They're in, of course. They do have the best record in basketball. The glass half-empty view: 1) Rose is hurt again, we need him to be at peak form. The rest of the games, just 9 left, should have been used to get him into his top game shape. 2) As a team, they're 6-4 in their last 10 games. 60% is still better than every team in the east except Miami and Indy (Atlanta and Orlando are close at .596), but it's not what I think any of us expected. 3) As with Rose, we want the Bulls to be the hottest team in basketball going into the playoffs, not limping across the finish line. 4) Deng has been playing hurt, and since his injury has clearly not been close to 100% able to play his game. 5) Indy and Atlanta have speedy/quick PGs who did quite well against us last year when Rose was MVP. 6) We lost to the Knicks with the "best perimeter defender in the league" holding Melo to just 16-31 shooting. Enthusiastic defense isn't enough - most of the playoff teams have a guy like Melo. 7) We never got enough chance to play our projected starting 5. Rose hurt, Rip hurt. We watched our backup PG and SG start most of the season. The glass half-full view: 1) Rose and Rip are plenty rested. If they can just overcome the injuries and be near 100% playing shape by the 2nd round, we have a real shot. 2) There's not a lot of game film of our hopeful starting 5 for teams to study. 3) Even with Rose and Rip out of the lineup, we have a very deep team. 4) Deng has heated up a bit the past few games. Maybe he can be like Kobe and play excellently with the injury. 5) Thibs kicks ass as a coach. He has time to study opposing teams' game films. 6) While Ronnie Brewer and Watson have appeared to slump, maybe they can use the diminished minutes as a chance to rest up a bit. After all, we dominated the standings with them playing well, and without Rose. 7) Boozer's been beastin' lately. While I personally am satisfied with his scoring (it's due to his role, the offensive schemes, etc.), I have been disappointed with his rebounding. But 16, 14, 13, 10, 11 rebounds in his last 5 games. Unfortunately, we're 2-3 in those games.
The situation looks different depending on what day you check in. I guess that's the nature of the beast. The Bulls haven't been all that impressive of late. If what I've seen in the past couple weeks is what we're going to get in the playoffs, I could see losing the #1 seed and a 2nd-round out. I've got it in my bring-up to check back in on this thread in a week and hope I'm feeling better about things.
Glass half full: The Bulls are in my opinion the most talented team in the NBA. Glass half empty: The Heat feast off of turnovers and Rip and Rose look all kinds of out of sorts. I think it's hard to project Rip in particular as having a decent chance at integrating with his teammates because of how much time he's missed. . . . I'm less optimistic at this point than I have been all season. Let's hope they can turn this around.
The hottest teams in basketball right now: Spurs 9-1 the last 10 games Clippers 8-2 Boston 8-2 Indiana 7-3 Atlanta 7-3 (These are teams we have to beat in the playoffs to make the finals) Houston 7-3 OKC 7-3 Phoenix 7-3 (Of those teams, only Phoenix is not currently a 1-8 seed) Bulls are 6-4 along with: NY, NJ, MIL, LAL (Of those teams, LAL, NY, and CHI are 1-8 seed)
Yeah those teams are hot, but both the Celts and the Hawks have lost to the Rose-less Bulls in their last 10 so it's hard to get overly-frightened. Pacers are another story. It's been said that the Pacers=Bulls-Rose. I think they're a bit better than the Bulls without a healthy Rose.
I am convinced a 7 game series is a consideration. The Celtics may not care enough to play 110% to win a regular season game when they can play 95% and beat up other teams and accomplish their seed objectives. Though they did get fired up to play Miami and kicked their asses.
The only thing I'm down about with this team is Rose's health. Rip to a lesser extent. Rose's injuries look like the result of someone who's been pushing his body too hard, and has had to overcompensate too much for too long, and is paying the piper. All of his injuries look like complimentary injuries from favoring certain parts while playing through injury. That's really f*cking bad news for us, that might even extend beyond this season. The team has played exceptionally well without him. I'm amazed at the quality of wins we've squeezed out. If Rose can get right by the 2nd round of the playoffs we're as good a bet to go all the way. The rest might help at that point. If not, anything past the 1st round will be a real struggle. Rip looks plenty good to me. I'm as firm a believer as ever in the multiplying effects of his game. His ability to space the floor and facilitate offense without touching the ball is remarkable. If everyone gets healthy I don't think it'll take very long for the team to gel. We looked great in preseason. But what kind of shape is Rose in?
Spurs lost to LA I think at this point, you thank God for your good record and get out your Etch a Sketch and shake things up and start over. I feel pretty good about the Bulls into the ECF, even with a hobbled Rose. That is much better than I would have said last year, when we probably wouldn't have made it out of the first round without him. They don't make it out of there or with any chance at the championship unless he's at least 80%.
Yeah, it's a nice feeling. An amazing team, all in all. Hard to know what is going to happen in the playoffs, but I'm having fun.
Seems like the Heat didn't know to stop CJ like they do Rose. They won't make that mistake in the playoffs. And I wouldn't expect CJ to play like last night in most of a 7 game series. Thibs was all about ball movement and reversing the ball to the weak side. That worked brilliantly when Rose wasn't in. The last play of regulation was a perfect example - inbounds to Boozer, pass to Korver on the left side (well covered, no shot), back to Boozer in the middle, over to CJ on the right side for the tying 3. It was a great play drawn up by Thibs. The ball ended up first in the hands of our elite 3pt shooter, then to our 2nd best. Kudos to Boozer for execution, Korver for not forcing it, and CJ for the make. The announcers talked about how the Bulls offense is dominated by Rose when he's in. I think it's astute and potentially a problem, even if Rose gets to 100%. Thoughts?
Obviously, Rose played better last year and earlier this season. At his best, he plays it like Jordan did...run the offense and if your stuff doesn't work on a given possession, let the stud hoss work his magic with the shot clock running down. Last night was Rose "touching bottom."
Well, all the Bulls' players are back on the court. Whether Rose is truly healthy remains to be seen, but I'll assume he is. Hamilton looks to be rounding into form, averaging 17.3ppg on 51% shooting in his last 4 games. Deng has scored 16+ points 9 times and 20+ points 6 times in his last 14 games. Boozer and Noah are rebounding well and continue to hit a high % of their shots. The Bulls bench, several members of which now get to return to being part of the "Bench Mob," continues to be awesome. Statistically, the Bulls have the #1 defense in the NBA and the #6 offense...in combination, that's very damn good. The #1 EC seed looks pretty secure. The Heat continue to be the favorites in the EC with the Bulls as the undisputed #2. I'm fine with this and based on what the Heat did to the Bulls' in last season's playoffs, I can't see a real strong argument against the oddsmakers. We're Bulls' fans and we've got a terrific team. With the playoffs around the corner, this is a great place to be. Let's finish off strong and then let the playoffs begin. I'm firmly in "glass half full" mode.
I'm in glass half empty mode following the game against Dallas. Rose isn't moving right. I realize that he had a relatively decent game playing within his physical limitations but the Bulls aren't going to make it past Miami unless he's able to recapture his quickness. Rose is the one big advantage the Bulls have against Miami because their interior defense is so bad. There are times we can finish at the hoop against them at will. The Bulls need that; and I have a sinking feeling that Rose isn't going to be able to work himself back to full health over the next three or so weeks. Sad.
Is there something in the glass? I think so. Then I'm happy. Because who knows how it will play out. They have some growing to do, and you wish everything was perfect, but it ain't. I think we have more than a puncher's chance to go all the way, so it's worth fighting to the end.
Oddly, I think we have a better chance maybe without Rose, or at least without him playing so much. Our ball movement is a bit better since he tends to dominate the ball (rightly so). He does demand their best defender, which is good. Last year, healthy, he didn't get to their interior defense much - a big reason why we lost to them. Plus the guys are well practiced to play without him. Though it's really hard to say we've really got a better chance without last year's MVP and our best player.
In a single game this Bulls team might have a better chance against the Heat than with the Rose that's currently playing, but little chance in a 7 game series, barring a major meltdown.
I take Denny to mean: we have a better chance with not such a Rose-centered offense. And I would agree. He is a superstar, and he'll need to be one from time to time. But our chances as a team are better against them if we beat them as a team. Easier said than done.
I like our chances if Rose dominates the game like he did last game. If he's the focus of the offense and opponents take him out of the offense, as Miami did, it's tough. Without him for many games this season, we've beaten really good teams with team play and more players involved. There doesn't seem to be any in-between kind of play from the team.
