So in front of a celebrity filled crowd with sightings of Jesse Jackson, Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, White Sox GM Kenny Williams, Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez and former Bull Will Perdue (I'm sure there were others as well), the Bulls faced off against The Three Am-EGOS less LeBron James who remained out with a sprained ankle. Of course, the Bulls weren't exactly healthy either as they remain a man short with Joakim recovering from hand surgery.
The game was a back and forth battle between two pretty good teams. The Heat remained in it with unbelievable shooting from the 3-point line making 13 of them while Derrick carried the Bulls. While Wade was joined by Bosh, House and Chalmers in double-digit scoring, Derrick just had Boozer and Deng with 12 points each. It still ended up mostly as Rose vs. Wade down the stretch, but I'll get to that...
Bosh started out poorly but picked it up as the ever disappointing Carlos Boozer failed to keep him from doing anything he wanted in the 2nd quarter. His day finished in the 3rd quarter as Omer Asik rolled up on Bosh's ankle as both were going after a loose ball on the floor. First off, that may have been the first time I've ever seen Bosh on the floor going for a loose ball rather than just flopping trying to draw a foul. Second, his comments after the game were unbelievable as he basically blamed the Bulls rookie for diving for the loose ball with a "star" in the neighborhood. "C'mon, that is how guys get hurt, that is how serious injuries happen. You've got to watch people's legs. I know guys want to hustle and everything but we all want to play and provide for our families and have a job. We all want to be healthy and that is very important," Bosh said. "If it is by somebody's leg, don't dive for the ball, it's too close." Did he forget his $100 million contract is fully guaranteed and I'm pretty sure that money will provide pretty well for his family. And what is this if "it's too close" "don't dive for the ball" BS? Just because you're 6'11" but play like a pansy, don't bring that type of play on everyone else.
While it is very difficult to argue with the ultimate results especially under the circumstances the Bulls have been given with Boozer, then Noah, and now Boozer again being out of the lineup, I'm still not 100% happy with Coach Thibs. He seems to simply have a set rotation and doesn't like to adjust it regardless of the circumstances or game situation...like why not double Carmelo at the very end of that Denver game when everyone on the planet knows he's going to be the guy to take the shot? But Sat night against the Heat, I was literally SCREAMING my head off calling for Brewer on Wade, but Thibs decided to stick with Luol to keep him off the line supposedly and then finally after CJ Watson gave up the go-ahead 3 which actually could have been a 4-point play as Wade leaned into CJ while seeming to primarily draw the foul. That was the second 3 the Heat had actually hit while trying to draw a foul.
I'll give them credit...every time the Bulls seemed to be getting going and heading to blow out the Heat less LeBron, the Heat answered back...mostly it was Wade and Bosh had his moments until the ankle injury late in the third, but there was also the outside shooting that kept them in it. The Heat finished the first half on a 17-4 run to turn an 8-point deficit into a 5-point halftime lead. Well, the Bulls came back to start the 3rd quarter with a run of their own...this one was 17-0! I don't know how many TOs Spoelstra called in that span but he couldn't find an answer through the first several minutes of that second half. They eventually figured it out and came right back again.
Back and forth they went...like two heavyweights hammering on each other. But then it came down to the last couple of minutes...Rose, Wade, Rose, Wade, Rose...it was a crazy playoff like atmosphere with cheers for the Bulls and boos for the Heat (mostly Wade). Some of the loudest cheers were directed at Wade when he was called for a foul and then when he got knocked down and laid on the floor for a couple minutes. I did think it was awfully nice of the refs to give him all the time he needed to make himself right before continuing the game without making the Heat use a timeout. Boy, that was some serious star treatment and this for a guy that did nothing but whine and moan about every single call throughout the entire game. I couldn't believe Ken Mauer (he's the ref that T'd up the Timberwolves 5 times in 10 seconds earlier in the week) put up with Wade's behavior without ever issuing him a T.
At the end, the Bulls were able to make one more play than the Heat and the Bulls were able to escape with the W. Korver hit the big 3 following Rose's missed floater and Boozer's brutal miss from point blank range which Wade then tapped out in an attempt to start a fast break...unfortunately for Wade (what was LeBron saying about karma?), he tipped it where Korver was able to outrace 2 Heat players and set himself up for a wide open 3 which turned out to be the game winner. The Heat called timeout and Thibs FINALLY made the substitution I had been begging for throughout the 4th quarter when he put Ronnie Brewer (wasn't he brought here specifically for his defense?) on Wade. So what did Brewer do in his 25 seconds of PT down the stretch? Well, he got the big rebound after the mad scramble in the Heat's second to last possession; got fouled but was only able to split the FTs giving the Bulls a 3-point lead so even the one FT was HUGE as it limited the Heat options with only 4.4 seconds left; and then he was ALL OVER Wade forcing a horrible shot that landed woefully short giving the Bulls the W. While his missed FT did cost us our Big Macs, had he been in the game for the final 2+ minutes instead, the Heat would have been fouling like crazy and the Bulls would have ended up well above 100.
So the question remains...is the Bulls' rookie head coach learning anything or is just looking at his own record and thinking he's got the right mix right now? I'm afraid it is the latter as he hasn't made any changes or adjustments other than based on injuries. The Bulls are like 9-0 when Bogans scores 6 points or more...how pathetic is that? The Bulls starting shooting guard has only scored 6 lousy points 9 times in 41 games! He has started every game this season and hasn't hit double-digits in the last 33 games. What the heck IS that? Doesn't he want to try a couple different things to see if what he has is the best they can do? Why not spread the floor with Korver starting with Rose? I'm fine with Brewer off the bench in most cases although I would have adjusted the starting lineup specifically for Miami (Thibs does know he can do that, right?). I would have started Taj over Thomas and stuck him on Bosh and would have started Brewer over Bogans and stuck him on Wade. Deng usually does a pretty good job on LeBron so even with The Three Am-EGOS all playing, I still think the Bulls match up pretty well. While neither Taj nor Brewer are considered scorers, they can both put the ball in the basket. Now on the other side of the ball, who from Miami is going to guard Derrick? Obviously nobody based on Sat night's game! I would certainly hope that Boozer plays MUCH, MUCH better than he did on Sat night as he looked as tentative as I've seen him even counting his first few games back from injury.
Look, if Boozer wants to stay in the lineup (no given in my opinion), he needs to provide a better effort on the defensive end. This waving at guys driving the lane without getting in their way to draw a charge or at least impact the shot just doesn't work for me! So for Miami part 2 assuming the Bulls are 100% healthy and so are the Heat, I would go with Joakim, Taj, Deng, Brewer, and Derrick with Boozer coming off the bench with Korver along with Asik (can this guy EVER get a call?). Beat the Heat with your advantage...they have no bench, no answer for Derrick and no answer to Joakim...DONE!
GO BULLS!
