Game Thread Playoffs - First Round Game 04 - Bulls @ Bucks

And I don't want the Bulls to be the first team that lose a series after leading 3-0.

Go Bulls!

 

Ya his shooting is down, last season me made more lay ups and bank in than he has this season.

 

I said Bulls in 6, so...

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/04...au-defends-decision-to-not-call-late-timeout/

FWIW, the only place I've read that the Bulls were out of time outs is here.

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/04...au-defends-decision-to-not-call-late-timeout/


"They’re blitzing,” Thibodeau said. “We’ve seen plenty of blitzes before, so that’s not anything new. They’re switching the small-small. That’s not new. We’re seeing more post double teams than usual, but usually when a post guy gets hot, he gets doubled. That’s not new.”

In Saturday’s postgame, Thibodeau indicated the Bulls held on to the ball too long, but he didn’t sound concerned Sunday. Dunleavy was a little more expansive.

“That in theory is what we’re trying to do – make that ball move, get it out of the double team and take advantage of 4-on-3 on the weak side or wherever that may be,” Dunleavy said.

“We’ve had trouble getting it in there (to the post). We’ve had turnovers there. And then making that first pass out, we’ve had some issues. And then lastly, when it does get out, are we making the next pass? Or are we trying to dribble into the paint and get caught in traffic and turning it over? That really sums it up.”

The Bulls watched film of all 28 turnovers they made, Dunleavy said.

“You turn it over 28 times, there’s some pretty amazing ways to do it,” Dunleavy said. “At some point, you start becoming creative.”

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Seems to pretty much tell the story. If this veteran group can't sharpen up for the game tonight, well, it will be disappointing.


If the Bulls keep turning the ball over 25+ times and Rose is a negative on the court, its going to be a slog. One "promising" note, even with that happening, the Bulls almost won game 4.

This team, once the opponents get tougher, will get throttled if Rose continues to play like he did game 4 and Noah can't really contribute.

 

http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_5.html
"a. Each team is entitled to six (6) charged timeouts during regulation play. Each team is limited to no more than three (3) timeouts in the fourth period and no more than two (2) timeouts in the last two minutes of regulation play"

1:


2:


3:

 

Maybe 20 second timeouts can be a 4th timeout called in Q4?

 

I don't know, but it's clear that Thibodeau and everyone else believes the Bulls had a time out at the end of Saturday night's game, but Thibodeau chose not to use it. This means SST's original post critical of Thibodeau failing to call that time out deserves more consideration than it was given.

Thibodeau's first instinct was to call the time out. Then he changed his mind. It was curious. I'd've called time.

 

Huh, it must be that you get three full timeouts and a twenty in the fourth quarter.

I still find Thibs' decision not to call a timeout to be very problematic, although I've simmered a bit. I'm usually all for going for it and not letting the defense get set. But you can't go into the last play with Noah, Taj and Hinrich when you have Pau, Mirotic and Dunleavy on the bench. That's too much of a talent differential.

Moreover, the argument in favor of Thibs' coaching has often taken the form of something along the lines of, he's stubborn but a brilliant in game coach. I think he's usually better than most in diagramming plays for what it's worth. He should have been able to draw something up that would have gotten an open shot in that circumstance.

This feels to me a lot like more of the same. I and many others have been frustrated with his overreliance on Hinrich, Gibson and, at times, Noah this season, and that's the lineup that lost the game.

 

It wasn't Thibs non timeout call that lost the game, it was a missed opportunity on offense and blown coverage on defense even after Milwaukee called timeout. If Bayless doesn't get wide open at the basket, the game goes into OT.

If Rose used all of the game clock, we go to OT.

We had two guys wide open in the corners for uncontested 3s. If anyone took a shot, the bucks would have had zero on the game clock if they rebound, OT.

 

I see 2-1-2 zone. No defensive 3 seconds called, too.

Jimmy was open, too.

 

I actually am not that upset at Rose. That was just a hell of a call. Rose was hedging toward Middleton. The ball was supposed to go to Middleton or Giannis. That was a big time huevos play called my Kidd. That was the biggest play of the season and he ran it for Bayless. Can you imagine the flack Kidd would have taken if it didn't go well?

 

The lineup the Bulls had in were the Bulls' two best offensive rebounders. If Rose or anyone gets off a shot, we had a chance for the tip in.

I'm not suggesting it was Rose's fault at all. If he didn't get hot in Q4, the game wouldn't have gone down to the very last shot.

Driving against a zone is near impossible if you haven't made a lot of side to side passes. Perhaps Rose should have settled for a jumper.

 

Jimmy to Taj gets you an uncontested 12 footer.

 

It was a good call on the zone by Kidd too. No ref is going to call 3 seconds in that situation. He's really shown some stuff this series.

 

Looks like an outright shove by Bayless, too.

 

You may not be giving enough shrift to the context of the game. Taj hadn't hit a jumpshot all night; Noah was ice cold; and Hinrich was literally playing his first offensive possession of the game. You just can't close out a game like that.

 

If Dunleavy takes a shot with 3 on the clock, Milwaukee gets the ball with even more time left.

You can second guess until the cows come home. We are up 3-1 with Thibs making all the calls. We won in Milwaukee, too. The Bucks won't have home court advantage for the remainder of the series. 2 in Chicago, 1 in Milwaukee.