Once again Denny, you somehow manage to draw the wrong conclusion. You are either the dumbest motherfucker I've come across on the internet or some kind of bizarro savant. I haven't figured that one out yet, but either way your ability to consistently and without fail get it wrong is uncanny.
Still think Boozer is playing well? Need anymore evidence that Rose relies too much on his athleticism? You can see him growing and learning from game to game, but he missed a FT again when it mattered most. And whatever that last play was, Rose didn't execute it.
That's a long way short of parody. Seriously though, is Denny mentally challenged in some way, because that would explain a lot and make me feel bad for flaming him. Could somebody let me know.
We had a 12 point lead and we weren't playing our best players to protect it or extend it. That Rose had to shoot a FT to tie the game after we'd given up such a big lead is more to the point than the fact he missed it. I don't know what's up with Boozer, other than he was again +5 last night (we built leads with him out there) and he wasn't out there when we weren't scoring and Miami was. His replacement, Taj Gibson, gave us his second 0-fer in a row, and Bosh heated up against him at the other end. It's pick your poison, and the poison we picked gave up that 12 point lead. Boozer is the consolation prize in your favorite management team's CAP SPACE game they played for a decade. When we signed him, you were praising management for salvaging all that cap space and getting the guy. I remember you posting how you'd hate to see us get Amare - change your mind about that one? And where was our high paid, high energy center (Noah) all Q4? Did he even play? I'm not surprised to see people rag on Rose now. I don't think he "relies too much on his athleticism" (whatever that means) at all. I think the Bulls rely too much on Rose, he's a remarkable player that made up for our deficiencies elsewhere in the regular season, and it's been exposed in the playoffs whether we won or lost games. Rose does need to step up his game, but not in any way that you apparently believe. All season long he's been an amazingly good offensive player, and in Thibs' defensive system he's been a LOT better than he was on that end than in the past. What he needs to do is to make his teammates better, and I'd argue the team's sole reliance on him has achieved the opposite effect: 1) Deng had one of his statistically worst seasons of his career. His only worse seasons were when he was a rookie and the one he only played 49 games (was hurt). 2) Boozer turned from a 23/12 all-star into a bum (in your eyes). 3) Noah couldn't even get on the floor in Q4 of the biggest game of the last 13 years for the Bulls. 4) Taj Gibson's per 36 numbers (he went from starter to bench) dropped from 12/10 to 11.8/9.5. 5) Korver (who finished games for us) saw his 3pt shooting % fall from .536 to .415 The reverse is true, too. Thibs never figured out how to take advantage of the triple teams on Rose to get one of the other players a big night. In game 5, we outscored the Heat 45-38 in the first half (playing Boozer). They outscored us 45-35 in the second half, and 26-18 in Q4. There's a pattern. In game 4, we outscored the heat 45-44 in the first half. They outscored us 38-25 in the second half and 16-8 in Q4. In game 3, they outscored us 43-40 in the first half. They outscored us 53-45 in the second half and 28-20 in Q4. In game 2, they outscored us 48-46 in the first half. They outscored us 42-29 in the second half and 14-10 in Q4. Count the number of times "they outscored us" vs. "we outscored them" and the games weren't as close as you made them out to be. Nor does coming close amount to any sort of victory. Nor does the excuse "if only (insert player name here) did X we'd have won" ring true - because "if only Wade made 8 of 18 shots instead of 7 of 18" rings just as true.
