Bulls hanging close. Atlanta is shooting a dismal .333 while the Bulls are shooting .273. 14-11 Hawks in Q1
Ex FLA teammates Horford and Noah going at it. Horford just drew Noah's second foul with 2:00 left in Q1, so I'm guessing he'll sit.
Bulls got a steal and had a 3 on 1 fast break. Jeff Teague looks like he's about 4'11". He blocked Salmons' layup. It's that kind of challenge to score. Sheesh.
Bulls with really slick ball movement. Every pass to a guy within 12-15 ft. of the basket. The Hawks, unfortunately, have all 5 guys within 11-14 ft. of the basket and every pass recipient guarded. Bulls down by 12.
So much for hanging with teams through the 1st half at least. Bulls down 47-31 and there's still 2:45 left in Q2. The announcers are ripping on the Bulls. "All they have are spot up shooters, nobody who can create their own shot or take their man off the dribble but Rose, and no post game."
Kirk has been guarding Crawford most of the night. Crawford is 16 points on 6-10 shooting. Crawford isn't settling for jumpers, either. That last play was a really slick drive for a layup and 1.
Interesting stat. Derek Rose is 5-12 with 6 assists (and 15 points). Bulls are 14-37, or just 9-25 not counting his shots. So he has 6 assists on the Bulls' 9 baskets. It'd be pretty interesting to see what he'd be like as PG for a team that could make shots.
A couple thoughts: * Taj will become Joe Smith. Useful, but just barely. Someday. He might be Joe Smith's kid. * Taj is a shitty defensive rebounder. * Speaking of Jamal, I heard him talking on the radio and he seemed like a pretty good guy who said all the right things. It always amazes me how some guys get vilified here. I remember way back when he was traded away and we signed up Gordon, I predicted that in a few years Gordon would leave in pretty much the same way. Now, Gordon was a much superior player to Jamal, but I still feel pretty vindicated in thinking Jamal was was the template for how to scapegoat a single fairly decent player for the fact his teammates and organization were absolutely terrible.
One reason the bulls are getting blownout: 3 guys over 20 minutes in the first half. They are playing playoff minutes in December.
Nice pep talk by Vinnie at half time. Bulls come out with an 0-fer for the first 3 minutes of Q3. Rose has had his heart ripped out (not playing with much heart). It's good for the team though, since the worse he plays the cheaper it might be for him to be resigned when the time comes.
These guys don't look in particularly great shape to me. They were well rested before the Raptors game, so I don't think them being tired is a valid excuse.
Rose and Gordon played a lot of ~40 minute games last season. Gordon's replacement may as well play ~40, too. Salmons' +/- is now -27 65-52. Ready to call this a blowout? Bulls have ZERO points in the first 4 minutes of Q3.
Keep shooting, Kirk. Seriously. May as well try and get some rhythm back after sitting out wiht the injury, and may as well do it when it doesn't count.
