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Okay Pippen Peoples, the Bulls play on national TV tonight against the San Antonio Spurs. More than likely this game will be the afterthought after the marquee game of the night in the eyes of most NBA fans. The Bulls/Spurs game follows the Oklahoma City Thunder/Miami Heat game. Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James. Can King James slow down the Slim Reaper…oh, I write for the Chicago Bulls…oops. Lost myself in the hype for a second. I digress, I give thanks to my man Dylan Sorensen, one of the Pippen Peoples for giving me a reason to watch the entire game tomorrow night. He read my rant on Carlos Boozer and defended him a bit in a comment. He gave me some detailed reasons why he plays the way he plays. Dylan for you, I’ll be watching.
As for this game, I’m going to start with a little prayer. Lord, help the Bulls keep this game within 20 points, Amen. Look there’s no sugar-coating this. This looks like a complete beat-down. The Spurs are 1-11 against the top seven teams in the NBA. Well we all know the Bulls are not in this neck of the woods. The Spurs are 32-1 against everyone else. The Spurs are at home and are on a two game losing streak. I guarantee Coach Popovich’s sideline interview will be more entertaining than watching the Bulls offense. This my friends could be a tough watch. But if you could make it through the Bobcats game, you can make it through anything.
Manu Ginobli will not play tonight due to a hamstring injury. He tried to dunk last night in the third quarter against the Houston Rockets and came up gimpy. Gregg Popovich is notorious for resting Tim Duncan and Tony Parker here and there during the season to rest them for the playoffs. We all better hope that happens tonight Pippen Peoples, especially Tony Parker because the Bulls have no answer for this guy. The point guards for the Bulls ever since Derrick Rose went down have been giving out VIP passes to quick guards to get in the paint. Tonight will be no different. Tim Duncan is considered the greatest power forward in history. Taj Gibson is going to have his hands, shoes and shorts full trying to guard him. I could mention Carlos Boozer playing defense on somebody, but why?
Let’s be clear. The Bulls need Joakim Noah in the line up for the Bulls to be competitive. Period. Noah was out against the Timberwolves due to illness. The Bulls obviously missed him on defense, letting Ronny Turiaf go off on them, but they missed him on OFFENSE more. The Bulls run their half-court offense through Noah. If he doesn’t play, the Bulls will struggle to get to 70 points because the Spurs have one of the stingiest defenses in the league. There is no way he’s going to be 100% coming off being sick, but that offense will be sicker without him in the lineup. DJ Augustin is going to have to keep scoring at the rate he has the last few games to keep it close. The Bulls are going to have to run to stay in this game. If it’s a half court game the Spurs will kill them. The Spurs system is surgical. If the Bulls happen to be the patient, their chances of winning this game is going to die.
The Bulls have started slowly in last few games. It better not happen tonight. If it does, it’ll be over by halftime. As for Carlos Boozer, this is a chance to really show if he has heart. The Bulls really need him to make an impact in this game. Will he be aggressive and take the ball to the basket, or will he stand at the elbow (pick one, I don’t care) and shoot 15 footers all night. He will probably be guarded by Boris Diaw, who Boozer should just look at and be able to score twenty points. Diaw can’t guard him. To my man Dylan. If Boozer comes out and plays the way he did against Minnesota, it might be time to turn in your Boozer card.
Spurs win. Bulls go back below the “Mendoza line”.