Ending With Win

I've always dreamed of blogging on the night the Bulls won the last game of the season.  That night has finally come.  Unfortunately, it's simply ended with no more basketball for the year instead of a championship celebration.  All that came of Wednesday's 115-105 win over the Philadelphia 76ers was most likely the 14th pick in the draft unless the ping pong balls pull a miracle at the lottery.

It looked for awhile that the 76ers would deal one last embarrassment to the Bulls, leading by as much as 24 in the first half.  Then, the Bulls remembered how bad this 10-win opponent is, outscoring them 35-13 during the third quarter.  Philadelphia made a final push which proved futile, even though the Bulls had an active lineup befitting a team much worse than the roster would indicate.  Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol, Mike Dunleavy, Taj Gibson and E'Twaun Moore were all out as expected, but that didn't make the starting lineup any less laughable (click on the link for the box score above).

Nikola Mirotic led all scorers with 32 points.  Starting point guard Justin Holiday (can't believe I'm saying that) was just behind with a career-high 29.  Doug McDermott put up 16, Tony Snell had 13 in 43 1/2 minutes and Bobby Portis wrapped his rookie campaign with 14 boards and just one point shy of a double-double.  Jimmy Butler had as low-profile a triple-double as can be with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Everything about the game however proved secondary when it was announced Gar Forman and John Paxson would address the media afterward.  Fred Hoiberg said nothing when he took the podium and soon after, the heads of the front office sat down.  Paxson said they were talking then because he was traveling Thursday, but perhaps he and Forman also felt that with most of the city watching the other local teams, they could sneak in under the radar.  I wasn't about to forget, so here are some of the highlights:

• They thought the roster had one more shot to contend in the East
• Paxson's biggest disappointment was the team couldn't fight through adversity mentally
• Roster turnover is coming
• Nobody's getting fired
• They'll be looking to improve the medical staff
• Tom Thiobdeau's firing was in the organization's best interest and not a miscalculation
• Rose and Butler never meshed together for an extended time

Let that all sink in and take note of the fact that the powers that be are going to try to fix a team that just finished 42-40 and on the outside looking in.  As much as we'd like a nuclear option to be enforced so that the culture can chance, it doesn't look like it's happening.  Jerry Reinsdorf even released a statement after the press conference reinforcing such.  Everyone pray that they take the right steps to ensure such a disappointing season doesn't happen again.

With no more games to recap, my end-of-season report will be coming in the next day or two.  As I said before, the kid gloves will coming off like never before.  I'm so used to writing it in May, so I hate that already, I have to give a final sendoff to a Bulls team that was as unlikeable and unwatchable as any we've ever seen since the Tim Floyd years.  I wouldn't be doing my job though, so appreciate the fact that I'm taking the bullet for a lot of you.