Wow, what a difference a game makes. The hype went from how old the Celtics looked to how lucky the bulls were to even win one. Rose stayed in the game, but turned the ball over way to much. The pace of adjustment seems to be a bit too fast for Rose still. The plays that worked in the first game aren't going to be there in the third game. Hopefully he comes back strong in game 4. Seems about right... BG didn't play particularly badly, but when all you bring to the game is shooting and scoring, it's bad when you don't shoot well. Allen did what his team needed when they needed it and outplayed BG decisively in this one. Bulls need balance and consistency more than anything. Salmons actually started out well in game 3 and tried to pass a few times. Too much dribbling later in the game and he didn't do much to control Pierce. And the bulls get blown out... Tyrus is getting frustrated with the lack of ball movement. He's not touching the ball and he's wide open a lot. The fact that his buddy Big Baby is getting 8-10 wide open looks a game probably isn't helping. Tyrus needs a little patience and maturity, but I can understand why he's frustrated. Noah, still doing what he does. Still too skinny. Miller, still banging and still 33. Hinrich, good defense and better offensive numbers with more offensive opportunity. But he's not going to carry the bulls anywhere and it was too little too late. Everybody talked about the importance of ball movement after game 3. Maybe they'll actually do it in game 4. Rose needs to recognize how the C's are game planning him. BG needs to hit shots early. Salmons needs to focus on keeping Pierce in check. Tyrus and Noah need to bang under the boards and get out and run. They all need to share the ball. The Celtics have gotten better in every game so far and the bulls need to anwer or it will be a five game series.
Game 4 didn't disappoint. Bulls answered the bell and pulled out a win. But it was ugly. Rose looks like a rookie, but a really good one who'll be good for a long time. Rondo is playing his ass off, partly because he's good and partly because Rose is guarding him. But Rose matched him for the most part this game, except for the TO's, which Rose has to cut down. BG did his thing again. And by thing I mean basically not show up for the first 3 and a half quarters, then hit an impossible game changing shot and perpetuate a controversy that is sure to generate enormous amounts of revenue for message boards all summer. BG got outplayed by Ray Allen again, but thanks to the overtime it wasn't much of a difference. Both guys hit game saving shots. BG's defense was worse than normal to the point he was called out again by the announcers, this time Mark Jackson and Short van Gundy, but he seems to be injured which explains it. Salmons finally got the memo that he shouldn't shoot so much, then he stopped shooting all together after one really bad sequence where he dribbled out the clock and didn't get a shot off because he lost the ball behind his back. He did hit some big shots in the OTs. Hinrich was on Pierce down the stretch so any Salmons improvement would be a welcome development if the bulls are going to have a shot in game 5. Tyrus almost cost the bulls the game in regulation after playing a pretty good game. Instead of passing the ball to Rose who was standing next to him with the bulls up 2 and about 10 seconds on the clock, Tyrus decided to dribble it up some and take the foul. That's fine if you hit the FT's, but Tyrus split them and Ray Allen hit a three to send it to OT. Confidence is good, but he has to back it up in that situation. Miller almost got himself thrown out before fouling out. He had fewer shots and minutes and boards than the last two games, but was +21. Hinrich played great D with 3 stls, shot well and had 4 asts to 1 TO. But he missed some big FT's. Add BG and it looks like Pierce to the list of guys with nagging injuries. Bulls did a better job of moving the ball and out-assisted the C's 23-19, out-rebounded and out-shot the C's as well. Rose took a step forward, hopefully he takes another and the bulls young legs are enough to wear down and beat the C's championship experience.
Gordon's injury isn't a nagging one. The announcers said he injured it early in the game, which explains why his ability to move on defense had a big drop off midway through the game. (which was when Ray Allen started scoring a lot). Still, Gordon was huge for us. Obviously the two incredibly clutch shots, but the Bulls were +20 with him on the court, and -17 without him. His presence just makes everything so much easier for his teammates, just because of how much defensive attention he gets. I thought he went a little bonkers to start the second overtime. Not that they were bad shots in the general sense, as he would normally make 6-8 points off those shots he was taking. But with a hamstring injury and taking that nasty fall on his back, it was no time for him to try to murder the Celtics by himself, although you have to admire his attitude. With some good massaging Gordon should be fine for game 5.
He said it happened midway through the second from what I read. And like all the other numbers, +/- for BG is misleading because for the last minute of regulation and both OT's, BG only plays on offense. So he gets the +'s for every score, but not the -'s when he's sitting on the bench and the C's score. I hope it just takes some massaging.
Going into the fourth quarter only Ben Gordon and Brad Miller had a positive +/-, with Ben Gordon being a +10. I'm sure we were doign offensive/defensive substitutions then!
I'll give BG credit for gutting through a painful injury. Looking at the game flow, he wasn't bad in the first half. And that's probably the biggest improvement in his game over the course of the season. At the beginning of the year, when BG wasn't on, he was detrimental. Now if he isn't scoring, he's basically just taking up space if the other team isn't targeting him, but not hurting the team. Ray Allen did score 10 points in the fourth on 3-4 3pters, some which were painfully open looks. But if he sits out his leg probably tightens up and he probably doesn't hit that 3. However, if we went by the Denny Crane Formula of Greatness(TM), BG would have only scored 16 points the whole game!!! That's completely mediocre!!!
Bulls blew this one, it was handed to them on a silver platter and they couldn't close the deal. Rose wasn't good. More TO's, bad decisions late. He needed to step up and he was mediocre. But he wasn't the worst... BG's hammy only seemed to affect him on the defensive side of the ball for some reason. Probably the worst defensive effort of the season. Even more remarkable given how Ray Allen was basically taken out by the refs. I'd make a crazy statement about how lucky I'd consider myself if I never saw BG isolated at the top of the key with the clock running out and forcing up a step back fadeaway 20 footer, but that'd be silly. I'll just say that I don't think it will be hard for the bulls to find somebody who can score 26 points on 21 shots in 50 minutes and play just a little bit of defense. And while hitting three late FT's was nice, it was an absolute gift. After a few games of decent strategy and play calling, VDN absolutely shat the bed at the end of regulation. Is there anybody who thinks isolating BG up top and letting him run the clock out is ever going to work? The OT last play to Miller was a great call, but don't either Noah or Tyrus flush that ball? Noah certainly would have been more open if that's possible. Tyrus might have settled for the J, but still. Salmons played better than the last few games, but not as well as Pierce. He was more aggressive offensively which is a good sign and hit some big threes. Tyrus has done some dumb things, but burying on the bench for most of the second half the last few games isn't helping anything. Tyrus can finish around the rim and can punish the C's big men for cheating and moving over to stop penetration. Noah, still doing what he does. He's been pretty steady. Hinrich played great aside from a couple ugly plays. He was on fire in the first half, and only got one shot I think in the second half. More good defense. Moving the ball is what got the bulls a 10 point advantage and they managed to get away from doing that. Miller is a tragic figure. You can see the wheels turning, but he is just so old and slow. Still should have hit the FT's, or at least the rim. The bulls could have very easily won the two games in Boston that they lost. They should have won tonight. Think about that for a second.
Ben Gordon got a good look at the basket. He just missed the shot. You can't really ask for a much better look at the end of a game then BG got. Rose pretty much flushed this game down the toilet with his missed layups and turnovers in the fourth. That's where we lost this game imo.
I only saw overtime so these comments are limited. Miller got the crap beat out of him on that late foul. I knew he was going to miss at least one free throw, and he was so far off on that second intentional miss attempt that I think he may have had a concussion. As far as Gordon, your comments don't surprise me because I saw the same thing in Game 4. Van Gundy made the comment that it's harder for an injured player to play defense because on defense you can't dictate the direction of the game. On offense you can adjust for your limited mobility. On defense the opposing player sets the tone. Tough loss. The Bulls will bounce back in game 6. You know this is going to be a seven game series.
I thought Gordon did fine defensively. He struggled a little early on. But in the second half, he was on the ball defensively. My only complaint with Gordon in the second half, would be those two straight plays where he didn't get in on Rondo on the help defense...then again, if he left Allen open, and Allen hit a three, that could have been devastating at that point in the game. And again, if Rose wasn't such a poor defender, none of that would have mattered. Rondo's a solid player, but come on, the guy averaged ~12 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds in the regular season. There is no reason the guy should be averaging anything close to a triple double, with over 20 PPG a game.
Guys like Ben Gordon grow on trees. Reading through the recaps of all 5 games so far, one thing that stands out is the clutch shooting. Game 5 In this loss, Gordon made 3 FTs to tie the game with 28 seconds left. Not to mention the 12 FTA, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and a blocked shot in game 5. The Bulls led 77-66 early in the fourth before the Celtics scored nine in a row to make it 83-82 with 4:27 left. But the run was costly because Ray Allen fouled out 18 seconds after hitting a key 3-pointer. Gordon hit a leaner from the right side to give the Bulls the lead with 16 seconds left. After Paul Pierce’s jumper put Boston ahead with 3.4 seconds left, Chicago tried to inbound the ball to Gordon. “Three guys went to Ben, and I understand why,” said Miller, who had an open lane to the basket, but Rondo got him from behind. Game 4 Gordon's clutch shot keeps hope alive for Bulls (Sun Times) Gordon, Bulls beat Celtics 121-118 in 2 OT (AP) Game 2 Celtics' Ray Allen offsets Ben Gordon's 42 points with game winning shot, evens series against Bulls They nearly pulled it off, though, thanks mainly to a postseason career-high 42 points by Gordon, including the Bulls' last 12 points. Gordon was 14-for-24 overall and 6-for-11 from three-point range. ''He's one of the best at hitting clutch shots,'' Bulls point guard Derrick Rose said. ''I don't know how he blocks everything out, but he always finds a way to hit the shots.'' After another Bulls timeout -- their last -- Gordon again found a crack of daylight despite drawing a couple of defenders and hit a 16-footer to tie the score with 12.3 seconds left. Then there's this: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=AlxFO74OiY0DwS8Vj1NcDmCmxMEF?gid=2009041802&prov=ap "No Chicago player has scored 36 points in a postseason game since Jordan retired." That was after Rose's 36 point game 1 performance and before Gordon's 42 point game 2 performance.
You're criticizing the Sun Times and AP and Yahoo! sports, as they wrote the headlines. This is the only part I wrote: "In this loss, Gordon made 3 FTs to tie the game with 28 seconds left. Not to mention the 12 FTA, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and a blocked shot in game 5." And this: "That was after Rose's 36 point game 1 performance and before Gordon's 42 point game 2 performance."
How clutch was he with 10 seconds left in regulation last night? I'd be happier with less clutch shooting and more defense. And if Tony Allen hadn't stupidly fouled BG he wouldn't have been on the line at that point anyway. Honestly, would the bulls need anywhere near the same amount of "clutch shooting" if they could stop people? You can say that nobody has scored on BG in the clutch, but that's because BG is either guarding Tony Allen, or not even in the game. Nobody else can get a shot up at the end of games because BG has already shot it, like he did with another quick shot at the end of regulation last night.
It's a shame the guy can't make every single clutch shot he takes. He misses one, and that'll get cherry picked.
Or conversely, the guy plays like crap for 90% of the game, but you want to highlight the two shots he did make.
Ben Gordon can't make every shot. But he was huge. He's made almost all of the big shots. His only clutch miss was with a tie, and it sent the game into overtime. Game 1, he was clutch, scoring 12 in the fourth. We won. In game 2, he matched Ray Allen shot for shot. Allen just got the final shot. Game 4, he hit the big game tying three after tearing his hamstring. Game 5, made the three free throws after drawing the foul, and then scored 7 points, missing only one shot in overtime. And I agree, how about some defense? Maybe we should stop making these offense/defensive subs, because it seems like we always give up the big shot, which puts BG in mission impossible. Ben Gordon would have had 4-5 more game winners, if they got the stop on the other end. Instead, Gordon's shots are always to somehow get the miracle tie. If we got the stop, like we did in 04-05 and 06-07, we would see a lot more Ben Gordon game winners. (That's why Gordon had his most game winners in those two years). Gordon's not the problem, it is those crappy "good defenders" on our team that keep giving up big shots to the other team.
Paul Pierce was 6-17 last game, before making 5 straight shots in one on one situations against Salmons. It's shocking they went to him with the game on the line, right? 6-17 would be 90% of the game, right?
At some point after Noah's dunk the game went from being epically great to just being epically long. But the bulls pulled it out. Rose still hesistant in big moments, but had a great first half and a huge block to seal it. Rondo went from superstar to thug. Rose has the upper hand in game 7 if Rondo's ankle is twisted. BG had an awful game. Ray Allen lit him up for 29 in the first half and it was so bad that one play in the first half BG went to double team Pierce and not only did Pierce dribble out of it an around BG, but he used BG as a pick on Salmons. VDN gave him the quick hook 3+ minutes into the 3rd quarter and Hinrich proceeded to shut down Allen for the next 12 or so minutes of gametime. And yet another step back fadeaway 20 footer at the end of regulation... The good news is BG tends to bounce back from these kinds of things and I actually expect him to be a force in game 7, especially since he sat most of the second half and fouled out so he should be relatively rested. And then Denny et al. can go back to telling us all how clutch he is... Salmons had a good game, hit some big shots in overtime and played good D on Pierce. He seemed to find his shot from 3 as well. It'd be nice if he could get a few more calls on drives, but I wouldn't count on that in Boston. Tyrus played pretty well, but since he played the majority of his minutes in the first half again, I really can't remember them since they happened so long ago. Noah still getting it done. His steal and dunk will go down as one of the great plays in bulls lore like Mike said. Miller got redemption with 5 huge points down the stretch in regulation and some big free throws. As the rest of the C's get more and more tired as the series drags on, Miller looks relatively faster and faster. Hinrich started out well shooting and put out Ray Allen's fire for a considerable amount of the second half. Hinrich also had 7 asts and 0 TO's and some solid defense. And Rondo hit that ball in the cylinder and tipped it out so don't even start on it. The bulls looked great in the second half when they moved the ball. They had a 13 point lead at one point. Everything is there for a big win in game 7, they just have to execute.
For whatever reason, Gordon was not very good last night. It looked like the old days of Skiles' offense, with him standing in the left corner and Salmons standing in the right corner. The previous game, Gordon was all over the court, using picks and double screens to get open. Kind of shocking that the game he runs around, Allen gets a little tired chasing him and doesn't put up 50 points, and the game where Allen gets to stand in the corner (and he stayed on Gordon no matter what) on defense is the next best thing to getting rest on the bench. Two things stand out after Gordon left the game in Q3, to briefly return in Q4. Allen went 4-5 in Q4, and 3-6 in the overtimes. And the Celtics went 1-2-2 zone because they didn't fear the Bulls' outside shooting. While playing that 1-2-2 zone (another way to rest Allen), they erased a 10 point Bulls lead. They eventually went back to man defense late in the OTs, which may have lost the game for them. Nobody stopped Allen all night. They kept showing highlights of his shots and one was over Rose, the next over Salmons, the next over Hinrich, the next over Gordon. Vinnie even tried Hunter on him. It didn't matter who guarded the guy. Where Hinrich was effective was at guarding Pierce. For some reason, he gave Pierce fits in spite of the obvious mismatch in size and ability. Hinrich was downright awful shooting the ball. He went 1-4 in Q3, 0-2 in Q4, and 1-3 in the OTs. Including the blown layup (that's where clutch comes in) and several wide open, uncontested, take all the time you need to line it up shots. Add it up and it's 16 points for Allen, 4 for Hinrich and we badly lost that matchup in Q4 and the OTs. Another thing that stands out is that minus Gordon, we'd need 35 points from Salmons, 23 from Brad Miller, 28 from Rose, and 12 points from Gordon's replacement. I don't know about you, but I don't expect 35 points out of Salmons every night, 28 from Rose every night, and 23 from Miller every night. I certainly don't expect Noah and/or Thomas to step up and score the differential in points on the typical night where Salmons might get 20 and Miller 10.
