NBA 10-11

[Maclowery]

The Jazz were also on a back to back, so I suppose you could say they were tired for the first half, then invigorated in the second, and vice versa for the Bulls.

The Bulls gave up 59 points in the second half. Their interior defense repeatedly failed to collapse on paint penetration, something that's a core of Thibs' defensive scheme. He wants to push drivers out of the paint, toward the baseline, mostly possible because our bigs (other than Boozer) are so, so good at stepping over to help our wing defenders. The Jazz simply moved the ball very well, and the Bulls couldn't stop both the penetration and still guard Jefferson one on one.

Al Jefferson is a black hole on offense; once he gets the ball, he's pretty weak at finding an outlet pass. In the second quarter, dude just didn't need to. Thomas bodied him up alright, and Asik tried to do the same, but he still managed to get hot and score 19 points in the half.

I stick to my assessment that the Bulls looked complacent defensively in the half. Sure, they were drained from the back to back, but so were the Jazz, and they were the much better team the second half. Luckily, the Bulls played their best half of the season right before, so it didn't matter as much.

Win's a win, though, and I had an enormously fun time watching that first half. Hopefully we blow out the Wizards also tomorrow night.

[thrill]

I stick to my assessment that the Bulls looked complacent defensively in the half. Sure, they were drained from the back to back, but so were the Jazz, and they were the much better team the second half. Luckily, the Bulls played their best half of the season right before, so it didn't matter as much.

The NBA is a long season. The point of running out to huge leads against bad teams is so you can rest on the court. You can't rest on defense in close games. Saturday was perfect because in back-to-backs, you lose your legs exponentially compared to normal games following days off so being able to coast for a half is extremely beneficial.

I guess what I'm saying is that you shouldn't care. We know they are elite. Reading the tea leaves game-to-game or half-to-half is dumb. As long as they're healthy, we know what we need to know about this team. They could tank every game from now until the playoffs and as long as the effort is there when it matters, they'll beat most teams in most series.

[Maclowery]

Oh, I agree. I'm more excited about the Bulls team this year than I have been any team (before the playoffs) since probably the 2004 Cards.

My grouchiness isn't at all that it's a sign of weakness to come, or a serious flaw, etc etc. Only that I had such a thrilling (haha) time watching the first half, then the 91 celebration, and saw a thoroughly deflating second half. My beef was sheerly a factor of loss of entertainment for that last hour of the broadcast.

In summary, Bulls awesome. Mac happy. Now, yardwork.

[MrSaigon]

I'm not super traditional or anything. I like the idea of alt. jerseys, but I hate the Bulls greens. I hope they make a few hundred thou in jersey sales, because marching out there in arguably the NBA's greatest team ever's jersey is lame. When are they going to wear purple and gold (Mardi Gras was last week)? I understand Chicago's got the river thing, but I think the Celtics have earned exclusivity for their jersey.

To be fair, I also hate the "You know how we'll get the Latino's money? 'The,'" jerseys.

[thrill]

I'm not super traditional or anything. I like the idea of alt. jerseys, but I hate the Bulls greens. I hope they make a few hundred thou in jersey sales, because marching out there in arguably the NBA's greatest team ever's jersey is lame. When are they going to wear purple and gold (Mardi Gras was last week)? I understand Chicago's got the river thing, but I think the Celtics have earned exclusivity for their jersey.

To be fair, I also hate the "You know how we'll get the Latino's money? 'The,'" jerseys.

Agreed on everything. The Bulls green jerseys are the worst. Second worst is the Lakers latino night jerseys.

Your name is already LOS Angeles. YOU DON'T NEED SPECIAL SPANISH JERSEYS THAT SAY LOS LAKERS.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Not to mention, wouldn't hispanics find that jersey to be incredibly demeaning? OH, IT MEANS "THE BULLS/HEAT/LAKERS". IT'S ALL SO CLEAR NOW.

[thrill]

Were I a fan of Real Madrid, I would have zero interest in a jersey that said Royal Madrid. I think the inverse applies to hispanic/latino NBA fans.

[ghostrunner]

Didn't the Los Lakers thing come out of the whole Arizona controversy?

[lukethedrifter]

I would buy a Los Los Angeles Lakers jersey.


/no I wouldn't

[thrill]

Didn't the Los Lakers thing come out of the whole Arizona controversy?

Yeah. Los Suns was the org's response to that prop.