Bulls: Marco Belinelli comes up big when Bulls need him most

[BRHornet45]

NEW YORK — Between his dominant performance and emotional postgame celebration with family members in his hometown Saturday, center Joakim Noah deserved every watt of the spotlight he received after leading the Bulls past the Brooklyn Nets in Game 7.

But swingman Marco Belinelli — who scored 24 points, same as Noah — also is a major reason the Bulls will be playing the Miami Heat in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal Monday instead of packing up their gear for the season.

‘‘Marco was fantastic,’’ coach Tom Thibodeau said. ‘‘He’s a very experienced player who has hit a lot of big shots. He can pick-and-roll. He can run catch-and-shoot. He’s a very good spot-up shooter. He’s a very smart overall player and a team player. He plays to win.’’

Belinelli is a well-traveled veteran whom the Bulls signed as a free agent last offseason. He has been a very good pickup.

‘‘My mentality was to be aggressive,’’ Belinelli said. ‘‘I wanted to win this game so bad.’’

With forward Luol Deng and guard Kirk Hinrich out, the Bulls were in need of perimeter scoring. And Belinelli, who previously played for the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors and New Orleans Hornets, provided it.

‘‘Marco came through in the clutch,’’ guard Nate Robinson said. ‘‘It just shows that guys can step in for other guys.’’





http://www.suntimes.com/sports/19920...-him-most.html

[lefty]

Derrick Rose : " thank you Marco !!! "

[BRHornet45]

lolz lefty
nice

[Raven]

what's up with that belinelli sucking, the guy deeply sucked every other game aside for the last and he was guarded by an injured jj..

[100%duncan]

Rose

[crc21209]

BR's still on his nuts even though he's not a Pelican anymore?

[Latarian Milton]

the wop ain't the first ex-hornet who blossomed elsewhere after leaving the hornets (now pelicans) imho. brandon bass became a solid role players in dallas and later in orlando & boston as well, but he was no more than a black meat-cushion on the bench while playing in new orleans

[hater]

there's some players that just show up when things are dire.

Blinglynelli just shares the same fascist bloodlines as Ginobili. They probably descendants of the great Benito Musolini IMO, or at least the murderers of Pier Paolo Pasolini