A few years ago, I went to a local court to play pickup basketball with a group of friends. In our first (and what turned out to be our only) game, we got matched up against a team composed of skinny high schoolers. Admittedly, we went into the contest assuming an easy victory. After all, we […]
Archive | NBA Playoffs
Game 3: Bulls 108, Cavaliers 106
The Bulls snuck into the NBA playoffs on the final day of the regular season. Given the number of injuries and the amount of drama they went through during that 82-game gulag, that accomplishment was nothing short of amazing. However, their efforts merely earned them the right to face soon-to-be-MVP LeBron James and his league-best Cleveland […]
Game 2: Cavaliers 112, Bulls 102
The Bulls nearly played a perfect game last night. No, they didn’t shoot the ball well — 44 percent as a team, including 4-for-13 from three-point range — but they’ve been a limited offensive team all season. (And in some ways, “limited” is being generous.) However, the Bulls scrapped hard enough to make their fans proud. Chicago reversed […]
Loul Deng: Hurting
More bad injury news for the Bulls: Luol Deng — Chicago’s primary LeBron James defender — is hurting. Again. Or still. Or whatever. Said Deng: “I don’t feel good at all. The calf strain took a lot out of me. And it’s still bothering me. I missed 12 games, but I wanted to get back into it […]
Game 1: Cavaliers 96, Bulls 83
Too much. The Cavaliers had too much. Too much talent. Too much size. Too much LeBron James. And the Bulls, on the other hand, didn’t have enough. The final score looks somewhat respectable. The fact that Chicago whittled a 22-point third quarter deficit (68-46) down to only seven (82-75) with 5:35 left in the fourth seems a little hopeful. But […]
Wondering what the future holds for the Bulls
On Saturday, the Bulls open their first round playoff series against the Cavaliers in Cleveland. Think about that. Say those words out loud. The Bulls are in the playoffs. Feels kind of weird, doesn’t it? There were so many times early in the season and especally over the last month when a postseason berth seemed […]
Joakim Noah: Not giving up
Think the Bulls’ emotional and spiritual leader is going to roll over and die in the face of LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers? Think again. Said/screamed Noah: “We’re going to the playoffs. All this [expletive] and we’re going to the playoffs. Let’s go shock the world. … Now we’re playing the Cleveland Cavaliers. Everybody […]
Post-playoff numbness
I’ve given myself more than a day to recover from that Game 7 loss to the Celtics in Boston, and it still feels like my emotions are packed in a block of ice, Encino Man-style. I probably will always remember that game not for the poor shooting, the turnovers, the many botched defensive assignments/rotations, or […]
Game 7: Wakeup call
Well, that was a bummer. The Celtics shut us down (39 percent). They also enforced their will in the paint (44 points). Eddie House lit us up (16 points, 5-for-5 from the field, 4-for-4 from three). So did Brian Scalabrine, sort of (8 points, 2-for-3 from downtown). Ben Gordon was broke (7-for-23). The Bulls never […]
Game 6: Are you kidding me?!
No, seriously…are you kidding me?! I don’t even know where to begin. Really. I have no freaking idea. Remember that scene in The Princess Bride when Inigo Montoya said: “Let me ‘splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Buttercup is marry’ Humperdinck in a little less than half an hour. So all […]