Random thoughts from last night's Bulls/Thunder game

Last night we all went to the Bulls/Thunder game (accompanied by Joe C.) and were pretty excited to see two of the best young guns in basketball, D-Rose and the Durantula, battle it out. The Bulls were seeking their 5th straight victory...so it seemed they were due for an awful performance...and it turns out they definitely were. Just some quick notes/observations/rants/quotes from the game:

- Although at $11 its pricey, the pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries are damn tasty

- I'll never get over how quiet the UC is during Bulls games. Did they even consult sound engineers when designing it? Even though I was still wearing short pants, I remember how crazy loud the Chicago Stadium was and I miss that. The loudest moment of the evening was when the crowd went ballistic cheering for cartoon bagels and coffees in a jumbotron race (Biggie Bagel FTW). Not the best atmosphere. Though I've heard its a different story at Hawks games. They should consider pulling an Indianapolis Colts move and pump in crowd noise to throw off the opponent...I mean they already rest their best players for too long during the game like the Colts do, why not take another page from their book?

- Noah had 6 rebounds in the first 3 minutes of the game...I know he had some minor foul trouble, but probably not a good idea to sit him for long stretches (especially when you're losing your lead) if he can control the boards that well against a team without a dominant rebounder. Brad Miller isn't exactly getting that done for you.

- "I'm pretty sure Derrick Rose and John Salmons have never met each other off the court....they have the worst chemistry of any backcourt in NBA history"

- yelled toward VDN after one of his stellar tactical decisions when the game was spiraling away from the Bulls in the 3rd quarter, "We're down 16 points and you're answer is James Johnson?! Are you serious?"

- The crowd almost reached jumbotron-race decibels toward the end of the game to berate VDN. Almost. He's on borrowed time with this team...has to be.

- "I was really hoping to watch Nenad Krstic and Thabo Sefolosha run the two man game. That's why I dropped $100 on this ticket. Thanks."

- at one point both teams had what we determined to be their most boring possible lineups in the game for about 10 straight minutes. We decided that each coach couldn't believe the other was sticking to those lineups for so long and it became an agonizing game of chicken to see who would play their starters again first. Again, $100 ticket. Thanks.

- Kevin Durant's jumper is the smoothest I've seen. Gorgeous. Before I knew it he had 17 pts....he makes it look to easy.

- Rose could not buy a call driving the lane last night. He was getting hammered out there. A guy in our section was screaming at VDN to stick up for him with the refs, get in their face, etc. to get some respect for Rose. I have to agree with him. Need to protect the franchise.

- Rose played pretty well last night...but his lack of defensive polish was evident again. Westbrook ran rough-shod over the Bulls last night. 2J describes him as the dumbest PG in the NBA, so that's probably not good when he almost pops off for a triple-double and outscores Durant.

- The Thunder have a weird habit of not isolating Durant when holding the ball for a final shot. He's the best player on the court almost every night but they aren't getting him the ball in those situations. Odd.

- After sitting for much of the 3rd quarter (when the Thunder put the game away) Rose instantly sparked the offense and mounted a mini-comeback that ultimately fell far short. But why wait until your down around 14 with 8 mins left to unleash YOUR BEST PLAYER. Why let the lead get that big? What good is having a rested Rose play at the end of a blowout? He can't spark the offense from the bench. Put him in the game, if you're still down huge late, then sit him down.

Hate the Bulls sometimes....last night was definitely one of those times. My only hope is there was a players only meeting where they realized VDN will never get fired if they keep winning. Then they accidentally went up 21-10 in the first quarter and made the conscious decision to completely tank the game.