I would have loved to commemorate the beginning of this 9th year of daily blogging with a happy write up about the Bulls evening up the series vs the Bucks on Sunday afternoon at the UC. You can’t always get what you want.
I’ve watched a lot of Bulls games all year; these last 2 games have been the most frustrating to watch all year. They don’t look like the Bulls team that I have seen play much of the year. They have so many strengths… DD’s mid-range game, Vooch back to the basket, Zach driving to the hole, running and scoring in the open court, moving the ball around, cutting to the hoop… Don’t they say you should play to your strengths? Well, playing to your weaknesses is certainly a bold strategy Cotton…
Outside of Game 2 in Milwaukee, DD has not looked like the player we’ve seen play all year; I guess he has ran out of that mid-range money? If he doesn’t get to an ATM soon, it’ll all be over. Plus, he is taking more treys; why? Taking treys has NEVER been a strength of DeRozan’s; taking treys hasn’t been a strength of this entire team. Why have we turned into a drive and kick team almost exclusively on offense? It wasn’t like this most of the year. I know, building a hole and trying to comeback leads you down the path of three pointers, but it doesn’t HAVE to be that way. Good defense is the key to any comeback; why do we always pick the wrong guy to leave open? Why do we dig ourselves a hole to begin with? There is so much going wrong for the Bulls.
I have to blame the coaching too; what offense exactly are we running? The one fact that Vooch continues to take three pointers and doesn’t camp his ass down in the post is enough to indict this coaching staff; how on earth do they continue to allow this to happen? Vooch standing at the three point line is not helping this team AT ALL. Speaking of Vooch… is there any single player on this Bucks team that he can defend? He is such a bad defender. I’ll give him Giannis; who can cover him one on one? But Brook Lopez? Bobby Portis? Grayson Allen? Anybody that wants to go in the paint to score, can do so with ease; there is no hesitation. Teams that have done well against the Bulls all year know that points in the paint is the key to success against our defense. On the flip side, did the Bulls forget that the paint exists?
True or false: Zach Lavine can take anyone off the dribble. Why is he not being more aggressive on his drives to the rim? He gets into the paint and decides dishing to Patrick Williams for a three pointer is a better shot than the 5 footer he has for the taking; I will never understand that. Sorry to say, and I know we do not know the extent of the knee situation, which I’m sure will be played up true or not, but Zach’s first playoff appearance has left something to be desired to put it nicely. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be back in a Bulls uni; after this, I’m not changing my mind. We’ll get to the offseason later… possibly after the next game.
The boost we could count on from our bench has been absent. Coby White? Horrible. Ayo? Not good. Javonte? I wanted to put out an APB for him. Tristan? Outside of the shot to Portis’ eye, nada. Maybe Matt Thomas could hit a shot? Just saying. And what happened to the Bulls always wanting to push, push, push that ball on offense? Certainly seems like that would be worth a shot considering how our half-court offense is performing. Heck, anything would be worth a shot at this point. There’s plenty of blame to go around…
The series is over for all intensive purposes. Do you think the Bulls will win another game in this series? Mr. Optimistic over here is ready to write their eulogy. They’re cooked. Two games in front of the home crowd vs a team that lost their 2nd best player for the rest of the series felt like a formula for success. The Bulls absolutely shit the bed, to a point of no recovery. Yeah, I’ll be watching, but losing Game 5 and the series 4-1 feels like only a formality. Damn… what a way to go out.
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