This game is spicy. Gordon is playing PG and doing great, but the the team can't stop the Pistons' offense. Ric Bucher told a great story about how Nocioni practices yelling during pregame warmups to elicit foul calls.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Big Frame @ Mar 9 2008, 09:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Why dont Gordon start?</div> He's far more consistent off the bench. Duhon and Shannon Brown were laughing during the end of the game. It's sad how screwed up this team is.
I used to think Nocioni was a pretty good defender, but my thinking has changed especially after the past couple of games. He's a dynamite 3pt shooter and he is one of few Bulls who actually drive to the rim. What may have confused me is that Nocioni used to be great at drawing charges with his help defense. Watching him try to guard LeBron the other night was a joke tho.
Noc's a great team defender. With a good system in place where his man-to-man weaknesses can be hidden, everyone likes a guy who will take charges, rebound and properly rotate. But he's slow. When other guys aren't covering for him, this makes it especially egregious when he's out of position. And when he's just matched up against a guy who can run right by him (pretty much everyone, but especially Lebron) it's ugly. He shouldn't have been used that way in the first place (that's for you Jim Boylan, if you're reading).
Geez. Nocioni guarded Lebron a couple games back (loss) and it was almost funny to watch. Noc would get up in his grill and LeBron would just leave him standing there while going wherever he wanted with the ball. One play resulted in a highlight reel dunk. The Bulls were winning that game, 76-68 in Q4 before Noc came in to guard LeBron. The Bulls were outscored 30-18 in Q4 and lost the game. The surely needed Noc's offense. His stat line? 1-4 1 assist 1 to 3 PF 0 pts LeBron finished with 37. I was practically yelling at the TV as we blew that lead. "Get Nocioni out of there!"
