Great analysis Timvp. I'm a little disappointed that we lost but we still played a great game considering the referees weren't giving us anything and the crowd was split down the middle.
Anyone watch multiple Bulls games and watch this one too? Is it normal for Rose to get touched and automatically see the free throw line? Don't get me wrong, he is a pretty amazing player. But the calls he was getting felt more like Stern trying to protect his investment and not letting Rose take a fraction of the abuse similar players like Manu and Tony have taken over their careers. With this protection he can play at his current level for a long time.
I think the officiating caused an adjustment period for the Spurs. Part of me wonders if this was a crew that does a lot of the televised prime-time games. Being in the SA area I have caught all my games on FSN and maybe 5 of the season wide games were available on other cable channels because of a great match-up. I heard TNT (Chuck/Shaq) did one game but I did not see it as an option and saw the Sean Elliott version instead. Is it possible that prime-time officiating crews call vastly different calls than their counterpart referees? I know this sounds ridiculous but the Spurs were getting calls that almost questioned their ability to play basketball. I would think a team like Chicago would see more of the prime-time officiating crews and have adjusted well to them already. If this is true, the Spurs’ lack of exposure to these crews will hurt them during the playoffs as shown last night.
The Bulls played together last year and they are playing really crisp basketball right now. They also have a strong post-up game and defense to rely on during scoring droughts, something I wish we had. I think their biggest strength was that they had played a night before and had a chance to get back into rhythm as a team before the Spurs game. In bringing up the Bull’s strengths, this game showed a few weaknesses for the Spurs that the team can work on before playoffs.
- This Spurs team threw soft passes that aren’t going to get the job done in the playoffs and will instead lead to turnovers.
- Some of the attempts at the rim by Spurs were soft and will be denied in the playoffs.
- The common element here is being ____. I hope the FO finds someone before the trade deadline.
As for notable personal efforts :
Tim could have played better but he realized this and came back strong, especially in the third. My favorite part was when Blair went low-high and tossed a pass at Tim who was right in front of the basket. I think it was Luol Deng who disrespected Duncan and was trying to make a casual steal or swipe of the ball in mid-air. All of a sudden Tim remembered he was league MVP for two years in a row and grabbed that ball out of mid-air and dunked it down! I re-watched this about three times with great enthusiasm.
Parker couldn’t get in any type of rhythm with the calls going against him. I don’t remember if he even tried to take over the game in the fourth it seemed like such a passive performance in crunch time. Usually he’ll go clutch 5-5 in the fourth and get his percentage back up to .500.
DB is playing better and harder than the first half of the season. This might have been Pop’s doing, basically learning from last year and letting DB play unfocused for the first half of the season and then forcing him to focus in on the second half of the season. Or maybe he threatened to trade him. One way or another Pop found a way to light a fire under DB.
RJ. This guy just has no ambition or passion. At least he gets to thank Pop for the second half of his career which may be as long as the first half once he leaves San Antonio.
I guess it makes up for the years he was underpaid.But yeah, Ginobili has been a total disaster this year. At more than the half of the regular season, he has only been healthy only 4 games. He better start being healthy and playing great because, with a $13M salary, he will soon end up as one of the most overpaid player in the NBA.
Not Bonner's fault ?
ok he hadn't good open looks because the bulls are a great D team and TP/Tim struggled offensively it doesn't excuse the fact he spends his first 10 mn with 0 pt, 0 reb, 0 ass, 0 stl, 0 nothing... Somebody has an example of a nba player not injured or sick that spent 10 mn with getting anything on the scoreboard ?
I am really not that disappointed. We played poorly and really could have used Leonard to spell Green. TJ is rusty and not in shape. Splitter was falling all over himself. No Manu but we kept it close primarily because of Neal's shooting.
We are fine. Splitter will continue to get better and hopefully reach and pass where he was. Ford will give Tony some real rest. Green wont have to do way more than he can.
Blair, Bonner, and RJ are the most inconsistent players. We get a good game from one of these 3 and we are fine. Think the grade on Blair was too high but I cant really argue the rest.
Perfectly fair assessment imo. This game does not deserve a downgrade of the entire team's playoff hopes. I dont think anyone will be shocked at this point if we actually win the west. I did not think we had much of a chance before the beginning of the season started.
I would like to have a clip of that one play (like there was only one) where Rose drives to the rim and scores, and even after the ball has gone through the net, Bonner is still standing there in his customary matador defensive position, hands still held over his head. I wonder if his brain is running a virus scan and it's using too many system resources.
Kendrick Perkins post Griffinization.
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