See, Thibs? The Bench Can Play

Sometime between the end of Monday's game and before Wednesday's contest with the Dallas Mavericks, Tom Thibodeau was convinced that using more of your bench is in fact beneficial to your team in an 82-game grind.  The result was a 101-78 victory thanks in large part to that very second unit.

Luol Deng got off to a hot start in the first quarter and led all scorers with 22 points.  Joakim Noah kept a low profile, but still had a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.  Deng and Noah were the most productive starters, but as mentioned, the bench was let loose unlike on Monday.  The results were pleasing and just what Bulls fans were looking for.  Nate Robinson shot 5-of-6 from the field and finished with 14.  Jimmy Butler set a new career high of 13, which was boosted by a 9-of-10 night from the free throw line.  I don't know where Butler will go in his career.  Personally, I think he'll be a role player at best in this league, but I would also be happy if he turned into a regular starter once he pays his dues.  Marco Belinelli, who sat all of Monday's loss, received brand confidence after turning in an 11-point performance.  Taj Gibson's magic number was 8, which was next to him in both points and rebounds.

All you can say after this is that's more like it.  The defense was strong throughout, the bench was used just like it should be and the offense didn't let up.  The best play came in the second quarter when the Bulls outscored the Mavs 34-19.  Dallas never seriously threatened after that, but the club kept up the intensity even when the game appeared out of reach.

See what happens when you play all 48 minutes?  Thibodeau really emphasized that during his postgame press conference Monday.  He probably mentioned it a lot during yesterday's practice and this morning's shootaround.  As I talk about this, I further realize that this is the coach the Bulls have and he's not going to change.  Asking him to lighten up is just too much.  He'll drive his guys hard and he'll do it often.  It will either raise him up in the NBA coaching ranks or lead to his downfall.  Only time will tell.

The Bulls will have a couple of days off before getting into a rematch of last year's playoffs Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Thibodeau needed his bench to even stay competitive in that series.  Has this new group fully regained his trust?  Hope so, but nothing this man does should shock us.  Not even if he drinks water a certain way.

Buckled

How my post tonight was going to go:  it was a typical night at the office for the Bulls as the offense got hot at the right times and the defense cracked down when they needed to.  They cruised to an easy victory over the Milwaukee Bucks coming off an underwhelming Circus Trip and regained first place in the Central.

How my post tonight will actually go:  what seemed like a typical night at the office for the Bulls turned into disaster as the offense shut down and the defense got overwhelmed by the Milwaukee Bucks' bench at the worst possible time.  They lost 93-92 following a 27-point third quarter lead and dropped a game below .500 as well as 1 1/2 games behind the first-place club in the Central.

The Bulls won the first three quarters by a collective 17 points.  Then, the Bucks proceeded to outscore their hosts by 18 in the last frame, just enough to complete the collapse.  At times during the game, I felt it was kind of dull and wished for some more interesting play.  Unfortunately, I got more than I wanted:  a run that not even the 1992 Bulls had to go on to close out the Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals that year.  Like that game, the winning team's bench was responsible for the outcome.  With Scott Skiles using the same five guys for the final quarter-plus and not one from the starting lineup, the Bucks shocked the Bulls and the United Center faithful.  Whether this surprising start by them holds up remains to be seen, but they deserve the top spot in the Central at the moment.  It was on the line and they showed they're not ready to give it up.  At least their second unit did.

Here's a list of names you won't forget anytime soon along with their point totals:  Ersan Ilyasova (18), Beno Udrih (11), Ekpe Udoh (11), Doron Lamb (8) and Mike Dunleavy (6).  Okay, maybe saying you won't forget them is a bit of a stretch.  Or a humongous stretch. "Who are these guys?" you're probably asking.  Well, I'm not going to pretend to know either.  This isn't a Bucks blog and the club has few players of note.  But I do know Ilysaova had been struggling.  Too bad that slump had to be broken at the expense of the Bulls.

Until the collapse was completed, a main focus of this game was Rip Hamilton and his game-high 30 points, shooting 50 percent from the field.  Like the rest of the offense, he disappeared down the stretch.  Carlos Boozer had a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds, failing to grab a critical board off two missed free throws in the final seconds.  Kirk Hinrich scored 17, but his shooting woes continued at 4-of-11, the same numbers from the field for Luol Deng, who finished with 10.  Joakim Noah grabbed 10 boards despite finishing with a "6" in the scoring column.

There are a variety of reasons you could point to this collapse.  I haven't been able to actually sit down and watch a game for awhile, but I've heard that the Bulls aren't closing opponents out like they should.  That could be a season-long problem for this year's team with or without Derrick Rose.  Hopefully, I won't have to keep coming back to it. 

What I'm more puzzled about is Tom Thibodeau's stubbornness regarding his starters this early in the year.  Of that group, Hamilton played the fewest number of minutes tonight:  36.  Deng sat for all of 42 seconds.  Only Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Nate Robinson got off the bench.  No Belinelli, no Mohammed, not even Teague.  That falls squarely on Thibs.  I know he may not trust everybody sitting next to him at the moment, but even so, you have to get your starters out of there if the game looks out of reach.  The minutes they played tonight should be reserved for Miami in the spring, not Milwaukee in late November.  Racehorses get tired if they have to run a track longer than they're required and the same can be applied to basketball players.  If Thibodeau isn't careful, his insistence on coaching every single game like it's do-or-die is going to catch up with him.  He also needs to realize that this team isn't championship-caliber.  I dearly hope he's already well ahead of me.  Otherwise, I wonder what goes on in his mind.  The bottom line:  in wild blowouts, give others some playing time.  At the very least, do it to protect your main guys.  Do the opposite and you get what happened tonight.

The Bulls will try to put tonight's nightmare behind them on Wednesday when the Dirk-less Dallas Mavericks come to town.  It might not be easy, but something good needs to happen to get this bad taste out of their mouths.  I'll leave you with the tweet I posted that made it onto Bulls Postgame Live.  Mark Schanowski said I was about spot on.  Too bad I couldn't have written something more positive, but it was appropriate for this game I'd like to forget about, but may not for awhile.

Looking For a Second Quarter

I could spend this whole post lamenting on a bad weekend for the Bulls and everything that went wrong.  Instead, there's one issue I'd rather hammer home and it often gets overlooked in basketball.  In the second quarter of the two losses to the Clippers and Trail Blazers, the Bulls were outscored 63-38. 

They didn't have the manpower to keep up with Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and the rest of the Lob City crew, so I'll cut them a little slack for that game.  I saw none of it, but I viewed a good chunk of last night's game in Portland.  The Bulls took a slim lead in the second half, but the Blazers came roaring back and put the game away late in the fourth quarter.  Don't let that 102-94 final fool you.  A Bulls run in the final minute made the contest look closer than it was. 

Looking at the box score, I initially had trouble finding a clear cut reason why they lost.  Joakim Noah was two assists shy of a triple-double and the teams were close in most statistical categories.  Finally, I saw the 28-13 score between the teams in that second quarter.  While working, I was able to glance at the TV from time to time and saw the score get out of hand.  It's somewhat a miracle the Bulls had a lead at all.

The late Norm Van Lier often said that to win an NBA game, you need to play "48 minutes of intensity."  Maybe it's travel lag, maybe it's being away from the United Center for a long period, or maybe this is just the result of a team without its best finisher.  At any rate, the recent slide in the 12 minutes leading up to halftime can't be pleasing to Tom Thibodeau.  He rides his players hard and expects nothing less than their best effort.  We'll never know what he said during the last two breaks, but my money is on a lot of obscenities flying in that locker room.

What the Bulls need to realize is that there are some teams in this league that can shoot the ball, another reason for the offensive outbursts by the last two opponents.  Maybe more pressing is we could be starting to see teams who are all too happy to take advantage with Derrick Rose not on the floor.  We knew it was coming.  The Circus Trip seemed to be a perfect place for it to begin. 

The Bulls will have to make some adjustments if they want to erase this weekend's memories.  It starts with playing the second quarter like it's the fourth.  If you fall too far behind early on, any late run is for naught.  Even if you take the lead during said run, it can evaporate quickly because you didn't keep points off the board earlier.  Thibodeau needs to emphasize all of this as his team prepares for Houston.  Wednesday will show what they learned.  Will it result in a win?  Hopefully.  And they should find a way to stop James Harden while they're at it.

We Talkin' About (a New Place to) Practice

The Bulls may be on the road, but that's not stopping them from making big announcements at home.  Making good on the plans they revealed early in the offseason, the organization unveiled plans for a new practice facility next to the United Center.  The spot currently known as Parking Lot J at the UC is where the new building will sit.  The project, which will be completely funded by the Bulls, is expected to be completed for the beginning of the 2014-15 season.  Other plans to build an entertainment complex near the arena haven't been finalized because funding would require a tax break.  I'll touch on that issue more as it moves forward.

Jerry Reinsdorf says it was Mayor Rahm Emanuel's idea to bring the Bulls' practices to the city from Deerfield, home of the current practice facility, the Berto Center, which the club plans to sell.  I have to admit I don't know everything about Emanuel's policies or his accomplishments since taking office, but I'm glad he's played an active role in this decision.  He must have carefully observed the success the Blackhawks have had in practicing at Johnny's Ice House, which I walked past after attending my recent Bulls game.  It only makes sense that both United Center tenants conduct all operations in the same vicinity.  Why it took both teams until their arena was 18 years old to finalize this arrangement is beyond me.  It's a lot better than having to fight rush hour traffic to get to games from the northern suburbs, something Bulls players have done for 20 years.  That's why they and the coaches are glad this will soon become a thing of the past.

Not a lot of time to celebrate this new development.  The Los Angeles Clippers are awaiting the Bulls fresh off their victory over the Heat.  This will be a tough test, but even if the Bulls lose, it will still be fun to watch one of the most exciting teams in the league.

Surviving the Suns

I pray the final four games of this road trip aren't this stressful at the end, but that may be asking too much.  Just when it seemed like the Bulls had put the Phoenix Suns away, they were outscored 31-17 in the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime.  It seemed like the Suns had more energy and were lined up to fully complete the comeback.  Then, Luis Scola fouled out along with his 24 points and 14 rebounds on the first possession of the extra five minutes.  The Bulls were only too glad to take advantage of this opportunity, squeaking out a win by a 112-106 final.

Carlos Boozer mostly disappeared when it counted, but his earlier contributions allowed him to lead everyone with 28 points.  He achieved a double-double with 14 rebounds, something he was more potent in as the game reached its stretch run.  Joakim Noah also had a double-double by virtue of a 21/12 line.  His shot at the top of the key late in overtime all but sealed the victory.  It was from an area he's grown comfortable with this season and if he's open, he'll knock it down most of the time.  Luol Deng also had 21, Rip Hamilton scored 15 and Nate Robinson came off the bench with 11.  Kirk Hinrich was tops in the assists category with seven.

I wish the Bulls could have ended this game a lot sooner.  They should know you can't let up your defense against a team with a run-and-gun style, even when Steve Nash is no longer present.  In fact, this game got off to a quick offensive start on both ends.  It seemed for awhile that both teams would cross the century mark well before the last minute of regulation.  They only managed to tie at 100 right before overtime.

I know this kind of offense isn't what the Bulls are accustomed to running and I doubt moving quickly out of the gate had anything to do with the bad defense late in the fourth quarter.  Still, they gave the Suns too many opportunities off the glass.  You need to grab those rebounds.  Fortunately, Phoenix's second chances failed more often than not.  Teams like Miami won't be so generous.  They'll make you pay quickly and take the game themselves.  If you're Tom Thibodeau, you drill that into your team's mind at the next practice.  At least they were resourceful when Phoenix's most productive player picked up a DQ.  Now try and end it before it gets to that point.  No need to give everyone ulcers.

The Bulls have a couple of days off before they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers.  As I'm writing this, they have a big lead on the Heat in the fourth quarter.  That should tell you what kind of test the Bulls will face at the Staples Center.  They'll be clear underdogs, but let's keep the L.A. faithful on the edge of their seats.  That would be fun.

For My 100th Post, The Best of the First 99

It was just over 11 months ago, just after the NBA lockout had ended, when I was inspired to create my own Bulls blog.  Now, I've finally reached triple digits.  Perhaps this milestone might have been achieved already had the NBA schedule gone the full slate last year.  Regardless, I'm just happy to be writing when I haven't been able to write a full-length newspaper article since the start of the year.

There are some posts that have been read more than others, so let's look at the top five by view count as of this writing.  I'll explain what they were about and give my own interpretation of why they got as many hits as they did.  They may not be entirely accurate, so feel free to form your own opinion.

5) Please, Derrick. Do NOT Hurry Back - March 15, 2012 (30 views) - The only full-length game recap to make the list, this comes from last year's victory over Miami in which John Lucas III had the game of his life with Derrick Rose out of the lineup.  I also talk about a call I made after the game to Les Grobstein's radio program on The Score.  I even provided a link to the hour which contains said call.  Chicago was in a celebratory mood after the Bulls had bested the evil Heat without the reigning MVP.  Confidence was high that once Rose returned for the playoffs, this club was going to give LeBron and Co. a run for their money.  They might even get past them and reach the NBA Finals.  People are already starting to make plans to be in Grant Park on a June morning.  Of course, this makes the next post on the list ironic.

4) Oh Bother - April 29, 2012 (31 views) - All of the highs expressed above came crashing down thanks to the event I dissect in this post, one we'll still be feeling the effects of for awhile.  In the very first game of the playoffs, Derrick Rose tore his ACL, putting an end to any championship hopes and the future of the Bulls star in question.  My lament in this post echoed what many Chicago fans were thinking at the time.  People must have hoped I could offer some sort of consolation, but I didn't.  It was virtually impossible to think positive when this happened.  If I left you feeling even more down in the dumps, I apologize.  Hopefully someday, I can write about how Rose has come all the way back and won a title in doing so.  Until then, all that can be done is watching his recovery unfold.

3) No Bull: Gasol Not Coming - February 22, 2012 (43 views) - When this post was made, there was a lot of talk that Pau Gasol was ready to move on from the Lakers.  Several rumors pointed to him coming to the Bulls.  Here, I expressed with utmost confidence that the front office was confident enough with the group they had that they weren't going to make the sacrifices required to trade for the power forward.  Doing so could upset the chemistry they had at the time.  Trade rumors are a part of everyday talk in the NBA, especially when the deadline draws near.  When one gains steam, people want to see the chances of a certain player choosing a certain destination, preferably their favorite.  I feel my argument was short and on target.  Maybe I disenchanted some people who read it, but I have no regrets expressing my opinion on this matter.

2) Brian Scalabrine - The Man, The Myth, The Legend? - December 14, 2011 (77 views) - The title speaks for itself.  The post was longer when I initially wrote it, but I disobeyed the laptop law of keeping your charger plugged in when working on something, so this was shorter than I intended.  The man is still immensely popular and apparently, people love to Google the title of this post.  In fact, if you do it, this link will appear as the second web page and fourth hit overall.  It explains why this still appears on my recently read articles list from time to time.  Also, it has to have attracted fans in both Chicago and Boston.  These days, Celtics fans are probably typing this in more, but I have to thank them for increasing traffic here.

1) Let Me Step Back and Kiss Myself! - March 8, 2012 (105 views) - It may be the shortest post on the blog as I wrote it minutes before leaving for work, but it's the most popular.  The night after Derrick Rose hit the game-winning buzzer beater to beat Milwaukee, triggering the Stacey King phrase which inspired this title, I decided to further express just how much he was worth as a player.  He was as clutch as they came and therefore, had to be admired.  King makes Rose plays as memorable as Johnny "Red" Kerr did to Michael Jordan plays.  Bulls fans love to Google King's phrases.  Since the post here shows up on the first page when you type it in, it will invariably receive a lot of attention.  I only wish that those people would check out the rest of what I have to offer instead of just trying to figure out why I wrote that as the title.  Still, I consider this my own proof that King is in the TV announcer's chair to stay.  As long as he finds ways to stay creative, he'll keep us entertained for years to come.

My 200th post will likely come sooner than 11 months from now since we have more games to discuss.  I can't wait to see where the Bulls will be whenever that time comes.  Please continue to read as I'll continue to keep you informed on what happens with this team.  If you have any feedback or a suggestion on what to write about, message me on Facebook or hit me up on Twitter @gfclark89.  Leave comments too.  Those are always nice.

Post 101 will come tonight once the Bulls are finished playing the Phoenix Suns.  Hope I'm talking about a nice start to the Circus Trip.

Sourly Hitting the Road

With a season-high five-game homestead ending, the annual Circus Trip on the horizon and Kirk Hinrich out with an injury, the Bulls needed to beat the Boston Celtics last night in the worst way.  Much like the Oklahoma City game, it was competitive most of the way, but the opposition's star power couldn't be matched.  A major difference was the Bulls tied it once, but never led in a 101-95 defeat.

I have a friend from college whose favorite athlete is Rajon Rondo and she wasn't disappointed after the game.  In another reminder that Rondo may be the most important player on the Celtics, his final line was 20 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds and five steals.  If that's not a sign of a valuable point guard, I don't know what is.  It just about epitomizes the fact that the NBA is moving toward a perimeter-oriented game that no longer relies heavily on big men.  Rondo is among those leading that charge.  With Hinrich's defense unavailable, Nate Robinson and Marquis Teague could do nothing to slow down their assignment.  All five Celtics scored in double figures, no doubt largely having to do with the decisions Rondo made.  If there was ever a "welcome to the NBA" moment for Teague, it came in this contest.  Now, I'm going to stop praising Rondo before I turn into my friend.

Luol Deng played nearly the whole game and led all scorers with 26 points, shooting 55 percent from the field and 60 percent from the free throw line.  His 11 rebounds gave him a double-double, which Joakim Noah also achieved with a 17/11 line.  Carlos Boozer's shooting improved from the win over the Timberwolves, making 50 percent of his shots and scoring 15.  Nate Robinson made all four of his free-throw attempts, adding onto his 11-point total.

The Bulls finish their homestand at 2-3, which only highlights that they should have beaten New Orleans when it began.  That's a disappointing record, but 4-3 overall is about what we should expect from this team.  Sooner or later, one would hope a win against a quality team is forthcoming.  I would like to expect a lot of wins against good teams as we have the last two years, but this group is different and still learning what they are without Derrick Rose.  Again, we see why expectations are lower this year.

Tomorrow, the Circus Trip kicks off with a trip to Phoenix against the Suns.  Marcin Gortart is tied for the league lead in blocks with Serge Ibaka, so the inside players will have their work cut out for them in the beginning of this long stretch of road games.  For the first time in the regular season, I'll be able to actually watch a full game on TV, so expect a post to come soon after.  Before that however, I'll be making post number 100.  Something special will be part of that, so check me out both before and after tomorrow night's game.  You won't want to miss it.