Try looking again. JJ was involved prominantly in 4 of the first six plays. Two assists, probably where he got away from BG or maybe Rose, and 1-2 on shots. Bibby also had an assist and was 1-2. BG had two TO's in the first 4 minutes. How do you miss this stuff?
Having Rose required to play defense isn't helping Rose either. It's not Ben Gordon's fault that Derrick's court vision is limited, and that Derrick struggles shooting the ball.
I don't see how you count "six plays." Johnson was 0-1 with 2 assists, and Bibby was 0-1 with none. During that time, Gordon was 1-1 with a rebound an assist and a block. That's just the first 2:30 of the game. It hardly fits your "gordon doesn't contribute much and we get blown out early" thesis, nor does it look like their guards were somehow abusing ours; at least until Hinrich came into the game.
What game are you talking about? You mean SF Mo Evans? Mo Williams doesn't even play for Atl. I don't even know why I bother anymore.
I had the game on Tivo so I watched it again. By the 6:11 mark the bulls were down by 13. BG was on Evans, who is their SF, btw, so basically guarding the guy standing in the corner again. BG was 1-2 with 3 TO's with an assist. He played the first 12:49 and only took one more shot. JJ and Bibby had their way and Smith hit some tough, bad shots. Evans only touched the ball once. Compare that tonight where he came out active and didn't turn over the ball. That's what my expectations are. I think he was 3-5 with an assist and no TO's. He played very well in the first and then went back to mediocrity for the rest of the game. Part of that is the difference between MN and ATL, but not all of it, and you can see what the bulls can be if BG is aggressive.
