April 10, 2021: Not So Nifty

During the 2nd quarter of Friday night’s Bulls game at Atlanta, Zach Lavine was unstoppable. He scored 25 straight points for the Bulls! He finished with 39 points in the half, certainly on his way to breaking his single game scoring record of 49 points; certainly on his way to becoming the 4th Bull in history outside of MJ to score 50 points in a game. He would do both. But why I am feeling not so nifty about this fifty? Well, the Bulls ended up taking just another one of the many tough losses they’ve endured this season; growing up is hard to do…

We’ve seen this movie before. OK, we haven’t seen somebody score 50 points that many times; I was there in person for the last guy to do it… Jimmy was on fire that day… and the Bulls won. It’s hard to take anything away from Zach’s 51 point night; how can you blame a guy for scoring 50 points in a game? Well, for me, there was a moment in the 2nd quarter when I got worried. Did you see that one three point shot he made late in that run? Yeah, it was after that one, where he looked like he was running his mouth, telling the defender that he couldn’t guard him. Certainly, Zach was telling the truth; nobody could have guarded him in that 2nd quarter. Yet, when I saw that, I said… don’t write a check your butt can’t cash… or better yet, don’t rile up a team that is better than you when your team has blown countless leads already this year. You going to stay this hot all game Zach? He didn’t, and nobody else on the Bulls got hot. Vooch had another solid game; kind of like Stacey said, he wakes up and gets a double double… a 25 point effort in this case; he was on the bench for start of the Hawks run in the 4th that would be the Bulls’ downfall. Coby got hot for a quick minute, but that didn’t last; Lauri was nowhere to be found. He did make an aggressive move early in the game when he almost stuffed it in a dude’s face, but he missed that too. Sato was off; he couldn’t buy a bucket. Thad wasn’t himself; maybe this was because everybody got to watching Zach and the Bulls weren’t running their offense. Thad is such an important part of that when things are going well. Heck, what about the defense, or lack thereof? We can talk about how the Bulls showed little resistance when the Hawks steamrolled them in the 4th. You understand why I don’t feel in a celebratory mood?

Did you see how Zach got the last bucket to take him to 51 points? It was kind of like when your teammates let you get the rebound to get a triple double. The game was already over, clock was ticking down, when Zach got the ball and streaked down the court to lay it up; talk about anti-climatic… Sure, 51 is 51; that’s how it will go down in the record books. But those of us who watched this game know. I know, at least for myself, that I started texting folks during the 2nd quarter run when Zach was shooting into the ocean; this was going to be a historic night… I just knew it. And although he did score his 40th and 41st point on the Bulls first offensive possession of the 2nd half, I’m sure he wouldn’t have minded if somehow that 2nd quarter could have been extended; I was yelling at him to shoot it more! I rarely do that. And then in the 3rd quarter, the defense started focusing in on Zach, and that was pretty much the end of it. What does it all mean?

Another tough loss means the Bulls playoff hopes took another hit. With Zach scoring 51 points, he joins Jamal Crawford (1x), Chet Walker (1x), and Jimmy Butler (2x) as the only Bulls to score more than 50 points in a game; yes, of course, there is the incomparable MJ who did this 38 times… ho hum… Yes, it was a historic night for Zach, but… Should there be a “but”? My wife was asking why I was hating on it after the game was over; the Bulls lost, that’s why. Zach got his last bucket when the game was over. On a night I should have been overjoyed for this great accomplishment, I just wasn’t; I can’t fake it. How real are the Bulls’ playoff hopes? Stay tuned.