What’s That Sound? Splash! Bulls Lose…102-87

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

They let Steph Curry get hot…they let Steph Curry get hot…THEY LET GET STEPH CURRY GET HOT! The Chicago Bulls fall below .500…again, 102-87. The Bulls struggle to score in stretches…again. The Bulls played hard…again. The Bulls however let the one thing happen that they couldn’t afford to let happen. They let Stephen Curry go off and they simply couldn’t keep pace. More fuel was added to the fire when the Bulls let Klay Thompson get his groove back. The Bulls did not take full advantage of a depleted Golden State front-line. Finally they let an opponent’s support player bury them in the 4th quarter. Add all of this up and the Bulls get beat…again.

Taj Gibson showed last night why the Bulls should explore STRONGLY the possibility of trading Carlos Boozer out of Chicago. They shouldn’t wait to amnesty him in the offseason. If it means taking back an undesirable contract that doesn’t hamstring the cap, so be it. Gibson went off for a career high 26 points and 13 rebounds filling in for Carlos Boozer who was a late scratch because of a sore calf muscle. Pippen Peoples, Taj Gibson if given the chance can do all of the things offensively that Carlos Boozer can do, plus he plays defense at half the price. As for Joakim Noah, the TNT announcers Kevin Harlin and Reggie Miller said it all…Joakim Noah is worth every bit of the 12 million dollars the Bulls are paying him. Guess what? They are right. He had a career high 11 assists, grabbed 10 rebounds and scored seven points. Joakim Noah is what is right about the NBA. A lot of people say that NBA players don’t care and are lazy, this dude is not one of them. If you ever need an example of someone who works hard no matter what, this is the guy to mention that will win every argument. Jimmy Butler scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds but he let STEPH CURRY GET…emotional walls, emotional walls. Kirk Hinrich finished with 15 points, while it was the tale of two games for DJ Augustin. DJ was hot coming out the gate for Chicago hitting five of his first six shots. After the Warriors starting paying attention to him he went 0-6 for the rest of the  game.

This just in to Pippen Ain’t Easy…Stephen Curry can shoot. I mean really shoot. Last night was a testament to what this guy can do. He went off for 34 points and nine assists. He shot 13-19 from the field and knocked down four shots from the land of plenty. When the Bulls were up 29-16 at the end of the first quarter, Curry dropped 16 points in the second to turn the game around. When he pulled up on the break and shot a 28 footer and knocked it down, everything changed. The Warriors went from 13 points down to being up four 50-46 at halftime. I have been all over the Bulls point guards about their defense but it wasn’t the defense last night. This dude was just hot. Who in the NBA shoots floaters from 15 feet and knocks them down? I’ll wait. Klay Thompson broke out of a horrid shooting slump to score 22 points on 8-16 shooting, including knocking down three from the land of beyond. The Bulls’ defense of the three-point line was well, not good. The Warriors shot 11-22 from beyond the arc. I’m starting to see a trend here, the Bulls for the last couple of weeks seem to let a guy from under the radar come in and hurt them. Tonight it was Harrison Barnes. Barnes scored all of his 11 points in the 4th quarter, plus a three pointer late to help put it away.

This game was evenly matched except for one thing, consistent scoring. The Warriors have someone in Stephen Curry who can generate offense. He showed this during the second quarter. He helped Klay Thompson get his game started and he took over when the team needed him to. The Bulls just don’t have that. Derrick Rose was that guy who could command a double team and open up space for shooters. Kirk Hinrich and DJ Augustin cannot do that. Trust me no one knows  what is going to happen in the next couple of weeks, but the Bulls are going to have to get someone who can  put the ball in the basket. They only have 12 players on the roster now anyway so they have to go get someone regardless. Let’s just pray that it is not Mike James for the 57th time.