Credit:Brendan Maloney
“We’re Behind.” That’s Gregg Popovich’s interview in a nutshell. I’m wrong. That’s my statement of my preview of this game last night in a nutshell. This statement is a shout out to one of the Pippen Peoples, Dylan Sorensen. For one night, Dylan, you got me. (More on that later). The Bulls start a six game road trip in San Antonio and walk out winning 96-86 in an out-and-out shocker in my opinion. The Spurs were 32-1 against the lesser teams in the NBA ranked eighth in the standings or lower. The Bulls came off a clunker on Monday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. There’s no way the Bulls can win this game right? That’s why they play the games Pippen Peoples.
This was a TOTAL team effort with an incredible seven players scoring in double figures. The Bulls were led by Jimmy Butler with 19 points on 7-11 shooting. When was the last time you saw this guy shoot this well? I’ll wait. Butler also dominated on the defensive end grabbing three steals and blocking two shots. DJ Augustin didn’t shoot well but he was aggressive which opened up the offense for others. He had 15 points and five assists. Taj Gibson finished with 15 points. Hinrich had 11 points in his first game back from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for four games. Joakim Noah is just cementing his status as the cornerstone of this franchise, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. But it’s bigger than that. This team is totally different with him in the line-up on both ends of the floor. The offense ran smoothly with him at the high post hitting cutters like Augustin and Dunleavy going to the basket. We need to understand that this man was still under the weather with the effects of “flu-like” symptoms, but he was what the doctor ordered for this anemic offense the Bulls have. Carlos Boozer finished with a double-double scoring 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Okay, everyone I have to give the Blue-Devil his due. Carlos Boozer did his thing last night. Like I said before, looking at Boris Diaw in front of you should have you thinking about scoring 20 points. He was close. He anchored the Bulls frontline that threw the frontline of Tim Duncan, Othyus Jeffers and Jeff Ayres in the Alamo river in a dominating performance. Between these four Spurs players, they combined for 21 points. Here’s the problem if you are a Spurs fan, Duncan had 17 of them. Ayres and Jeffers had the same amount of points last night than you have reading this recap right now, combined. Dylan Sorensen did call this one out, I have to give him credit. Boozer did come out and did his thing last night. However, will he do the same against the Pelicans with Anthony Davis in the middle? Come on Dylan, double or nothing.
Gregg Popovich is a great coach. When he’s done coaching, he will walk into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot guaranteed. But some of the things he does, makes me wonder sometimes. He started Nando De Colo and Othyus Jeffers, two D-leaguers. They did little to help the offense and the Spurs were out of synch all night long. Tim Duncan had a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds but he had to work real hard for everything he got. Tony Parker led everyone in the building with 20 points.
Pippen Peoples, watching the Bulls for the rest of the season will be better than any “Reality-TV” show you can think of. This season is the basketball spin-off of the movie “Major League”. Management wants to “Retool”…wink, wink and build a championship team all the while they are trying to make the lottery. The players and coaches however will not accept losing. So much drama that goes in to every game. I’m just going to sit back and see what happens, because last night showed everyone, especially me that anything can happen with this team.
The Bulls leapfrog the Washington Wizards…again for the fifth seed in the Leastern Conference. They are one game out of the loss column behind Atlanta and Toronto.