With No LeBron, The Bulls Still Can’t Handle Le’ Heat

Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

Chrrrrrisssss Boshhhhhhh!! If you watched the game Sunday afternoon that seemed to be all you heard all game long. Chrrrrrrrrissss Boshhhhhh! The Miami Heat was without LeBron James, who was a late game scratch due to suffering a broken nose against the Oklahoma City Thunder while putting Serge Ibaka on the late news dunking on him on the play. The Chicago Bulls were short-handed as well, Jimmy Butler was a  late scratch as well suffering a bruised rib while throwing up a circus shot against the Denver Nuggets. The Miami Heat behind Dwayne Wade and Chrrrrrrissssss Boshhhhhhh defeated the Chicago Bulls 93-79 snapping the Bulls five game winning streak. The Heat extended their winning  streak to five games and have won eight of  their last nine. In James’ absence, the Heat started Greg Oden who started his first game since December of 2009. The Bulls let Chrrrrrrrrissssssss Boshhhhhhh go off for 28 points and 10 rebounds. He set a career high in three’s with four. Dwayne Wade had 23 points and 10 rebounds and seven assists. Eric Spoelstra won his 300th game as a coach. Only five coaches won that many games faster. Who’s the fastest? His boss, Pat Riley.

I can sum the entire Bulls performance the way the game started. Chrrrrrrrrrrissssss Boshhhhhhh for threeeeeee! Bulls inbound the ball can’t get the ball across half court and call timeout. Like 45 seconds INTO the game. The Bulls draw up a play and Carlos Boozer shoots an airball. The Heat rebound the ball, get on the fast break and Carlos Boozer gets a three-point shot put in his face by Chrrrrrissssssss Boshhhhhh. I could stop right there but I will continue. The Bulls had SIX 24 second shot clock violations including two in a row. After going into the half tied 40-40. The Heat decided to put things to bed with the quickness in the third quarter.Let’s do the good, the bad, the ugly and the stinking analysis shall we?

The Good-The Blues Brothers Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson

Joakim Noah, Pippen Peoples is a  grown man. He went out and did his job scoring 20 points grabbing 15 rebounds and blocking four shots. Considering that the backcourt stunk (more on that later, I mean MUCH more) he continued to try to keep the ball moving on offense dishing out three assists. Let me give you some additional information on how important this guy is to the offense. Noah actually HAS MORE assists than anyone else on the team. The man is grossly underpaid for what he gives this team every night. Plus for good measure he shot 7-11. No one shot nearly as well for the Bulls. Just sayin. Taj Gibson continues to play solid for the Bulls coming off the bench scoring 20 points and corralling 10 rebounds. The more  I see him play, the more you can see how hard he works on his game. It is so refreshing to  see, because we have to deal with…

The Bad-Carlos Boozer

My son Salim is sick in bed and I swear the game Boozer played got him sick. I know I was sick watching him play. It’s like opposing big men look at the sports pages to see if he going to be a late game scratch and if he’s not, they know they’re in for a big night. He let Chrrrrrrrrrrrrisssssss Bossssssssh get off into a rhythm and gave up a three-point play to Greg Oden who had played up to this point 78 minutes FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON! To think this guy actually believes he should finish games. Yeah Carlos and at 6′ 155 pounds, I believe I should be the first pick in the NFL draft. For his offensive out-put (or lack thereof) eight points and seven rebounds. The Heat were soft upfront as your front court teammates showed. When announcers call you out for just shooting jumpers, that ought to tell you something.

The Ugly-Bulls shooting

The Bulls looked like pure shooters against the Denver Nuggets Friday night. On Sunday, the Bulls reminded us their number one problem…they can’t shoot. The Bulls shot 36% from the field for the game and shot 6-21 in three’s. The Bulls had more bricks than the ones used to build Tuskegee College. Tony Snell, who filled in for Jimmy Butler went an anemic 2-10 from the field including 2-7 in three-point shots. I have a question… if you are shooting less than 40% from the field for the season, why are you shooting threes? The Bulls are going to have to find ways to score. After leading at the end of the first quarter, the Bulls scored only 16 points in the 2nd quarter and 12 points in the third. It’s not hard to find out where the Bulls lost this game.

The stinking-The Bulls bench

Remember when I said Taj Gibson was great coming off the bench? Well this is for the other two guys that came off the bench, DJ Augustin and Nazr Mohammed. Between the two from the field they scored… well let me put it this way, close your eyes. What do you see? Nothing? That’s what they scored in the game! DJ Augustin scored the same amount of baskets from the field that I did writing this recap. He went 0-10 from the field including 0-5 from three finishing with two points. Nazr Mohammed scored the same amount as you did reading this recap. Zero!

The Hawks are up next. Hopefully Jimmy Butler will be back. Maybe Augustin will pack his jumper and bring it to Atlanta.