Toronto came into the game having given up 105+ points in their last 7 games, and 100+ in their last 12. We saw a lot of Aaron Gray again tonight and Johnson and Pargo. 26 minutes of Lindsey Hunter, thank goodness we signed him! Failed to score 79 points against this team, which gave up 146 to the Hawks. Our defense is supposed to be good, yet we gave up 110. It would have been worse if most of Q3 and Q4 weren't garbage time. The Bulls are offensively challenged. They shot just 39% from the field to get those 79 points, and they shot 4-20 from 3pt. For half the game, they scored a total of 31 points. For the other half, 48 (obviously). Neither is particularly good enough to consistently win ballgames. We've fired the players for the past 11 years. We've fired the coaches three times over that same period (four if you count PJax). The more things change, the more they stay the same. What's killing us is the owner and GMs. That would be Gar PaxDorf. Fool you 11 times. When the fans figure out that the way to get a message to Reinsdorf is through his wallet, they'll stop going to the games. Something has to be done to get him to sell the team to an owner who wants to win championships. Hell, win games.
Bulls blown out by Raptors (I sense a theme) More random thoughts 1. Thank got it's over. 2. It's leading me to consider just turning heel and rooting for this team to lose every game for the rest of its existence. 3. Aaron Gray is fatty fatty fat fat. 4. We'll beat the desire out of Derrick yet. 5. The beatings will continue until morale improves. 6. They managed only 79 points, at home, to by far the worst defensive team in the league. 7. The Bulls may soon be challenging for the title "by far the worst defensive team in the league" title. Contrary to what folks think, this is not a good defensive team. 8. Also, they're not supremely athletic, and they don't have a bright, young nucleus. They've got two good young players and a bunch of ok older ones.
Good thing we rested the starters early last night, huh? Great minds think alike, so I merged the threads. you beat me to the punch by 3 minutes.
Looks like this was the right game to miss. What happened to Noah? Did he just flip out? Still not sure why it's management's fault when the team displays a lack of heart, it's not like BG had any extra heart last year, but I don't get most of what Denny is trying to say.
What part don't you get? They say that when a team sucks, you fire the coach because you can't fire the players. Well, we've fired coaches and we've fired players and the results are the same. After 11 years of rebuilding, we're looking like that 1999-00 team that had Artest, Brand, and Kukoc. Went on to win 17 games. So when you've fired the coaches and the players without positive effect, who's left for management to blame?
If I'm still not being clear... I don't for a second believe the owner or management cares about anything other than making playoffs. First and out is ok with them. As long as there's *something* about the team that gets suckers to buy tickets and generate massive profits. Since they're motivated by profits, the only thing that will effect change for the better is to affect their profits. (Nice how I used effect and affect in the same sentence!) How do we fans affect their profits? Stop buying tickets.
What, did management suddenly stop checking on players' hearts after Eddy Curry? Yes, it is management's fault when the players suck. Management's job is to get players that don't suck.
Sun Times' take: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/bulls/1923716,CST-SPT-bull06.article Bad day at the maul RAPTORS 110, BULLS 78 | An embarrassing performance all around as Bulls blown away BY JOHN JACKSON jjackson@suntimes.com Coaches usually preach the virtues of a balanced effort, but this isn't exactly what anyone had in mind. In suffering a humiliating 110-78 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night at the United Center, the Bulls were horrific offensively and defensively, struggled to rebound, seldom moved the ball crisply and fell short in nearly every aspect of a pathetic effort that was their worst of the season. ''It's very frustrating because we've been working hard,'' forward Luol Deng said. ''It's not like we have guys that are not putting the work in or working hard. It's really frustrating when you know you put the work in, and you come to the game -- and this is how you show up at work. It's really disappointing.'' Derrick Rose didn't disagree when asked if the loss was embarrassing. ''Definitely,'' he said. ''It feels bad. It feels like a Monday or something, like when you have to go back to school.'' The Bulls (7-11) have dropped seven of their last eight games following a 6-4 start. The beginning of the slide was blamed on a tough schedule, but Saturday they were playing at home against a struggling team that had played the previous night in Washington. The Bulls also played Friday, but coach Vinny Del Negro rested his starters in the fourth quarter once Cleveland took a big lead. ''They jumped on us,'' Del Negro said of the Raptors. ''We were chasing the whole game.'' And never gaining ground. John Salmons (13 points) was the only Bulls starter to score in double figures. Chris Bosh led the Raptors (9-13) with 25 points and 12 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season despite playing only 22 minutes in the lopsided romp. Simply put, this game was competitive for only a few minutes. Leading 11-8 four minutes in, the Raptors went on a 16-4 run to take a 27-12 lead. After two Rose free throws, Toronto closed the quarter with a 10-2 spurt for a 37-16 lead. While the 37 first-quarter points -- on 12-for-21 (57.1 percent) shooting -- were embarrassing, at least Toronto is a high-scoring team (fourth in the league at 105.5 ppg). What's really disturbing for the Bulls is that they managed just 16 points on 5-for-17 (29.4 percent) shooting against one of the league's worst defensive teams; Toronto had allowed an average of 110.8 points on 47.8 percent shooting. It's one thing to be held in check by a top defensive team like the Cavaliers; it's quite another to struggle against a team that usually surrenders points like a pinball machine. The Bulls trailed 64-44 at halftime. NBA teams usually make at least one sustained run at home, but that didn't happen this time. The Raptors scored the first seven points of the third quarter to go up 71-44. The closest thing the Bulls showed resembling fight the rest of the way was center Joakim Noah picking up his second technical and drawing an automatic ejection with 7:19 left in the third. ''Jo is way more emotional than anyone on the team,'' Rose said. ''That's the way he is, but he's fine.'' Right now, that can't be said about the Bulls.
''It's very frustrating because we've been working hard,'' forward Luol Deng said. ''It's not like we have guys that are not putting the work in or working hard. It's really frustrating when you know you put the work in, and you come to the game -- and this is how you show up at work. It's really disappointing.'' Both Bill Cartwright and Scott Skiles made almost identical statements shortly before being fired. This is Deng saying it, though.
