What Can You Say? Really? What Can You Say?

There comes a time in every NBA player's career when you just have to rise to the occasion.  Game 4 provided such an opportunity for many Bulls.  A 2-1 series means the next game is always important.  You can either take a commanding lead or let it turn into a best-of-3.  For an uncomfortable amount of time, it appeared the latter was going to happen.  Trailing 109-95 with less than 3 minutes to play, the Nets seemed to have seized all momentum in the series.  However, one Nate Robinson and three overtimes later, the Bulls were 142-134 winners.

After the Bulls jumped out to a big lead in the second quarter, Brooklyn trailed by only a basket going into the half.  The Nets went in front in the third quarter and when Brook Lopez hit a desperation three, the first of his career, the conclusion seemed forgone.  That's when Robinson decided to unleash what he had shown flashes of throughout the season.  Whether he was fueled by the missed dunk by C.J. Watson, whom he got into an earlier altercation with, may never be known, but Watson may be faced with being the goat of a Bulls playoff series for the second straight year.  Faced with the aforementioned 14-point deficit, he scored 12 unanswered and provided an assist to Carlos Boozer to tie the game and send it to free basketball.  His 23 points in that frame was one short of Michael Jordan's team playoff record set in 1990.

Robinson wasn't finished.  With time almost up in overtime, he banked in a long jumper that sent the United Center into a frenzy.  It would have been a perfect ending, but Joe Johnson answered back with his own field goal at the buzzer to force a second overtime.  That was long enough for Robinson to foul out with 34 points, bringing an end to one of the most memorable performances in Bulls playoff history.  A third overtime was needed and this time, the Bulls were able to seal it.  That period saw Joakim Noah (15 points, 13 rebounds) and Taj Gibson (10 points) pick up their sixth fouls, so Nazr Mohammed had to provide an unlikely offensive spark.  He led the team in the third OT with four points and it was his putback off a missed free throw from Boozer (21 points) that erased any doubt of the outcome.  Also notable in all these heroics were Kirk Hinrich's line of 18 points and 14 assists, Jimmy Butler's 16 and Luol Deng's 15.  Hey, when you play 63 minutes of basketball, numbers are bound to inflate.

This wasn't quite as exciting as Game 6 against Boston in 2009, mainly because the Bulls weren't faced with elimination this time, but it comes pretty darn close.  This is a season in which the Bulls are trying to prove they can field a competitive club even while Derrick Rose misses every game.  Understandably, nobody gave them much of a chance for anything.  However, I think even their own fans forget that there may be a certain organizational philosophy that just does not permit them to lose easily.  This has especially been apparent since that epic Celtics series. 

At the risk of alienating the anti-Hawk Harrelson crowd, the Bulls' have a TWTW (the will to win) that's off the charts.  Tom Thibodeau always has it and whenever Rose returns, his will be as high as ever.  I can't explain why this is, but it's amazing how we don't see enough of this in the NBA.  If there was different personnel running this team, they might be no better than a seventh seed in this year's playoffs.  Very few coaches can get so much out of a team that doesn't seem capable of producing that.  Props also go to Gar Foreman and John Paxson for finding players that fit right into their coach's philosophy.  Even so, I think even they underestimated just what they were getting in Nate Robinson.  Tell any Bulls fan last summer that he would put on an unforgettable playoff performance and they would have laughed loudly in your face.  He's probably made some forget that Rose remains waiting in the wings.

I tend to get nostalgic, so permit me to do that before closing.  Yesterday may have been as close to a Bulls 90s playoff game as it's gotten in the days since.  A packed United Center was watching an opponent from New York and Marv Albert was on the call for TNT.  As gravy, Steve Kerr was his color analyst.  On top of all that, there were those nerve-racking moments that showed us everything that's great about basketball.  And of course, the Bulls pulled out a close win.  Yes, the 2011 conference finals had a lot of that, but even the lone win in that series was a blowout.  Miami took control of that series afterward, so it never quite felt like those old days again.  What we just saw was a game not to be forgotten and I'll be buying it on iTunes as soon as it becomes available.  If you're a true Bulls fan, you'll want to relive this one again and again.

Back in the present, the Bulls have a 3-1 lead in the series and close it out in Brooklyn tomorrow night.  You know the Nets will be determined not to let their first season at the Barclays Center end there, so the Bulls will have to be ready for that.  Until then, bask in the glory that is Nate Robinson and the never-say-die Bulls.