Bulls Win Game 1: Chinks in the Armor Evident
By Josh Hill
CHICAGO – The Bulls had a lot of hype heading into their first round playoff matchup against the Indiana Pacers. They are the No. 1 seed, they have Derrick Rose and they are playing at home a place they have just five times this year.
They were locked in to sweep their way to the NBA finals.
Until they ran into the — PACERS!?
Indiana used the old Chicago Chokehold device on the Bulls and never took their foot off the gas pedal. Even though the Bulls pulled put the come from behind win(which is one of the reasons i still think they’ll sweep Indiana), Bulls fans should not at all be happy about how the Bulls won. The Pacers were the ones looking like the No. 1 seed rather than the Bulls. For all the hype about the United Center being a stomping ground for the Bulls, Indiana may have single handedly taken that advantage away from Chicago for not only this series, but they may have squashed the intimidation presence the Madhouse had on the other teams.
Then again, this was just Game 1 and the Bulls lack of luster can be chalked up to first round jitters, but nevertheless the game was not a confidence booster.
Four of the Pacers five starters eclipsed double digits with Danny Granger going 20-plus.
Derrick Rose showed up on Saturday, but it appeared he was the only one. Rose went over 30 and that was about it. Deng was passable, Boozer was terrible, Noah was terrible and the Bench Mob was terrible.
Chicago played terrible because they are a team that
should not be dropping games to an eight seed. Granted it’s a divisional game and the Pacers did steal a game from the Bulls late in the season, but it’s the playoffs where you don’t get a lot of do-overs.
The bench can be complimented on their 20-plus points which is expected and everyone did contribute. But everything else was vomit inducing.
Joakim Noah stayed in the single digits in points and had only eight rebounds. Carlos Boozer had double digit points(barely) and did nothing else giving up most his minutes to the Mob. Deng was the most passable of Rose’s up porting cast. He had bs usual game where he floret with 20 points, but one of many troubling stats on the day saw Deng get more rebounds than Noah.
Oh and the Keith Bogans experiment where he just doesn’t do anything isn’t cute anymore, it needs to stop now.
If you want to see where the Bulls went wrong look at he stats. Chicago couldn’t hit a three to save their lives, shooting an infuriating 30 percent from beyond the arch. That right there is evidence of why Chicago had they day they had and it needs to change.
Now I’m not writing off the Bulls by any means. But they can’t keep playing like they did even if they did win. It brought back sickening memories of the Vinny Del Negro playoff teams. They need to get the swagger back that they had during the season
Because if the Pacers can rattle you that bad, if you make it past them you don’t stand a chance against the rest of the field that is so much better than Indiana.
should not be dropping games to an eight seed. Granted it’s a divisional game and the Pacers did steal a game from the Bulls late in the season, but it’s the playoffs where you don’t get a lot of do-overs.
The bench can be complimented on their 20-plus points which is expected and everyone did contribute. But everything else was vomit inducing.
Joakim Noah stayed in the single digits in points and had only eight rebounds. Carlos Boozer had double digit points(barely) and did nothing else giving up most his minutes to the Mob. Deng was the most passable of Rose’s up porting cast. He had bs usual game where he floret with 20 points, but one of many troubling stats on the day saw Deng get more rebounds than Noah.
Oh and the Keith Bogans experiment where he just doesn’t do anything isn’t cute anymore, it needs to stop now.
If you want to see where the Bulls went wrong look at he stats. Chicago couldn’t hit a three to save their lives, shooting an infuriating 30 percent from beyond the arch. That right there is evidence of why Chicago had they day they had and it needs to change.
Now I’m not writing off the Bulls by any means. But they can’t keep playing like they did even if they did win. It brought back sickening memories of the Vinny Del Negro playoff teams. They need to get the swagger back that they had during the season
Because if the Pacers can rattle you that bad, if you make it past them you don’t stand a chance against the rest of the field that is so much better than Indiana.
should not be dropping games to an eight seed. Granted it’s a divisional game and the Pacers did steal a game from the Bulls late in the season, but it’s the playoffs where you don’t get a lot of do-overs.
The bench can be complimented on their 20-plus points which is expected and everyone did contribute. But everything else was vomit inducing.
Joakim Noah stayed in the single digits in points and had only eight rebounds. Carlos Boozer had double digit points(barely) and did nothing else giving up most his minutes to the Mob. Deng was the most passable of Rose’s up porting cast. He had bs usual game where he floret with 20 points, but one of many troubling stats on the day saw Deng get more rebounds than Noah.
Oh and the Keith Bogans experiment where he just doesn’t do anything isn’t cute anymore, it needs to stop now.
If you want to see where the Bulls went wrong look at he stats. Chicago couldn’t hit a three to save their lives, shooting an infuriating 30 percent from beyond the arch. That right there is evidence of why Chicago had they day they had and it needs to change.
Now I’m not writing off the Bulls by any means. But they can’t keep playing like they did even if they did win. It brought back sickening memories of the Vinny Del Negro playoff teams. They need to get the swagger back that they had during the season
Because if the Pacers can rattle you that bad, if you make it past them you don’t stand a chance against the rest of the field that is so much better than Indiana.