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 because I know I’m needed for the playoffs. You want to be 100 percent, but at this time of the season, you’re not going to be. My name is on the roster. I’m out there and playing. So I have to do what I have to do.”
Coach Vinny Del Negro says Deng’s knee is the current problem.
Said Del Negro: “His calf has been pretty good, but now his knee is bothering him. Lu has had a tremendous year, statistically as good as he’s had his whole career. We’re going to need him to play well, especially at the defensive end.”
So the guy taked with guarding the best player on the planet doesn’t feel good “at all” and is suffering from a lingering calf injury and/or a bum knee. Well, that’s just dandy.
Perhaps I’ve missed a recent report, but what is JJ’s recent physical condition? Is the plantar still bothering him? And if he’s feeling good, I don’t see why he shouldn’t spend some time on guarding LeBron.
Not ideal, but he is a strong, athletic player…
What is this nonsense?!?
#1 Don’t tell the world on game day that you are hurt and may not be 100% – especially when you have to guard a well rested Lebron.
#2 At least lie a little bit.
I really hope this is a possible strategic move. Try to lure Lebron to attack early? Try to get the Cavs to sag defensively on Lu? Try to get the Cavs to play soft on Lu? Gimme a break!
The worst part of the quote was “My name is on the roster.” WE KNOW THIS… THE HIGHEST PAID BULL (not from Purdue) for 10.4 Million this year. Words like these over the years, compiled with injuries, is what makes Deng’s situation so frustrating. Like Rose, he needs to read “The Secret,” maybe then he could find some positive words to use.
Tony C.
I thought that his plantar ligament tore through? I imagine there is pain, but he has a black belt, right?
Damn, poor Luol, the guy just can’t seem to play a whole year without having some sort of injury. I feel for him, he can show much more than what he has shown the last couple of years, shame.
Tonight’s game is huge for the Bulls (OK, so all games in the playoffs are huge…), in terms of gaining some momentum for the home games. Yes, the Bulls have little to no chance of winning the series, but they have nothing to lose at this point. They made the playoffs while losing three key players, playing with injuries all year, coach/managment issues, bad luck, etc. Time for EVERYONE to step up! Forget about Lebron, if he goes for 50, so be it, everyone else on that team is either old (O’Neal, Z, and Jamison) or is overrated (Mo Williams, Varejao) and can be exposed by a solid defensive effort.
GAME ON!!!
Tony C. – You hit it. Johnson can play both Jamison and LeBron. It is a literal SHAME that Vinnie did not use Johnson more in Game 1. Did he not know that he was going to need him? If you are not going to play Warrick any minutes, then what is the deal? Now, he has to get his feet wet in Game 2, when he could have come into this game with a better sense of what he is up against.
Lebron was just nasty, nasty, nasty the last 5 mins of the game, that’s just not fair.
darn the bulls picked the wrong day to play well. i have to hand it to deng, he showed up for a change, he made the effort today. if he played like that game 1 we would have won. but game 2 cleveland was on fire. lebron couldn’t miss a jumper. moon 4-5 from 3, cleveland 10-20 from 3, the difference in the game. good effort by the bulls today, noah was great. all we need is to be a little smarter. when james is making all his jumpers, it is not a good idea to let him continue to shoot them. double team him so he has to pass the ball. when the shot clock is at 3, atleast 2 guys should guard him cause he does not have time to pass. wish his jumper wasn’t falling, normally when he plays the bulls he misses lots of jump shots. rose should have just shot it every possession at the end cause he is our best, either he should shoot it or pass to a guy for a driving layup or dunk. cant rely on flip murray to hit the big shot. james johnson needs to learn to stop fouling. it’s fine when he guards lebron tight, but when he goes up for a fade away shot, back off, don’t foul him then. coulda used sefolosha in that 4th quarter reaching up high to guard lebron’s jumpers.
I’m still blaming Vinny for this one. When one of the best players in the world hits two in a row from about the same spot, his defender should deny the ball from him. When he hits another, you call timeout in the fourth quarter. When he does it again and you still aren’t denying him the ball then you have proven in about three minutes how ridiculous it is for you to be coaching above the high school level. Did Lebron make some nice shots? Hell yeah. But did Vinny do anything to break his rhythm? Nothing whatsoever. Vinny’s only adjustment was “Ok he’s making well contested shots over Luol Deng. I guess I should put the shorter defender in Hinrich on him so he can have a little more space to shoot. That’ll slow him down.”