I have never flip flopped more on a player than Ben Gordon. Ever. He's undersized, cant defend, has a low Basketball IQ and stunts the development of Rose. But, what he did tonight and keep us in the game is something no other Bull can do.(Including Rose) Those last two baskets he made were absurdly tough shots, something only a handful of players on the planet can consistently make.(That list obviously includes Allen) His 42 points will not make any sort of headlines that Rose's 36 made and that makes him a bit underrated, doesn't it? How many guys in the league drop 40 in the playoffs and it doesn't seem remarkable? Even if that 42 points came with one rebound and amazingly zero assists! Really Ben, your a six foot gaurd who had the ball in his hand almost every time down and can't luck into 1 fucking assist? However, his 42 points were amazing and I now feel the Bulls should keep him, but not pay him more than 7 million. I will switch that remark after he goes 6-19 in game three.
The Boston Celtics were once again shown that this Bulls team is a serious threat and they are greatly missing Garnett. As much as I love the Bulls, we had no chance with Garnett in the lineup as evidenced by our 16 and 18 point regular season loss with him playing and our lone win against the coming in overtime without Garnett. So, what does that tell when two teams play 3 times, 2 go to overtime and one goes to a last second three? It says, these teams are very evenly matched and its going to come down to home court advantage and which team wants it more.
And this is why I think the Bulls win this series. Chicago has home court advantage and the Celtics mindset has got to be worse off than the Bulls. Chicago is pumped, they have a chance to take out the defending champs and really nothing to lose.(Like Atlanta last year) Boston on the other hand is all types of fucked up. They found out Garnett, their best player and best defender is out just before their first playoff game. They then get beat and are one last second shot from being essentially done. They have to know they have no chance winning the championship and anything less than that is a dissapointment for them. Do they really want play their asses off knowing they will probably get housed next round and certainly by Cleveland?
If the United Center crowd is not going ape shit on Saturday, then I will officially believe we have shitty fans. We have to win game three and probably both. It will be tough winning a game 7 at Boston, and if we dont win both games three and four is almost certain the series will go seven.
Finally, Vinny what the fuck! You don't think saving a timeout at the end is necessary. You lucked out Pierce missed the free throw in Game 1 which would have put us in the same situation as tonight. With 2 seconds left, what are the chances Gordon makes a three if we got to take the ball out at half court? One out of five, what are the chances Tyrus makes a 70 footer? One out of fifty? Also, please play Tyrus more than 20 minutes, the dude had six blocks and certainly would've limited all those second chance points.(the reason we lost)
Some links ...
Mcdougal designated for assignment.
Bears draft day targets ...
Big Baby sucks -
And then there are the Celtics. The Boston Celtics won 62 games this past season. When we look at Wins Produced we see the team received 48.3 Wins Produced from Rajon Rondo (6th most productive), Paul Pierce (29th most productive), Kevin Garnett (30th most productive), and Ray Allen (35th most productive). But the team also received -4.44 Wins Produced from Glen Davis (9th least productive), Brian Scalabrine (20th least productive), and Stephon Marbury (41st least productive).
What would the 1990s Bulls have been like without MJ?!
Bears needs and options for the draft -
The Bears will make eight selections in this year's draft: Round 2: No. 49, Round 3: No. 99 (compensatory selection), Round 4: No. 119, Round 5: No. 140 (from Denver), Round 5: No. 154, Round 6: No. 190, Round 7: No. 246 (compensatory selection), Round 7: No. 251 (compensatory selection).
Top needs: Wide receiver: Given what's currently on the roster, this is a no-brainer. Although the Bears hold out hope that Earl Bennett will rekindle his Vanderbilt magic with Cutler, there are no guarantees. Devin Hester is steadily making progress, but Rashied Davis is coming off a disappointing season. Because the team chose not to re-sign Brandon Lloyd and to release Marty Booker, numbers are low at the position. Expect the Bears to take a receiver at either No. 49 or No. 99, and maybe grab an additional one later in the draft. This situation can't be solved in just one draft, but the Bears can take a giant step in the right direction if they target the correct receiver. He's out there. It's up to Angelo to find him.
Possible selections: Mohamed Massaquoi, Georgia; Juaquin Iglesias, Oklahoma; Kevin Ogletree, Virginia; Ramses Barden, Cal Poly; Austin Collie, BYU; Louis Murphy, Florida.
***** UPDATE *****
More links ...
Golden Era of PGs -
In the first game of the series, rookie point guard Derrick Rose was unstoppable, seemingly waltzing past the entire Boston defense at his leisure leading Chicago to the win. Monday night, point guard Rajon Rondo returned the favor for Boston, scoring 19 while adding 16 assists and 12 rebounds to help Boston win 118—115 in dramatic fashion and even the series.
San Antonio evened its series with Dallas because Tony Parker dominated the game, scoring 38 and taking charge whenever the Mavericks tried to make a run. If Utah or Portland are going to even their series they are going to do it because their star point guards — Deron Williams or Brandon Roy — have similar big games. Same goes for New Orleans led by their star Chris Paul, although to do that Paul will have to get past Chauncey Billups, who came in mid-season and turned Denver into contenders.
That is a stunning list of amazing, potential Hall of Fame caliber point guards who are leading their team in the NBA playoffs — never has the league had this depth of great point guards at one time. And those numbers are about to swell — Spain’s Ricky Rubio, who at 19 led Spain to the silver medal and almost helped upset the USA in the gold medal game — will enter the NBA next year. One year him is the sensation John Wall, currently the focus of intense recruiting from college coaches nationwide to have his services for one year.
D-Rose the BEST young PG in the NBA -
The debate over the last few years for the best young point guard has been between Chris Paul and Deron Williams. Mentions of Tony Parker are few and far between and this past year there weren't many mentions of Derrick Rose.
Chris Paul and Deron Williams are consistent. They will give it there all in every ball game they play. They make their teams better than they should be as evident when they have had to miss games.
Chris Paul led his team to a tough seven-game series loss to San Antonio last year in the West Semifinals. Paul, however, did not have a monster game and was all but absent in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.
Deron Williams has lead his team to three playoff series victories—most notably a Game Seven on the road in Houston—his first time in the playoffs.
Deron made a clutch shot against GS to put Game Two into overtime and eventually win the game and the series in five.
Deron was the only player on his team to show up against the Spurs in 2007 and the Lakers in 2008, he doesn't back down. Williams, however, is not able to carry the load by himself and his leadership skills have been questioned.
Derrick Rose has ice-water in his veins.
Rose tied Kareem Abdul Jabar's rookie record for most points in a first playoff game. Rose was clutch down the stretch, getting the ball to the open man or hitting a big shot, which lead to the overtime victory in Game One at Boston.
How many rookies can lead their team into the defending World Champions house and play the best game of their career to date and actually win the ball game.
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