Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports
After the game, DJ Augustin said he held no grudge against the Bobcats for letting him walk away and replacing him with Ramon Sessions. He said “It’s just a business”. Sure, and I have a date with Beyoncé right after I write this report. DJ wanted this game badly and he got it. The Bulls won this game 89-87 led by DJ Augustin’s 28 points which included 15 in the 4th quarter. He hit four of his five shots in the quarter including three from behind the arc. This is the third game in the last four that Augustin has scored at least 27 points. It was his night. Congratulations DJ. Just work on your politically correct statements…they stink.
Watching this game was a chore. This was U-G-L-Y neither of these teams had an alibi. It was ugly, ugly, it was ugly. After three quarters the score was 55-54. Ugh! The Bulls backed up Augustin (Barely! Pippen Peoples, Barely!) with Taj Gibson who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Mike Dunleavy had 12 points and eight rebounds. Joakim Noah tacked on one more game with double figure rebounds with 10. He added 11 points and eight assists. Carlos Boozer finished with 10. Al Jefferson went nuts on the Bulls for 32 points and 13 rebounds. He topped the 20 point barrier for the ninth straight game. The Bulls didn’t stop him the whole night. Actually his coach Steve Clifford was the only one that could stop him by sitting him on the bench. Former Bull Jannero Pargo finished with 15 points.
The Bulls started out again slowly on both ends of the floor. Tom Thibodeau called time out in the middle of the second quarter yelling words that would get me in trouble with my editor if I quoted him. In my preview earlier, I mentioned that the Bulls needed to keep an eye on Al Jefferson. Well they didn’t get the memo because he scored HALF of his team’s 24 points in the first quarter. Feel free to double team him at any time. What was worse, Carlos Boozer, who is not a defensive stalwart by any means was guarding him. Really? The Bulls were lucky that Steve Clifford, the Bobcats coach made a error for sitting him most of the second quarter. He could have gone for 50 last night. I could tell DJ wanted this game badly. Almost too badly. He came out too quickly and did not run the offense very efficient early. But after Thibodeau’s “pillow talk” the defense tightened on everyone else except Jefferson. The offense? Well, DJ played good.
The Bulls were very lucky in this one. Everything in this game including the lack of aesthetic beauty was even on both sides except for two major categories. The free throw line and the land of three. The Bulls outscored the Bobcats 16-7 on the free throw line. Here’s the biggie, the Bulls shot 11-23 from the three point line compared to 6-19 for the Bobcats. That’s basically what won the game for the Bulls last night.
Hey Pippen Peoples, have you ever heard the phrase “Fool’s Gold”? This is it. The Bulls ended this game the way they started it… sluggish. The offense produced no field goals in the last three minutes of the game. Ten free throws bailed the Bulls out. The next two games, the Bulls have are against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the San Antonio Spurs. The Bulls can’t afford games like this. The Bulls are prone to lapses during games. If this happens, these two teams will run them out of the gym.