DA BULLS!

Did any of you see the Bulls game tonight?  Big W!  Especially considering their pending departure on their stupid annual circus road trip following two more home games that they seemingly must win (Golden State and Washington are next up).

Anyway, the Bulls and Nuggets went back and forth throughout the game and the Bulls iced it with Deng going 1-for-2 (missed 3 of his 4 FTs down the stretch!) with one second left.  He hit the second of two and Coach Karl called a timeout, brought the ball to the timeline and called a play to throw in an in-bounds pass for a wide open layup at the buzzer to close the game out 94-92.  Guess what the spread was…3 of course!  The Bulls were up 4 (i.e. covering) and then gave up a non-contested layup to win by 2 (i.e. NOT covering).  Interesting…not at all surprising (I actually thought immediately about the spread as soon as that layup happened).

If you watched the game, what do you think of the supposedly proposed Noah for Anthony deal now?  Anthony scored 32, but Noah was a total beast going for 13 points, 19 boards and 4 HUGE blocks.  Gibson had 16, 6 and 5 blocks!  I think the Nuggets’ price is going to come down as the season goes on…they saw what the Raptors and Cavs got for prized free agents (i.e. absolutely NADA) and their new management can’t end up with nothing…AND Carmelo MUST sign his extension BEFORE July 1st which is when the current CBA expires and the expected contract limits will be about ½ what they are today…i.e. Melo will be getting about half that $65 million the Nuggets are offering so he’ll be expanding his team demands beyond NY.  If the Bulls can turn Luol into an expiring deal (needed to equalize the dollars), I think they can get the deal done with Taj, JJ, Omer, and a couple first rounders including the one from Charlotte which should be a pretty decent pick…that’s a HELL of a lot more than Cleveland and Toronto got for LeBron and Bosh.  Obviously, I’m trying to throw logic into an NBA situation which NEVER seems to actually happen, but we’re due to sneak in something like this (remember how the Lakers stole Gasol, why can’t we do the same with Carmelo). 

   1. Rose

   2. Brewer (he’s been getting better and better which I think means healthier and healthier)

   3. Carmelo

   4. Boozer

   5. Noah

   6. Bogans

   7. Korver

   8. Watson (NOT a big fan…reminds me of Pargo)

   9. Scalabrine (he’s growing on me)

  10. There will be some extra guys coming back with Carmelo, plus they could get John Lucas III and Kyle Weaver to fill out the rest of the roster, but WHO CARES with those starters and top 2 coming off the bench?

With tonight's win, the Bulls moved into a tie atop the Central division with the LeBron-spurned Cleveland Cavs. Scott Skiles' division favorite by many Milwaukee Bucks are off to a slow start at 2-5. This is nothing new to Skiles who once led the Bulls to a 47-35 record and 2nd place in the Central after an 0-9 start in 2004-05 so don't count them out as the Bulls top competition this year within the Central.

South Beach Update

By the way, for you guys scoring at home, the 1995-96 Bulls didn’t lose their 2nd game until game 12 to go 10-2; the Heat lost their 2nd in game 6 to go 4-2.  They are now in 3rd place in their division at 5-2.  To beat that Bulls record and go 73-9 which some predicted, they just need to go 68-7 which is a .907 winning percentage. They have played two teams so far with dynamic point guards - Rondo's Celtics and Paul's Hornets...guess what - lost BOTH. Gee, do you know any other teams around here with dynamic point guards? January 15th at the UC baby!

LeBron leads the NBA in turnovers with 33 and Wade isn’t too far behind him with 25.  Bosh is averaging 14 ppg and 5 rpg…not exactly All-Star numbers and identical to Michael Beasley’s numbers…Taj Gibson is averaging 15 ppg and 6 rpg for the Bulls.  How much longer will Bosh be smiling as he completely disappears into the background?  Big 3?!?  HA!  It will be tough to make the All-Star Game with those lousy numbers.