It was there for the taking on Sunday night in Milwaukee; an upset win on the road in Game 1 of the first round of the NBA playoffs was very possible. What had started off very badly, turned into a slugfest, with the Bulls only needing to make a few shots down the stretch. The King of the 4th couldn’t do it; Zach in his first career playoff game couldn’t do it. Yeah, although this game certainly provided some confidence going forward in this series, at the end of the day, it was a missed opportunity… another loss against a top team in the East.
We watched the start of the game. Early on, it felt like it could be a blowout, but for some reason, I wasn’t worried. I checked in on the score here and there during the first half, having to step away to have some dinner… you know, it WAS Easter Sunday and all. When I saw the deficit the same as it had been in essentially the first couple minutes of the game, I felt positive; the Bulls didn’t let this game get away… they were going to fight. At halftime, I just knew the Bulls would make a run. They did. I was able to watch most of the 2nd half, and man… the Bulls definitely could have snagged this game. Something happened that I did not expect; DeRozan couldn’t hit a fricking shot. During all my pre-series write-ups, there wasn’t a single moment that I worried about DD not doing his thing. Well, surprise! He couldn’t buy a bucket. That mid-range money dried up. Even when he took it to the hole, like you should do if your shot isn’t falling, he got stuffed. It was a bad, bad game from our best player. 6 for 25 from the field!?!? It’s kind of crazy that the Bulls were STILL right there in this one; I’ll take that as a positive sign, assuming DD can’t possibly be THIS bad again; he said as much in the postgame conference. He wasn’t alone though…
I think back to my keys to winning this series… My first key was that Vooch did NOT shoot three pointers. Well, what did he do? He hoisted up 10 of them. And how many did he make? 2 of them. SMDH. Why on earth is the Bulls coaching staff letting him do this? This is one of the biggest mysteries of the season. For this to carry over into the postseason is completely mind boggling. My next key was Zach being the best version of himself. I’ll tell you what, I liked his hustle in this one; we have to be satisfied with the overall effort from our guys in this one, especially on defense. If we can bring THAT type of effort the rest of the series, man… another positive sign. Zach was 6 for 19 from the floor, and just like Vooch 2-10 from three point land; that isn’t going to get it done. But… I’m going to give Zach a mulligan on this one; it was his first playoff game. When he rose up to take that trey late in the game that would have tied it… like I said, this game was right there for the taking. But yeah, the 50-50 balls, the defensive effort from our boys… I really liked what I saw. If the Bulls continue to bring this same energy…
As far as some of my other keys, I wanted the Bulls to let Giannis take treys. Of course he drains his first one, but that was the last one he made on the night; he missed his next 3. It looked like the Bulls had got that message, not running at him, or biting at a pump fake. Giannis still got his, including plenty of fouls; another key… getting Giannis in foul trouble. Many people say he should have fouled out of this game when he went over the back of Patrick Williams late in the 4th; I would agree. There were certainly some hometown calls in this one… what the hell, was this game held in Lambeau Field??? The refs appeared to assist late in ensuring the defending champs didn’t fall in Game 1; it would have helped if we could have made a damn shot! Damn…
OK, well, certainly can’t carry over any feeling sorry for ourselves heading into Game 2. What we can carry over is our defensive effort; we NEED to bring that with us in each game if we want to win this thing. You see the Bucks shooting percentage in this one? Yeah, maybe they just didn’t have an off night… maybe the Bulls defense made a difference? I believe that. I also believe that DD and Zach will have better shooting nights going forward; they can’t have worse ones, right? Although it sucked to see us blow a chance to steal Game 1, what I saw on the court in this one certainly didn’t match up to how everybody thinks the Bucks will steamroll us; it ain’t going to be that easy. Yet, at the end of the day, it WAS a loss, so… So it’s only 1 game; back at it on Wednesday night in Milwaukee; we still have a chance to steal one up there. I still believe. Go Bulls!!!
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