looking to see if the Bulls try. That means going to Deng often and forcing Riley to make a move.

The Heat's team defense was formidable down the stretch of the season, but I can't help but think a lot of that had to do with Wade being out and both Jones and Posey in. Now that Wade is not only back in the lineup but hurting, judging by game one that defense isn't the same, and it'll take the Bulls (namely Deng and Gordon) themselves being ineffective or timid to stop them from capitalizing.

Speaking of ineffective (ba-zing!) Adrian Griffin is reportedly going to be on the active roster for game 2 after missing the last several games with back spasms. He didn't do well against Dwyane Wade in last season's finals, but especially with Wade hobbled he can likely give a more admirable effort than Chris Duhon. Here's hoping that Griffin isn't automatically vaulted over Thabo as designated backup Wade-stopper, but having him available in case of emergency is better than not at all.

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Some Pre-game/Post-Game stuff

I was reading around the tribune sports website thats dedicated to the bulls and was smiling. I forgot how much crtics and journalists and beat writers have to say in the post season. I basically found this article, and in the comment section of this article found this post that made me smile, because i thought the same thing.

"ok, let's just say that i'm a total conspiracy theorist. i believe that the government is hiding the truth about aliens, george w. bush caused 9/11 in order to find his way into iraq, and the bulls totally tanked the season ender against new jersey in order to face miami and gain some first round v and v (vindication and validation). i believe scott skiles gave his team a choice, win game 82 hold on to the second seed and have basically a bye route onto the conference finals; or, tank the game face miami and prove to the pro basketball world that all the drafts, trades, offseason moves paid off. if this is true (and it is, my research says so), then the bulls better not miss a beat this year, cause they could've pulled a cleveland and taken the easy way out.

Posted by: ra | Apr 23, 2007 5:58:30 PM"

(sorry matt if forgot how to make a text box)

anyway the article is here: http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_whatsgoinon/2007/04/heat_players_ta.html

and if you have not read the article yet, its a good one, but i really want to know what people think of that comment.

Also i didnt make my own diary because i didnt think this would be worthy of one.

im trying hard to become the next kirk hinrich, therefore im doing nothing more than being the next chris duhon.

by piccolomair on Apr 24, 2007 1:10 AM CDT 0 recs

Wow

You need to be put under the strobe light to deprogram you. And do you believe your phones are tapped and silent black helicopters follow your every move?

If the Heat decide to put Wade on Deng, I'm all for it. It's nice to be on the taller end of these mismatches for once.

I love you Ben, you almost make me forget about...tacos.

by eddiew23 on Apr 24, 2007 6:09 AM CDT up 0 recs

Just so im clear

You were speaking to the person who actually wrote that little comment right (it wasnt me, i just found it intresting)

im trying hard to become the next kirk hinrich, therefore im doing nothing more than being the next chris duhon.

by piccolomair on Apr 24, 2007 4:31 PM CDT up 0 recs

and this is why it's fun to format

they should call it funmatting!

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 24, 2007 4:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

here

http://www.blogabull.com/story/2006/6/16/04932/5137

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 24, 2007 9:16 AM CDT up 0 recs

That just sends people

to the Mark Prior Center for Kids Who Can't Pitch Good.

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 9:23 AM CDT up 0 recs

I have no problem being called crazy

I had earlier wondered why no one was afraid of the Raptors. Some threw e-tomatoes at me, but I'll stand by my point. It seemed to me that the Bulls may have wanted to avoid them. It also seems to me that the Raptors, Cleveland, and New Jersey have given the Bulls the most trouble this year. And, the Heat and the Pistons have given the Bulls less, relatively. I don't know why that is, or if those problems would also translate to the playoffs.

But it certainly seems rational to me that Skiles would have rather faced the Heat and the Pistons than the Nets, Cavs, or Raps. Not because of any "vindication" against the Heat or Pistons, but merely as a strategy to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.

So I disagree with the supposed motivation related by the tribune comment, by losing to NJ (if that's possible to intentionally lose to a Jason Kidd who played out of his mind) they have an easier path to the finals.

Okay, I'm putting on my e-rain coat, in case the Blogabull commenters go Gallagher-like and start pulverizing e-tomatoes at me with a sledgehammer.

by GWKD on Apr 24, 2007 9:50 AM CDT up 0 recs

Game 82

That makes perfect sense. Let's tank it, play two veteran teams in the first two rounds, one of them on the road, instead of having home court advantage through the first two rounds against teams with little playoff experience and key injuries.

Teams with playoff experience become different beasts in the playoffs. How the Bulls played teams in the regular season does not always correlate to the postseason.

I love you Ben, you almost make me forget about...tacos.

by eddiew23 on Apr 24, 2007 10:14 AM CDT up 0 recs

We aren't necessarily disagreeing

I just think that there is a case to be made to play the Heat and Pistons versus the others. I'm really not sure how the Nets and Cavs have little playoff experience and key injuries. And, the "playoff" experience factor is probably a little overrated now that the Bulls core has two first round series under their belts and they have added vets with "playoff experience" like Wallace, P.J. Brown, and Adrian Griffin.

by GWKD on Apr 24, 2007 10:33 AM CDT up 0 recs

Right about the Nets

They have excellent playoff experience, and several factors have made them a tough opponent for the Bulls for several years. In the case of the Cavs, they lack playoff experience, and they would have had to go through the gauntlet of Miami and Detroit if we won the last regular season game.

I love you Ben, you almost make me forget about...tacos.

by eddiew23 on Apr 24, 2007 10:37 AM CDT up 0 recs

Bad Matchups

The Raptors have size, and don't turn the ball over.

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 10:15 AM CDT up 0 recs

You're more afraid of the Raptors than the Heat?

The Raptors average 1 less TO per game than the Heat. Not a big deal.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/sortableStatsTeam?league=NBA&sort=turnovers&stable=turnovers&am p;timeframe=perGame&dir=descending&season=regular

Other than Parker, we match up size wise pretty well. Nesterovic doesn't worry me, and Bargnani is just coming back from surgery and isn't back to full game speed.

I love you Ben, you almost make me forget about...tacos.

by eddiew23 on Apr 24, 2007 10:32 AM CDT up 0 recs

I'm not personally afraid of any team,

as I don't plan to take the court myself. I am looking at a more accurate portrayal of turnovers. I doubt the Raptors could beat the Bulls in a playoff series, but I wouldn't underestimate an advantage like protecting the ball.

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 10:48 AM CDT up 0 recs

I think defensive efficiency is more important

http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2007/d_de.htm

Being 3rd in defensive effective field goal percentage is nothing to sneeze at either.

I love you Ben, you almost make me forget about...tacos.

by eddiew23 on Apr 24, 2007 10:59 AM CDT up 0 recs

Don't care

I was trying to de-vague-ify GWKD's "afraid of the Raptors" argument. They are bigger, and they don't lose the ball. They aren't bad against good defenses either.

I'm pointing out their strengths, and I'm not sure how that takes away from the Bulls' accomplishments. The Raptors still don't defend well, and that would seem to be the Bulls' biggest advantage in a possible matchup.

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 11:17 AM CDT up 0 recs

Good points

There are advantages and disadvantages. I just hope you don't believe the Bulls actually tanked the Nets game to achieve this scenario.

I love you Ben, you almost make me forget about...tacos.

by eddiew23 on Apr 24, 2007 11:23 AM CDT up 0 recs

Oh, absolutely not!

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 11:24 AM CDT up 0 recs

Sarcasm or Truth?

Generally, it's hard to tell.

I love you Ben, you almost make me forget about...tacos.

by eddiew23 on Apr 24, 2007 11:39 AM CDT up 0 recs

No sarcasm

This conspiracy stuff is a lower form of analysis than pretending to know what Luol Deng is really thinking.

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 11:41 AM CDT up 0 recs

heh.

But what does David Stern want to happen!??!

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 24, 2007 11:46 AM CDT up 0 recs

I don't either

The Bulls did not tank that game. I just think the Nets were better that day, for whatever reason. I don't think the following ideas raise too much cognitive dissonance: (1) that the Bulls may rather have faced the Heat and Pistons, and (2) the Bulls wanted a 50 win season.

by GWKD on Apr 24, 2007 11:40 AM CDT up 0 recs

I hope you realize

that the Bulls are going to play the Heat. In fact, they've already started. This is seems like one of the dumber comment threads I've seen in a while.

by Chalkwhite on Apr 24, 2007 12:14 PM CDT up 0 recs

definitely could be a diary

and I'd agree. Skiles was way too cool and calm during the NJ loss. I'd also like to think BG wasn't trying in the first quarter when he was abused by NJ. Skiles usually has a quick hook for that kind of stuff. I don't know if Skiles put it up to the team for a vote though. He knows (and I know this because I know what he is thinking) that getting the team ready for Miami and Detroit will be much easier than getting them ready for Washington and the Raptors/Nets winner. So yeah, I think the fix might have been in.

by bullshooter on Apr 24, 2007 11:07 AM CDT up 0 recs

Tank

The Nets won the game
but Skiles didn't flip out
clearly a tank job

I pass like BG yo!

by preverbal on Apr 24, 2007 12:32 PM CDT up 0 recs

sorry

I forgot one of these :-^)

by bullshooter on Apr 24, 2007 12:50 PM CDT up 0 recs

Maybe we can sign

Shane Battier? Sorry, poor taste. Like sickin' Posey on Deng. Go BULLS!

Watch your head, Tyrus!

by cubbybear on Apr 24, 2007 4:37 AM CDT 0 recs

Mitchell won Coach of the Year

"edging" Sloan.

PLAYOFF TIME. LETS GO CHICAGO!

by NittanyBull on Apr 24, 2007 10:49 AM CDT 0 recs

Haha

He "edges" Sloan, but then:

Mitchell won the Red Auerbach Trophy in a decisive vote over Utah's Jerry Sloan.

by tyger1147 on Apr 24, 2007 12:03 PM CDT up 0 recs

The remarkable thing is...

...that Isiah got a third place vote! Which writer/broadcaster do you think that was?

Deng 4 MVP, 2008!

by corey williams corey benjamin on Apr 24, 2007 12:20 PM CDT up 0 recs

SCOUT

Jeff Weltman sees similar things that I saw:

While Dwyane Wade was great down the stretch, scoring on three successive high isolations at the end of the game, he appeared a bit tentative with his left shoulder and didn't have quite the same explosiveness off his knee. The final three shots were 10s in degree of difficulty, but Wade never did blow by his defender and was bothered by Thabo Sefolosha throughout the game.

Emphasis mine. This is why I don't buy into the Wade won't be this ineffective again stuff based on Saturday's game.

Here's more, if you have insider I reccomend reading the whole thing.

Chicago is the league's second-best 3-point shooting team but went just 3-for-17 in Game 1, a gift Miami cannot expect to receive the next time around. High pick-and-rolls gave the Heat trouble -- their perimeter defenders were repeatedly a step slow and this is largely where Chicago controlled "the line of scrimmage." Andres Nocioni's effectiveness on the high pick-and-roll was crucial at the end of the game.

Much will be made of the fact that Chicago was able to win this game with Kirk Hinrich playing only 19 minutes and shooting 1-for-7. But Deng and Gordon scoring 57 of Chicago's 96 points gave the Bulls the luxury of playing Thabo Sefolosha on Wade, and in doing so they may have come up with a difference maker.

I was going to save this for the preview...but does anyone else get the feeling that Ben Gordon's going to go bannanas tonight? I'm giddy thinking about it.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 24, 2007 12:11 PM CDT 0 recs

I can't stop thinking about it,

and the day is going so damn slow now! I'm so pumped, but nervous at the same time.

by Goostafer on Apr 24, 2007 12:13 PM CDT up 0 recs

I'm going to be

at a %&(#&$*(%&)( track meet during the game.

But I can't wait to watch the press conference where Shaq literally tears up over his struggle with fouls, and how everyone in the world is out to get him and Stern hates him.

I'm giddy.

by Chalkwhite on Apr 24, 2007 12:17 PM CDT up 0 recs

whoever jason williams is guarding

is who I expect to go off. Was he guarding Hinrich last game? If so, the Heat really dodged a bullet then.

by bullshooter on Apr 24, 2007 12:38 PM CDT up 0 recs

I know

I'll get lambasted for this but...

While I do expect the Bulls to win the series, noone can expect Miami (a team full of veterans) to not make adjustments to their game plan for game 2.

I don't doubt the Bulls will make adjustments as well, but to expect Gordon to go nuts on the 3 point line after not doing it in Game 1 isn't an adjustment.

Chi needs to stick with it's gameplan of singling Shaq and letting the other defenders guard their men, otherwise you'll see it happen like it did last year - Posey/Payton/Walker and now Kapono will be open for the kick out passes from Wade and Shaq for 3s. Chi should stick with the Game 1 defensive plan, and adjust on offense to allow for more movement away from the ball.

by Boney on Apr 24, 2007 3:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

I think they'll start the same way, but substitute

Posey far earlier and play him against Deng for long stretches.

I still think this game, and this series, is all about Shaq.

Ben will have to do a better job guarding him in the first half of game two than in the first half of game one. We can't relyon foul trouble, because I doubt the refs will put Shaq in the bench two games in a row. I'd like to see Ben front the post, Allowing Shaq to catch the ball in the low post is a recipe for disaster.

by 1958ChiTown on Apr 24, 2007 12:14 PM CDT 0 recs

A special present for Coach MattJax...

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/slezak/354588,CST-SPT-carol24.article

by 1958ChiTown on Apr 24, 2007 12:24 PM CDT 0 recs

And another...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-070423bulls,1,5459285.story?page=2&coll =chi-sportstop-hed

Hehehehe.

by 1958ChiTown on Apr 24, 2007 12:28 PM CDT up 0 recs

I already referenced hustleplayer slurp day

http://www.blogabull.com/story/2007/4/24/113511/586

There were similar columns all over today. Nocioni is a good and entertaining story, but if he's an important one the Bulls are screwed. That's all I say before we get into this again.

Maybe after game 2 I'll address my philosophical struggles with shutting up and loving the Noc. He may not be as spry tonight so for all we know we'll see more T-Time. I think I've made it clear that I know the Bulls need Nocioni in this series, but I just think 30 minutes is twice as many as necessary.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 24, 2007 12:34 PM CDT up 0 recs

I don't recall

when blogabull gravitas came from citing any member of the local media 'cept Sam Smith.

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 12:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

The state of Chicago sports columnists

almost make me pine for the 2-week Michael Holley experiment.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 24, 2007 12:39 PM CDT up 0 recs

If Tyrus plays more, he needs to play better.

His first few possessions were horrible.

On defense, he left Walker open for two threes, then got beat by Walker off the dribble (and was bailed out by one of our floppers).

On offense, he wasn't much better. He had a wild drive to the basket, missed the shot badly, Ben Wallace tried to dunk the miss one handed, the ball went off the heel of the rim and led to a Miami fast break.

I think Tyrus was -5 for the game.

I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt though. He is young and it was his first playoff game.

I am much more concerned about the Thabo/Duhon/Griffin rotation. Thabo should be first off the bench.

by 1958ChiTown on Apr 24, 2007 12:42 PM CDT up 0 recs

Yeah

And he did another blo-dunk. Play the replace Eckstein with Nocioni game.

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 12:48 PM CDT up 0 recs

you entice people to talk about Noc

when you post stuff like that.

by bullshooter on Apr 24, 2007 12:53 PM CDT up 0 recs

I just want "blo-dunk" to catch on

by Paxson Jackson on Apr 24, 2007 12:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

It's not a bad portmanteau word.

Though it also sounds like it could pertain to hookers and yeyo.

by 1958ChiTown on Apr 24, 2007 12:57 PM CDT up 0 recs

That was a great sequence.

But no matter how spectacular it was, it doesn't change the fact that he only had two points and one rebound in about ten minutes.

By contrast, Noce had 17 points and 4 rebounds in about thirty minutes. And just as many blocks (2).

Noce's plus-minus was better by about ten (+5 to -5) and his one game PER was better.

He had eight points down the stretch, including the three point play that fouled out Shaq, which Riley cited as the biggest play of the game.

There is no actual, demonstrable proof for your argument, but you can keep making it, I guess. And Skiles will keep ignoring it. '

In any case, I don't mind Tyrus playing more, so long as he plays well.

by 1958ChiTown on Apr 24, 2007 12:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

This isn't the thread for that stuff

please start your own thread.

by bullshooter on Apr 24, 2007 1:27 PM CDT up 0 recs

yo

My argument isn't that Tyrus had a better game than Noc. It's that I don't want Noc playing so much. I said it right when he came back, after the last game of the season, and after game 1.

That's based on their performance this season, what each player can do, the matchups with the Heat, and what it means for the future of the team.

And please, Skiles isn't reading so don't worry about it.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Apr 24, 2007 1:40 PM CDT up 0 recs