So BG finally comes out strong hitting his first four shots and not getting abused on defense and for whatever reason nobody else can hit a shot. Parker is taking it to Rose some. If the bulls don't stop giving up layups, this will be over by halftime.
I think we're finally seeing the offense the way it was supposed to be played. The bulls are going to run the spurs out of the gym if the spurs let them.
Ben Gordon had a really nice game. Only 20 points, but he did that with Bruce Bowen completely mauling him in the second half. Anyone else catch that one play, where Bowen had Gordon in a headlock under the basket, and then Gordon had to make some move to get free, and they called an offensive foul on Gordon? Completely ridiculous. I think offensively, this is probably the Kirk we will see most often, missing a lot of shots. But that's okay. Kirk Hinrich's defense if freaking amazing. I don't know what happened with him. He was awful last year, easily our worst defender in the backcourt. He looked better at the beginning of this season, but didn't look much better than Gordon (although Gordon was playing a lot stronger defense at the start of the season than he is now). But since coming back from injury, Kirk Hinrich looks like the best defender in the entire NBA. I would imagine it is a combination of not wanting to get traded out of Chicago (his favorite team), being out so long and watching the team struggle, and his reduced role, which allows him to not have to pace himself. Like I don't really know how to describe Kirk's defense the past few games. It's just been so amazing. Better than Ron Artest or Bruce Bowen at their best over the last decade. Hopefully Hinrich keeps it up, because a combo guard off the bench who can come in, play 24-36 minutes a night given on the situation, that plays lock down defense, helps run the team good, is an on court leader, and is a good shooter half the time is a very valuable player to have. Not sure what we are going to do about Derrick Rose. This kid is playing bad basketball on both sides of the floor. He will make a spectacular play from time to time which makes everyone forget about how bad he is playing. He scores like crap. By my calculations, after tonight's game, his scoring efficiency is down to 50.6 TS%. He is going to be under 50% after a few more games. His assist numbers seem to just be the result of handling the ball so much, and not the result of any creating. He can't defend a chair. This kid needs to be held accountable for his crappy play. It's really holding the team back. At this point, I would say Michael Beasley is better than Derrick Rose. They are about equal offensively, and Beasley is the better defender by quite a bit. Although this is an indictment on the coaching. The Derrick we saw at the beginning of the season is better than the Michael Beasley we've seen in January. So why had Rose regressed over the past few months? That is not a good thing. But glad to see the 2006-2007 level of play. I would imagine that John Paxson walked into the locker room, and started yelling up a storm. What the general manager has to say will actually get players to listen, because he is the guy who believed in all of them enough to bring them in. That's the only thing that I can think of that could change things, yes having Kirk and Deng back is nice, but I highly doubt these guys lit a fire under everyones asses.
We lost tonight but I think we are starting to mesh as a team more though. DRose is taking too many shots, he has to work on distributing a bit better. But all in all there is improvement and I can't be mad at the Bulls for improving. We still need a capable and consistent big and hopefully that will come as we continue to shop Larry Hughes.
Wow, way to jump off the bandwagon. You're right, bench the rookie number 1 pick because he couldn't stop Tony Parker from scoring 20 points. And as far as Rose' offense, have you seen Hinrich or Gordon run the point? Even with Rose offensive struggles, it's ten times smoother with Rose playing point then with Gordon or Hinrich. Rose only problem right now is that he can't hit water falling out of a boat. But he works hard enough that I firmly believe that will come around. And to that last point about Beasley...Did you watch the Heat-Rockets game yesterday? That was a perfect example why Rose was/is the better player/pick. Beasley is a jumpshooter who is not a strong enough athlete to dominate on the boards. When his jumper is off, and the other team has strong interior rebounders, he is completely negated. So just relax with the "held accountable for his crappy play" crap. In case you forgot, I think he's helped win a good ten games by his ability to continue to attack the rim at all times, especially late in games.
One more quick point... You're "best defender in the entire NBA" was getting schooled by Manu in the fourth. See, that's my point, great players like Ginobli will score, it's your ability to attack them on the other side is what will give you a chance of winning the game. Right now, Only Rose and Gordon have that ability to get a good look at any time.
LOL Rose's worst assist game out of the last 7 was Hinrich's career best (avg). He was coming off a 25 point/10 assist game followed by being the key guy in us beating the Cavs. He might be struggling a little, but it's part of learning the game and being a rookie. I wouldn't trade him for Beasley.
Oh of course not. Although since I dont have cable (even at school we cant see all the games) I cant tell that he's struggling. Even if he is, its still nice that he has the ability to get to the basket at will, even if he doesnt get all the fouls called for him. And as for Beasley, the difference between them is he can shoot...I knew when everyone was sack riding beasley saying that he's gonna be a beast I was like no he's not. He'll score yes, but he doesnt have the strength to abuse players underneath and rebound like alot of sports analyst said he would. He needs to do a Superman and put on some muscle in the offseason and then we'll start the talk from there.
Just looks to me like we lost to a better team. But at least at full strength we don't look like complete garbage anymore.
I haven't been able to watch the last couple of games, but I'm not surprised that the Bulls are doing better with Hinrich, sans Hughes. Larry Hughes single-handedly killed an offensively flow. And while he did contribute to victories, the contributions were always Potemkin since the came at the expense of running a functional offense, which would ultimately result in more losses than wins. As per D Rose, I'm sure glad that Hinrich is taking minutes off his legs. It's a long season, he'll come back stronger. But he needs the rest now, and it's nice to know the Bulls aren't relying on him for more production than he is ready to provide.
It's kind of amazing too that Deng was gone for weeks, comes back, we start playing well, and all the talk is about Hinrich saving the day and Hughes sucking. Deng is truly the invisible man.
