Game Thread Playoffs - First Round Game 01 - Bucks @ Bulls

Can't hear this anymore. Please stop.

 

The Bulls will win this series as long as Rose continues taking it to the hole and converting efficiently and the Bulls bigs dominate the rebounding battle (Gibson / Noah / Gasol) as they did, and the team closes out on 3 pointers.

Then the Bulls will likely lose to the Cleveland Cavilers, the odds on favorite to win the NBA title. If all players can live up to their skill / talent level / paycheck then perhaps the Bulls have a punchers chance. The key is Rose needs to perform close to all-star / mvp level.

 

Very nice win for the Bulls.

Bulls win the rebounding battle 52-41. They owned the paint. Gasol, Noah and Gibson all with double digit rebounds. Gibson especially imposed his will down there.

Rose. Loved seeing him taking it to the rack and finishing. Very efficient 9-16 from him and 2-2 from the line. 7 assists were nice to see, and there would have been more if the chemistry between him and Gasol was not off (lack of playing time / getting the ball to Gasol in situations where the 34 year old can't do much with hit). Don't like him falling in love with the 3 again. 4 turnovers is too many. Rose won the matchup against MCW.

Noah looked good. Grabbing rebounds, steals and moving decent.

Bulls held the Bucks to 39% shooting and 25% from three. I thought the Bulls did a decent job closing out on 3 point shooters. The Bulls D goaded the young Bucks into low efficiency two point jump shots.

Jimmy Butler with a masterful performance. MDJ was 3-5 from deep. Brooks was 3-5 from deep and had a good scoring game. Bulls shot 37.5% from 3.

The above is the exact design of how this roster was built by the front office to win NBA playoff basketball games.

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Negatives.

Too many turnovers. Rose and Brooks need to do a better job here. 9 assists and 7 turnovers from our point guards is not nice to see.

Rose falling in love with the 3 point shot again in the 2nd half. I don't want that. Take it to the hole Derrick.

Gasol had a low fg% game but much of that, IMO, was him getting the ball in spots where he's not used to, and most of that had to do with Rose. These are the chemistry / playing together issues that Thibs always talks about, along with defensive trust, but they just will have to develop this over the 1st series.

Taj getting injured after playing so well. Thankfully the Bulls do have 4 good to great PFs/Cs if one goes down. Still though, the Bulls will need a healthy Taj Gibson if they are going anywhere meaningful.

FT shooting.

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If the Bulls continue to own the paint, Rose keeps having 9-16 games while aggressively attacking the basket, the Bulls keep shooting around 45%, our 3 point snipers hit and they cut down on the turnovers and hit more FTs, I think its on to round 2 quite quickly!

A happy night to be a Bulls fan. Bulls fans rooting for the team to do well should be happy. Bucks fans and people hoping the Bulls do poorly should be ANGRY!

 

I'm finding it hard to get a handle on the game. I'm glad that Rose played well-ish yesterday. He's not going to consistently hit from three like that -- that's fool's gold -- but he seemed to handle and attack well and get the team into its offense. I know Pau had a tough shooting game but I thought he looked like he had an extra gear on the defensive end. I'm not sure we've seen him track guards on the perimeter as well as he did yesterday, which I guess is what you hope for from your seasoned vets.

Really, though, what I'm left with is frustration and boredom. Thibodeau doesn't believe in Mirotic or Snell. He's going to ride Taj and Dunleavy here on out, who both had solid if not exceptional games. And maybe those rotations give the team the best chance of beating the Bucks. Those rotations are never going to win a championship. There's still something missing from the starting lineup even when Derrick Rose is healthy, and Thibodeau hasn't sought to change it.

Careful Transplant, you might be coming over to the dark side?

I actually don't think it's about a leash now. It looked to me like Thibodeau doesn't like the way Mirotic plays with Rose at the three, and to be honest, I'm not crazy about it either. Mirotic seems to struggle creating space for him while at small forward. It would have been nice if Thibodeau did more to work Mirotic in at the three or with Derrick Rose this past season, but he didn't and that time has past. I'm expecting Mirotic's numbers to drop into the single digits as Rose gets more healthy.

 

Not likely. I can still tell the difference between Beelzebub and a member of the Bulls ownership/front office.

 

Another great post.

My take is that it would take an injury ahead of those two for them to get more playing time.

Nobody's commented on how Thibs brilliantly replaced Rose with Snell and we had no PG on the floor for a bit. Kidd then brought in Bayless and Thibs brought in Brooks. The smartness of these chess moves was it kept Brooks from having to guard MCW; he would have been posted up.



Bayless is a small guy like Brooks. Nice match up.

 

I'll agree that replacing Rose with Snell is unconventional, but brilliant? Kinda looked like the Bulls were -3.

 

How do you think Brooks would have done guarding MCW?

Brooks is maybe 6'0"
MCW is 6'6"

I think Thibs looked at game film of earlier games and saw MCW posted up against Brooks.

What would you have done different? I know, I know. Take out Taj and put in Mirotic.

 

Just because you or I agree with a move a coach makes doesn't make it brilliant.

I seem to recall you telling me recently that the way to counter a mismatch is to bring defensive help. Though conventional, that is indeed what most coaches do. It's also what I suspect Thibodeau will do most of the time when MCW's in there and neither Rose nor Hinrich is available.

 

Sure looks to me like Thibs went to a pair of 6'7" guards who play good/great defense and Kidd responded within ~30 seconds by going small. He took out his SF for a tiny guard.

I don't ever remember Thibs putting in Snell for the PG and going without a PG on the floor. EVER.

Your "though conventional" logic doesn't fly.

 

Oh damn. I was so hoping that you'd think my logic had wings.

 

Bulls played the Bucks 4 times in the regular season, and Philly when MCW was there. If Thibs ever played no PG against him, I didn't see it.

 

I think you guys are way, way overthinking the Snell/no point guard lineup. It looked to me like D. Rose was really winded when he went to the bench and I figured he asked out early. Didn't the broadcasters mention something along those lines on the national broadcast? I just figured that Snell was the person at the table who was ready to go in for Dunleavy, before Rose requested out. Am I making all this up? Occasionally I do.

 

Snell didn't go in for Dunleavy.

Brooks is the first off the bench to go in at PG. Has been all season. Hinrich was supposed to be the shooting guard who can't shoot but got a player option in his oversized contract.