Vinnie's hiding Gordon on Wade this afternoon. Deng just went down and couldn't walk off the court on his own. Not good. Chalmers is outplaying Rose so far. But the Bulls led at halftime and are still leading. Though the Heat are now within a point.
Bulls with only 4 PF the whole game so far, halfway through the 3rd. Tyrus got the start and is having a decent game. 4 boards, 4 steals, 6 points.
Interesting 30 second interview with Vinnie. "We're trying to develop a rookie PG who's playing so well. We're looking for pieces that fit around him, but have to work with what we've got. Looking to find the right rotation. Injuries haven't made all that easy."
Tied after 3, 64-64. Hughes threw a wild pass after getting himself in trouble while dribbling out the clock to end the quarter. Terrible. Vinnie's been playing 3 guards for most of the quarter: Gordon, Hughes, and Thabo finished the quarter together. Aaron Gray with a double-double: 12 points, 10 boards.
BTW, Nocioni's playing, the MRI must have been OK. Bulls playing without Gordon, Miami's lead is now 4.
Bulls need Gordon to get them this win in the fourth. He'll have to outdue Wade though, which is no small task. Good job on Wade today. He doesn't have a great efficiency today, and he isn't getting a lot of assists.
Bulls need a basket, so they give it to Noah. Next play, they made sure both Noah and Thomas got a touch. SMH at the two of them being out there at the same time, let alone getting touches.
Michael Beasley would be the perfect big man for the Bulls. The Bulls offense is designed in a way that gives the big men a bunch of jumpshots, and Beasley is perfect at that. Not sure what we'd have to give up for him though. Something like Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Joakim Noah for Michael Beasley, James Jones, Mark Blount, and Marcus Banks would have to at least get Miami thinking about it.
Poorly coached game by Del Negro. Didn't ride out Gordon's hot streak, once again. Luol Deng getting injured hurt us a lot too. He really frustrates the Heat.
Beasley basically looked like dog. Unfortunately the Bulls basically looked like dogshit. Deng's ankle sprain was described as "bad" by KC.
I had the pleasure of attending the game and it went completely the opposite way I had expected. I figured Wade would have 40-50 against this bulls backcourt, but BG and the bigs did a good job of forcing Wade to settle for pull up jumpers, especially in the first half. At one point Wade was holding his nads, so maybe Noc played a part as well. BG also was really playing well in the context of the offense in the first quarter and came out hot. I expected the bulls to pull their patented "play dead" for the first six minutes, but they looked good. Of course all the problems that I expected in the first quarter showed up in the 4th (BG went cold and turned it over, Hughes bricks, no offensive presence from any of the bigs), but it was encouraging to see them come out and play well for the first 3 quarters. Gray looked effective on the offensive end. Tyrus had a nice run out and I'm starting to think he's turned a corner. I think we can cross Miami off of the list of potential BG end points because Chalmers looks like you can pencil him in for the next ten years at pg for Miami. Most surprisingly, Hughes hit big shot after big shot. Just about every one of his buckets until the fourth put the fans back in their seats just as they were starting to get into the game. It wasn't until the fourth quarter when the Miami people started firing T-shirts into the crowd that they really got into it.
Chalmers does look like a quality player, doesn't he. He's like Duhon but he can shoot. I do wonder if he wasn't just a bit into DRose's head though, after the NCAA finals. That's not to take away from Chalmers, but I think he played really well and Rose become progressively more invisible as the game went on.
Yeah, from his comments I get the distinct impression that Chalmers has a chip on his shoulder concerning Rose. And Rose showed flashes last night, but his play has taken a nose dive. He is slumping.
Bulls made just 1 of 12 shots in the last half of Q4. It looked to me like they were double and triple teaming Gordon and not caring if Thomas and Noah took all the shots. Can't blame them for that. Every time I see Haslem play, I'm impressed with the guy. If Noah could turn out to be about that good, we have a winner. The small ball lineup was not at all effective against the Heat.
They were switching on all the pick and rolls. And they doubled BG at the top of the key, like every other team has, and BG still can't do anything with it.
Vinny needs to run Gordon off more screens. I don't get why he has taken this out of the offense again. It's very effective. Then again, not much of Vinny's coaching makes sense. He will be replaced by Avery Johnson, Tom Thibodeau, etc. not too far in the future. He's just a placeholder.
Geez. Vinnie's not going anywhere for another couple or three seasons. I find no fault with his rotations or his plays. The players as a whole just aren't that good. We've been starting Aaron Gray at C simply because the roster is putrid at the F and C spots. You can't blame him for the hand he's been dealt, and as far as that goes, he's playing that hand quite well.
