It was a rough loss, but I am happy to have not only watched that series, but be emotionally invested in it as a Bulls fan. It was a great joy to watch, and great experience for our young players. (With a real coach, I think we close it out in 5).
My (quick and not very-well-thought-out) takeaways from the series:
- HATE. THE. CELTICS. I don't understand how anyone actually likes that unlikeable, whining, bitching bunch of whiny bitches. I have not disliked a team this much since the late-90s Knicks (Oakley, Starks, Mason, etc.)
- Good riddance BG. I've supported and cheered, but the selfish play is too much. I've had enough, and seen him shoot the Bulls out of too many games. There are scorers that have much less baggage and who are much less streaky (read: John Salmons).
- VdN is a terrible coach, and is stunting the growth of our young players. Every time he does something right (playing Salmons at the 4 to create a mismatch was clever for a minute), he does 10 things wrong (not playing TT in the second half, every inbounds play we ran, every play we ran out of a timeout, etc.) He might be liekable, but he clearly doesn't get the Xs and Os, or the flow of the game (hence no timeout at the end of games). He doesn't coach/teach players, he jsut subs people in and out, that's it.
- LOVE. THE. BULLS. (YOUNG. CORE.) Rose, Salmons, Luol, TT and Noah will be a great team to watch next year and for years to come. TT needs to continue working his J, and look out for that pick-and-roll. Same with Rose, can you imagine if defenders have to step out on both of them?!? Noah will bulk up and maybe get a post move or 2 (read: baby hook ... Get it JoaNoah!) It's going to be fun for a while, and I'm excited with where we are headed!
I start finals tomorrow, so I'm too busy for links. But BlogaBull had a nice summary -
When I made the pact to just forget about the Bulls and enjoy this series, it's not fair to then dump on the same things that made the series exciting in the first place.
Playing 4 guards for most of the second half? Lindsey Hunter over Tyrus Thomas? Thomas getting 17 minutes overall? It's not a shock that the Bulls couldn't defend or get a rebound to get within arm's length of the Celtics all 2nd half. But that sort of play is partly what made this series so fun to watch, I guess.
What was uncharacteristic (except in game 3) was the Bulls 2nd quarter. Just an abysmal performance: 11 points, on 21% shooting and 8 turnovers, taking an early lead on the back of Rose and Gordon to a deficit they never recovered from.
And they couldn't recover because they don't run a real offense, and have a bad defense. Playing 4 guards and Brad Miller helps excacerbate that disadvantage. Sometimes it leads to great individual performances and thrilling comebacks. Other times it'll lead to losses. With no clear talent advantage on either side, the Bulls didn't lose this game due to lack of experience or savvy, but because they're an unpredictable poorly-coached team, and sometimes the usual tricks don't work. Even if it made for a fun couple of weeks.
And it was that. This series deserves a day or so to stand on its own. The Bulls and the Celtics put in a classic, and gave us a ton of memories.
Then this coming week we can move on to the challenge of figuring out and enhancing an entirely mediocre team on the brink of the luxury tax.
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