The rankings thus far as per my purely scientific calculation: 2. bullsger (On the road again) (Oh thank Krishna, Noah is almost back stretch) 2. Transplant (On the road again) (Oh thank Krishna, Noah is almost back stretch) 2. Good Hope (On the road again) (Oh thank Krishna, Noah is almost back stretch) 1. bullshooter (Stretch of doom) 1. Such Sweet Thunder (Stretch of cupcakedness) 1. FastForward7 (Stretch of cupcakedness) -5. Denny (fail) The next 8 games is the last hard stretch for the Bulls. @ Toronto and @ Washington are nice pallet cleansers, but the Bulls play two of the three toughest Eastern Conference teams on the road . . . and when they finally get back home, it's against New Orleans on a back-to-back travel day. I could have actually extended the streak for the next three games (Wed, Mar 9 @ Charlotte, Fri, Mar 11 vs Atlanta and Sat, Mar 12 vs Utah), but I didn't for no good reason whatsoever. Thank Krishna Noah is back. How say ye? Wed, Feb 23 @ Toronto Thu, Feb 24 vs Miami Sat, Feb 26 @ Milwaukee Mon, Feb 28 @ Washington Wed, Mar 2 @ Atlanta Fri, Mar 4 @ Orlando Sun, Mar 6 @ Miami Mon, Mar 7 vs New Orleans I'm going to keep positive: Wed, Feb 23 @ Toronto W Thu, Feb 24 vs Miami W Sat, Feb 26 @ Milwaukee W Mon, Feb 28 @ Washington L Wed, Mar 2 @ Atlanta W Fri, Mar 4 @ Orlando W Sun, Mar 6 @ Miami W Mon, Mar 7 vs New Orleans W Bulls go 7-1.
Wed, Feb 23 @ Toronto W Thu, Feb 24 vs Miami W Sat, Feb 26 @ Milwaukee W Mon, Feb 28 @ Washington W Wed, Mar 2 @ Atlanta W Fri, Mar 4 @ Orlando L Sun, Mar 6 @ Miami L Mon, Mar 7 vs New Orleans W 6-2
This is the stretch that will define where the Bulls finish in the standings. If they finish 6-2 or above with wins against the Heat, then I think they're a couple of games above the other contenders in the standings. Anything worse than that and it's going to be tough to win the conference.
*cleanse the palate* A pallet: Sorry for the diversion. But that was a tough one. There is pallet, palette (for paints) and palate (your taste buds). Wed, Feb 23 @ Toronto W Thu, Feb 24 vs Miami L (Noah not yet acclimated) Sat, Feb 26 @ Milwaukee W Mon, Feb 28 @ Washington W Wed, Mar 2 @ Atlanta W Fri, Mar 4 @ Orlando W Sun, Mar 6 @ Miami L Mon, Mar 7 vs New Orleans W Ok, I'm like totally unsure about this. But I'll say 6-2. I wanted to say 5-3, but, Noah is back, though it'll take some time for him to gel with the others.
Well, my mind and gut agree with you. It is a tough stretch. And Noah coming back will disrupt as much as add. But....I believe in Derrick. They'll stumble once or twice, and there'll be an unecessarily close call or two, but I'll stick with my 6-2 (and be wrong on the call of 4 of the 8 games).
Wed, Feb 23 @ Toronto W Thu, Feb 24 vs Miami W Sat, Feb 26 @ Milwaukee W Mon, Feb 28 @ Washington W Wed, Mar 2 @ Atlanta W Fri, Mar 4 @ Orlando L Sun, Mar 6 @ Miami L Mon, Mar 7 vs New Orleans W 6-2 This is not a copy of truebluefan. Just noticed that he predicted the same...
Ok, well I think I'm on track in just about every way, including the switching of wins and losses. It's amazing that most of you predicted the win over Miami. Bulls are 40-17. Crazy.
The Bulls haven't lost to an elite team since Boozer came back, so the confidence in playing the Heat at home was not misplaced. That's quite a run, though it obviously has been facilitated by the fact that the Bulls have only played the great teams at home: San Antonio, Miami x2, Orlando, Boston, OKC, LAL and Dallas. Maybe you can characterize the loss against Portland to be a loss against an elite team, because Aldridge was playing out of his mind during that stretch of the season. The Bulls play three games away against good and elite competition next week, Atlanta, Orlando and Miami. I think the stretch will provide a strong indicator for where the Bulls are at, even if Noah isn't fully integrated yet.
Ok, let's see, Tor- L Mia - W Mil - W Wiz - W Atl - L Orl - W Mia - W (yes) NOH - ? Good bet the 6-2-ers win. What do I get? What do I get? (Um, don't pay attention to the particular game predictions I made...:-(
5-2 so far and the losses are against Toronto and Atlanta. NOW do you see why I don't pick the individual games?
But see, I outflanked you. I predicted the record, the individual wins and losses, and THEN predicted that I would be wrong on 4 of my predictions, which, if my prediction about the record holds up, will be absolutely true. In short, Basketball is like Quantum Mechanics. You can't predict individual outcomes, only the statistics
