This win puts us at 6-4 in the last 10 games, 5-3 our last 8. Taj returned from injury 10 games ago. We're 2-1 in the games since Rose returned.
This is plagarism from elsewhere, but sums things up perfectly: "The argument for Thibs at this point is basically 'If the right guys get hurt or in foul trouble at the right time, he might not cost us to series.'"
I'd be thrilled if they terminated him right now and brought in an interim coach. What the hell is he doing? I find myself getting so angry at him, that I'm actually rooting against the Bulls for stretches. This team has no chance in the playoffs, and it's literally all because of him.
Saturday's game marked just the fourth time in Rose's career that he had at least 20 points, five assists, five rebounds and zero turnovers. It's the first time he has accomplished that feat since the 2011-12 season. That was in the ESPN game recap, sorry I closed the tab and forgot to copy the link.
Nice to see Rose play a more old-school Rose game. If he can play effectively like that against non Jason Richardson defenders, the Bulls have a better chance to do something meaningful. Another rough game for Niko. Its foolish to expect consistent play from a NBA rookie though. That's why rookies don't lead playoff teams somewhere meaningful! (duh) Jimmy didn't have his best night but put his body on the line out there and at least got to the line. This team will go as far as Rose and Noah take them. It was nice to see a bit of a spark from Rose, albeit against a wretched NBA team. After this season, if Rose and Noah can't / won't deliver, it may be time to start thinking "win later." That would mean going with Jimmy, Niko and McBuckets leading the team with whatever Del Negro GarPax comes up with, losing a bunch of games or being in the NBA middle again officially (i fear we are there now however), and hope GarPax gets lucky again with another Rose pick.
They have little to no chance to win against the Lebron and the Cleveland Cavs, unless Rose and Noah to a lesser extent can play like elite players again. The Cavs have MVP level talent and a firm sense of identity ("WIN NOW!"). Andrew Wiggins? No thanks, we're not integrating rookies this season, we want to win now. The Bulls will likely be favored to win their first round matchup. The Bulls will likely be underdogs in their 2nd round matchup.
Like it or not, Magic Johnson is the last rookie I can think of who led his team to a championship. Not Jordan. Not LeBron. Mirotic had a great month of March. Thibs is finding every way he can to get him minutes and he's cost the team leads and games. It's up to Mirotic to make the most of his opportunities. He's been the goto guy on the 2nd unit since the start of the season and last night. That 2nd unit got killed last night so bad that Thibs didn't use it in the 2nd half. I don't blame him. I don't at all think he's the next Magic. I do think Mirotic is the future, but I also think a man crush on the guy is no reason to want an elite coach fired. The best coach GarPaxDorf has fired since they chased away PJax (who won 5 more championships elsewhere). As well as the team has been playing since Rose's return, even in losses, I'm only scared of the Cavs in the playoffs. Cavs' management made better offseason moves than we did. LeBron trumps EVEYONE else's moves. Then they got Kevin Love in a not-so-conservative move. As K4E said, you don't win with rookies, even the rookie of the year. To top it off, they realized their weak spot was C and went out and got TWO of them by trade deadline. Given how crap the rest of the Eastern Conference is and how risk averse our management is, our window of opportunity looks like now to me. Before Cleveland gets even better. Thibs is coaching exactly like our chance is now. He's playing the players who actually do give us the best chance to win. I'll play these. INCLUDING Taj. You know Taj, the guy GarPaxDorf sent into meetings with Melo to recruit him to sign with the Bulls. Taj F'n Gibson. Taj Angry Man Dunk Gibson. Through it all, you guys with the man crush want to bench Taj, who has a 16 PER and who is a 2-way player. Both play together in the jumbo lineup. The two better players on the court at the same time. vs DunVP, per of 11.9 in spite of great TS%. Or do you want the 10.3 PER Snell? It sure looks to me like Thibs is making the smart decision. It also looks to me like he's gone from Niko being 4th big man and maybe 15 minutes a night to giving him every opportunity to start at SF, or at least dominate the minutes there. A position we have a need vs. one where playing him hurts our chances to win. I'm the first guy to bag on Hinrich getting PT. Where he was getting 30 MPG with Rose available pre-surgery, he's been getting 15 or less since his return. I don't think Thibs is so thick headed he'll stick with Kirk in the playoffs if he's hurting the team. You act as if Hinrich getting hurt forced Thibs to play Snell. Well, he didn't play the 2nd unit (that would be Kirk as well) the whole 2nd half. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
