This win is on Scott Skiles

[ChumpDumper]

Thank you for forgetting Othella Harrington plays for your team.

Timely.

[exstatic]

Harrington > Curry

[ChumpDumper]

And Davis....

WTF?

[Guru of Nothing]

The refs were fond of Othella tonight.

[ShoogarBear]

Although I never want to see Ben Gordon play another 4th quarter against the Spurs again.

Guy is the next Reggie.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

What about our low post defenders who kept letting Othella go left? Wouldn't have been a game if it weren't for that.

Ben Gordon is amazing though. The Bulls will win the East in the next year or two.

[ChumpDumper]

What about our low post defenders who kept letting Othella go left? Wouldn't have been a game if it weren't for that.Agreed, Horry was especially bad, but he's playing too many minutes right now.

[exstatic]

What about our low post defenders who kept letting Othella go left?
They did the same thing a few games ago with a lefty guard. I can't recall who it was, but i kept screaming at my TV "Make him go right!!!".

[Kori Ellis]

Ben Gordon is amazing though.

Ben Gordon leads the league in most double-digit scoring 4th quarters. Tonight was his 17th on the season.

[timvp]

What about our low post defenders who kept letting Othella go left? Wouldn't have been a game if it weren't for that.

Ben Gordon is amazing though. The Bulls will win the East in the next year or two.

1) Pop yelled to Rasho:

"OTHELLA IS F!@#KING LEFT HANDED"

and pulled Rasho from the game and never put him back in.

2) Gordon is money. Going into the fourth I commented that it was BG time. He didn't let me down.

Fun to watch.

[Solid D]

Gordon scoreless in first half and had 5 points after 3 periods...saving up and pacing himself perhaps? Ends up with 20.

Harrington was removed because he was slowing down from carrying so much of the load. He missed reverse layup short and was clearly losing his legs. I was surprised though, that he didn't come back in. The Bulls really made the extra pass tonight. 28 assists leads to a very high shooting percentage.

I agree the Bulls could have used Harrington's scoring down the stretch.

[Solid D]

I also felt like Pop almost lost it for the Spurs when he went way too long with Horry and Barry in there. The Spurs had gone on their major run of 41-15. Gino and Rasho had played well on defense and the offense was clicking. Then the substitution of Barry for Gino and Horry for Rasho.

Barry wasn't moving and Horry wasn't guarding anyone. It was go to Duncan or let Tony get beat up going inside. The Motionless Offense.

Ben Gordon realizes 0 points isn't very good and decides to dominate with a wide assortment of crossovers, shove-aside jumpers and dribble penetrations. Harrington has all sorts of lane freedom. It's a ballgame again. That is the spot where Malik Rose or Nazr Mohammed would have made a difference defensively. It was very hard to watch. I'm just glad the Spurs were able to right-the-ship and close out down the stretch.

[timvp]

Another random note is Ben Gordon had Bruce Bowen lunging at ghosts. He shook him countless times in the fourth quarter.

I was impressed.

[Solid D]

Anyone know why Parker went to the locker room in the 4th quarter?

While TP was out, Beno did a fairly nice job except for dribbling off his leg. Beno hit that corner three at a critical point for some breathing room. When Parker came back in, he hit a couple of tough shots deep in the shot clock, so I guess he wasn't bothered too much by his temporary exit.

[TwoHandJam]

Watching Othella Harrington get a season high was absolutely maddening. He's just not that good. I hate it when scrubs go off on us.

Gordon impressed me tonight. I think he's as talented as Wade.

A scary thing is that our offense is just not that good against a team that plays even reasonable defense. Against the second rate teams, our offense looks stellar. As soon as we encounter some resistance though, our offense seems to stall. We'll need to work on that or we'll struggle to get by a teams like Houston or Detroit.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The reason our offense looks different is because we cut back what we do offensively vs. the good defensive teams.

Basically, Pop takes the whole "play conservative on offense, play tough D, and win" philosophy to the extreme in games against good defensive teams.

It's what got us beat twice by Houston and almost beat tonight, and is probably the only thing keeping us from slicing through the playoffs like a hot knife through butter.

In short, Pop's offensive reservations are our biggest weakness.

[Solid D]

If Barry would start hitting some outside shots again, throwing it in to Tim in the low post with the radial or star topology offense wouldn't be so ineffective.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I've come to the conclusion that Barry is better shooting off the dribble. Screw four down, Barry and Tim need to get a little pick and roll action going.

[TwoHandJam]

The reason our offense looks different is because we cut back what we do offensively vs. the good defensive teams.

Basically, Pop takes the whole "play conservative on offense, play tough D, and win" philosophy to the extreme in games against good defensive teams.

It's what got us beat twice by Houston and almost beat tonight, and is probably the only thing keeping us from slicing through the playoffs like a hot knife through butter.

In short, Pop's offensive reservations are our biggest weakness.
You make a valid point. Pop has to find that balance between fast-breaking for easy buckets and a strict half court offense against the good defensive teams.

You can't ignore the fast-break offense because it can ignite a run and get you high percentage baskets since you don't have to deal with a stifling defense that is set. However, our guys have shown a tendency to be careless with the ball on the break and it has led to a spike in turnovers. Turnovers are death against a strong defensive team.

I agree though that he really seems to favor a half court offense a little too much against the good defensive teams.

[xcoriate]

I've come to the conclusion that Barry is better shooting off the dribble. Screw four down, Barry and Tim need to get a little pick and roll action going.

I for one never watched him play for Seattle very much, how did they go about getting him looks??

It certainly wouldn't have been through drawing double teams in the post.

[smeagol]

I've watched the Bulls a number of times this season and BG is fvcking amazing!

[MannyIsGod]

Dude, I was blown away by Gordon. I didn't think we'd be team #17, but sure enough he made it seem easy.

[MI21]

I love the stat that Kori mentioned earlier about Gordon in the 4th. I've told a few friends about that one a couple of weeks back and they were very surprised. Amazing to be able to do that as a rookie.

[wildbill2u]

Thank you for forgetting Othella Harrington plays for your team.

Timely.

I'd forgotten about Harrington. At one time he was considered a promising player by the Rockets. I guess he's a 'never-bloomer.'

[Dex]

Add me to this list of Ben Gordon fans.

I made a point to watch the defense Bruce tried to put on the kid when Pop put him in last night in the fourth quarter. All of us know about how effective it was (15 pts in the 4th WITH Bowen gaurding your ass? That IS impressive)

He had Bowen leaving his feet, was driving past him (many times going left), using screens to perfection, and that last three-point heave he nailed down was just incredible.

The guy's going to be a superstar in a couple years. The only question that remains to be answered is if he can manage to take the Bulls anywhere with it, or if he'll cave in and just go to another 'contender'?

[Dex]

BTW...Duncan was perfect from the FT-line again.

I think, when that happens, the Spurs should automatically be awarded the W.