Archive for May, 2011

Moment #10 : Joakim Noah’s Improvements The Bulls experienced a phenomenon in 2011 that few teams that are rebuilding experience: vast growth. Everyone on the Bulls got better than what they were prior to this season and the results showed in how well the Bulls performed. But with the obvious exception of Derrick Rose, no other Bull showed more improvement than one Joakim Noah. Coming into this season he was still unproven, unreliable and trade bait to everyone outside off Chicago. Even some in Chicago saw the big man as expendable. The talks at the time included shipping Noah off as the centerpiece of [...]

The season may be over but that doesn’t mean it has to be forgotten. It’s when ugly things happen that the the moments in which beauty, triumph and victory are remembered. For the Chicago Bulls, things were more than ugly when it comes to their curtain call on the 2011 season. But as much as the popular NBA public will remember the season for the final three minutes of that fateful Game 5, the Bulls did a lot to get to that point. They weren’t just automatically placed their as were the Heat or Celtics, the Bulls grinded it out [...]

CHICAGO – There is footage from the middle of the decade of a United States rocket attempting to lift off for space. It lifts off a few feet above the ground to a triumphant vibe, only to collapse into itself and explode in a vibrant ball of defeat and embarrassment. Who knew that so long ago the Chicago Bulls exit from the 2011 playoffs was being recorded. The Bulls were going to force a Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals. That is until LeBron James and Dwayne Wade torched the Bulls defense and went on a violent 18-3 run in the [...]

  CHICAGO — Dust off the sports cliche books boys and girls and polish up your elimination game garbage talk because its (Enter cliche here) time for the Bulls. “Win or go home.” “Do or die.” “They’re in a must win situation.” It’s the magical time in the  playoffs where the sports cliche is king and the kings on the positive side of those tired old sayings are the Heat. As we await Game 5, we all now what the implications are and what is at stake. But it seems all the negative cliches and sayings are being directed at [...]

MIAMI — The Bulls needed to get a big time Game 4 win to stay competitive in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals. They didn’t get this done and floundered away another loss falling behind the Heat now 3 game to 1 and a mere loss away from a devastating elimination. The Bulls had a good third quarter and looked as though they were in the game but as soon as the fourth quarter came, the lost all the closing swagger that got them 62 wins and let the Heat run all over them. LeBron James went off again in Game 4 scoring [...]

MIAMI — As if the Bulls needed something else to tack on to their poor night, Center Joakim Noah was busted for directing an anti-gay slur at a fan Sunday. “With the comment to the fan, I just want to apologize about that,” he said. “I just picked up my second foul. I was frustrated. He said something that was disrespectful towards me and I lost my cool. People who know me know I’m an open-minded guy. I’m not here to hurt anybody’s feelings. I’m just here to help win a basketball game.” The incident  in question occurred during the first quarter [...]

MIAMI — Nobody outside of Chicago had very high expectations for the Bulls heading into Game 3 against the Heat. The Bulls effectively lived up to those gutter expectations by getting drop kicked by another member of the Big 3 single handedly 96-85. In Game 2 it was LeBron James and in Game 3 it was Chris Bosh who exploded for 34 points shooting an outstanding 13-18 from the field. To add to this, the other members of the Big 3 dropped 17 (Wade) and 22(James). To counter this effort by the Heat the Bulls looked less than mildly impressive [...]

CHICAGO — If the Bulls get eliminated from the 2011 playoffs, it will be because of a lack of flair on offense. In the NFL, it has long been said that defense wins championships, but I’ve always seen a flaw in that. How can you win with just defense and no points? Short answer: you can’t. Long answer: you can’t but if you have some offense to give the defense something to work behind then you’ve got something. The Bulls have defense but it’s an offensive spark that they lack. They tried this postseason the theory that Derrick Rose can [...]

CHICAGO — The Bulls were unable to repeat their success from Game 1 and got clamped by the Heat in Game 2 being held to just 85 points and held Derrick Rose to just 21 points. The big issues in Game 2 was the ineffectiveness of Rose down the stretch who couldn’t hit a shot to save his life it seemed and looked very un-Derrick Rose. Rose got beat up bad in the paint, an area where he usually dominates and closes games out. The Bulls were unable to close the game and were unable to out the heat on [...]

CHICAGO — The excuses for why the Heat lost Game 1 are rolling in; LeBron James is reportedly battling a cold and has been so for the past three days. Numerous outlets are reporting that James is battling a cold but from they way they are hounding the story you’d think he was on his death bed. Apparently the Bulls Game 1 scorching of the Heat wasn’t enough, the critics need something to point to as to why the Heat lost and why the Bulls didn’t win, they got lucky. Rachel Nichols from ESPN said today that James has said [...]