Game 4 Preview

But first, two quick side notes:

Bears Draft - Traded their second round pick yesterday, so made their first pick of the draft in the 3rd round today. The Bears drafted Jarron Gilbert, defensive lineman from San Jose State. For the record, we technically "drafted" Jay Cutler with our first round pick, so we're having the greatest draft of all time.

White Sox - Beat the Jays 10-2 yesterday, Alexei Ramirez led the way with a grand slam. Without resorting to exaggerating, Alexei Ramirez is the GREATEST bases-loaded hitter of all time: 23 career at-bats with the bases loaded, 9 hits, 5 of them grand slams. (stats from baseball-reference.com).


So the Bears and Sox might have some momentum going for Chicago, which I'm hoping the Bulls can carry into today's game ...

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Game 4 Preview

Would you rather ...

... Lose a heartbreaker / buzzer-beater loss OR embarrassing / blow-out loss? Arguments for both sides can be found here (read the article and the comments below it).

Afer losing game 2 on a last-second 3-pointer from Ray Allen, and then suffering a loss that was embarrassing to any fan, including me, Kmart and Dan ... the Bulls don’t have to decide! We are coming off both types of loss in back-to-back games in this series. So the Bulls are down 2-1, game 4 today might be the last meaningful game played this season. Which team should we expect??

I think the preferred type of loss (blowout or buzzer-beater) depends on the players reaction / mindset after the game. A close loss could lead to the players thinking “we played OK, and had a chance,” where a blowout loss could make the players realize that they need to make big changes for the next game. This possible blowout mindset particularly makes me think of Derrick Rose (and his ultra-competitiveness) if Dan, Kmart and I were completely embarrassed after the loss Thursday, imagine how D-Rose took it (hint: not well!). Advantage: Bulls.

I am a bit worried about PP going off again. Based on having 2 days off between game 2 and 3, it seems having time to rest was helpful for Pierce, who’s been carrying this team offensively for 2 months. And we’ve had 2 days since the blowout that was game 3. Part of it depends on how Salmons is feeling, as he has to defend Pierce. Advantage: Celtics.



So do those 2 days help the Bulls – who can use the embarrassment, disappointment as fuel to get ready for game 4? Or will Pierce and the ailing Celtics use the 2 days to rest up and come out blazing again?

I think the Bulls will come out with the same passion and fire they showed in game 1, they will get the UC rocking. They cannot expect the home-court advantage to carry then to a win (like they seemed to do in game 3), but should be able to use the crowd to get the young bigs (TT and Noah) going. Maybe we can actually get Rose going to the hoop to get their limited bigs in foul trouble ... but is Vinny smart enough to try an actual strategy??

I'm pretty sure it will be in spite of whatever Vinny does, but I believe in D-Rose coming up big, so I've got the Bulls in a close one. Heading back to Boston 2-2.