h/t: Deadspin

h/t: Chicagoist

The Bulls literally shot the lights out of the building in the first 3 quarters, proving once again that the only real way for Chicago to be successful is to hit its jump shots.  It wasn’t all that simple though, they also were doing all the little things.  Scrambling for loose balls, playing excellent defense, and dominating the glass.  The Cavs did finally make a run in the 4th, and it was pretty obvious why.  The Bulls could not get a rebound.  With Joakim on the bench in foul trouble, it seemed like the Cavs got every single meaningful rebound to help them climb back into the game (oh and LeBron’s 13 points and 5 assists in the quarter may have been a small factor).  The Bulls held on to win it though.

So was this a huge fluke?  Can the Bulls steal another game?  Clearly they have to be clicking on all cylinders to beat even a halfway-motivated Cavs team.  There is no surefire method to stop LeBron and his band of merry sidekicks, but the story of the glass has been the story of this series.  The Bulls were outrebounded badly, and blown out in Game 1.  In Game 2, the rebounding battle was about even and the Bulls kept it close even though they lost.  In Game 3, when they were rebounding well, they dominated.  As they let Cleveland hit the boards, the Cavs snuck back into it.

Rose needs to dominate on the offensive end.  Deng needs to play well.  Hinrich has to at least be better than the 6-18 he shot in the first two games combined.  All those things need to happen, sure.  But the one thing that can put them over the edge is rebounding.  Enter Joakim Noah.  In Games 2 and 3 he had 28 rebounds combined.  Game 1? Just 8.

Who would have thought on draft day a few years ago that the 9th overall pick from Florida with scraggly hair and a bowtie would be the key ingredient in a playoff series with the mighty Cleveland LeBrons?  For now, let’s enjoy the win.  At least Vinny gets a few more days of employment, so you know he’s happy.  Go Bulls!

Just to provide a little background, the Bulls lost a double overtime game to the Nets last night.  Noah, who is on a strict minutes count due to his plantar fasciitis, was only allowed to play 35 minutes.  This game was the second of a back-to-back in which Noah played 33 minutes the night before.  Also, back on February 26, Vinny took a lot of heat for playing Noah 27 minutes when he was told to keep him to 20 minutes or below.  Last night, in double overtime, Noah was pulled after playing a little over 35 minutes.  The Bulls got smoked in the Noah-less OT period and went on to lose the game.  And the controversy begins:

“He has a 35-minute limit, so I had to get him out of the game,” Del Negro said.

But general manager Gar Forman said that Del Negro could have played Noah more.

According to Forman, who was at the game, player development assistant Lindsey Hunter, who sits behind the bench, approached him after regulation and asked if Noah could play additional minutes.

Forman said he called executive vice president John Paxson (who was home) and was given clearance for Noah to exceed the limit. Forman also said that message was relayed to Del Negro on the bench.

So what’s the big deal?  It was a simple miscommunication, right?  Maybe.  But why would Gar go to the media with this before even talking to Vinny about it?  Here’s why.  This is part of a pattern of management strategy the Bulls (and many teams, frankly) employ when they are trying to cut ties with a member of the organization. 

Before I give the list, I want to make clear that I’m not saying any of these guys were in the right or that the Bulls should have made stronger efforts to keep them.  I’m just saying that management has used a very shady and backstabbing strategy in recent years to justify sending people out of town.  Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, and to a lesser extent, Tyson Chandler.  What do those names have in common?  Most likely it’s that Bulls fans were relieved to finally get rid of them after drama/injuries that surrounded them.  But ask yourself: Who created that drama?

In Ben Gordon’s case, it was well-known that both him and Deng would be negotiating new contracts at the same time and that the Bulls would unlikely be able to afford both of them.  This became especially true after all that money was thrown at Ben Wallace and the Bulls cap flexibility was strained.  Reinsdorf always preferred Deng and Bulls management did everything in its power to hang Ben out to dry and make him look bad.  He was riding the bench for years while far inferior players were starting (see: Chris Duhon).  And then when he essentially told the Bulls he would not accept a certain amount, they offered it to him anyways.  He of course rejected it, but even after he tried to reconsider, the Bulls didn’t give him a chance (presumably because the offer was a ploy in the first place to make him look bad).

Tyrus Thomas was a similar situation.  Sure he was a head case in his own right, but the Bulls knew the kind of person he was when they drafted him.  Instead of giving him guidance and support, they hung him out to dry at every turn.  The Bulls management continually splashed quotes all over the local media about how immature and unfocused he was.  Why not keep that internal?

Here’s why:  The Bulls were building a case to justify moving these people out of town.  If you are a Bulls fan, you are sitting there thinking “I didn’t need to be convinced, those guys sucked”.  Maybe you are right, but that didn’t stop the Bulls from making sure to vilify these people so that they could avoid any sort of fan backlash.

Which brings us back to Vinny.  Sure he should be fired, and I’m the first one who will tell you that.  But there are some around the league and even in Chicago who feel he has not only improved significantly this year, but that he has done a good job with an injured and depleted Bulls team whose front office is essentially trying to tank this season for summer of 2010 free agent frenzy.  Doesn’t it seem strange that Gar would make those comments to the media?  Why not keep something like that internal?  Because Vinny is on his way out, and apparently the Bulls front office believes they must build their case once again by disparaging its own personnel while they are still employed with the team.

I wouldn’t want to work for an organization like that.  Would you?

The Noah-McEnroe connection seems quite strong.

h/t: BDL

When my hometown Chicago Bulls drafted Joakim Noah ninth overall that summer night back in 2006, I yelled and cursed at the television. When Noah was a Florida Gator, he was one of my least favorite college basketball players of all time. And he did a lot of things that made a lot of people hate him.

Including this. And who could forget his attempt to sound “street” during his post national title game interviews; despite the fact that we all knew his French upbringing was as country club as possible. His mother was an international runway model/Miss Sweden 1978 and his father is Yannick Noah, legendary tennis player; and later a huge pop music star in France.

His first couple years in the league Noah was still a bit of a clown and some of his behavior only reaffirmed my initial disgust on Draft night. However, that has all completely changed this year. Not only has he become a star on the court, conditioning his body to add muscle weight, and augment his game in the post, but he’s matured a ton off the court. His game has improved so much that he’s currently one of the small percentage of NBA players who averaging a double double on the season. He’s 5th in the NBA in rebounding and 16th in blocks. His emergence in 2009-10 now makes him the Bulls’ second most valuable player after Derrick Rose.

In addition to the fundamental differences, his attitude about basketball has grown up so much that even called out Lebron for dancing. There’s a common misperception out there that many NBA players are like Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady- not always giving 110% night in, night out. But you won’t get any ammunition for your argument by studying Noah. It is an absolute crime that his plantar fasciitis is keeping him off the court. When talking to him you see HOW MUCH he is dying to be out there as much as possible.

“I’m just trying to be in the moment of the game. Obviously, I don’t want to come out, I want to play. I think I have to be really smart about when I can and can’t. It just hurts, and the only thing you can do is rest it. It’s very painful, no joke,” Noah said after the Bulls 115-111 OT win over Portland, a game in which he played a few more minutes than was expected.

His coach Vinny Del Negro knows he overplayed Noah too. “We probably got a little greedy, but I asked him he how felt and he said he felt good, but I could see he got a little fatigued…his injury is going to bother him for awhile whether we play him 10 minutes or 20 minutes,” the overuse

“He could be out a while,” Del Negro said after Monday’s practice. “A week, two weeks, a month. I don’t know yet. It’s going to be how his foot reacts. When you get him back, his conditioning and his minutes (are also factors to think about). It’s not the perfect scenario.”

Exactly! Noah’s conditioning when he does return is a huge factor into how much he can contribute down the stretch as the Bulls fight for playoff positioning.

“The biking, the water cardio…for me the only thing that keeps me in shape is basketball. So there’s that aspect of it too. If it was October I could sit out for 6 weeks, but we don’t have 6 weeks. There’s not a lot of time left until the playoffs,” Noah said Friday night

So did Vinny play him too much Friday night and screw up Noah’s convalescence timetable? Who knows? I don’t have M.D. after my name so I can’t say, and Noah doesn’t seem to think that his more-than-expected playing time was a mistake.

“Everyone has an opinion on whether I should or shouldn’t play, but there’s no right or wrong answer,” Noah stated.

However, there is right answer to this question: Does Noah have as much heart and desire to play hard as ANYONE in the NBA? Resounding yes!

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

The robotic voices make it even funnier. In fact, I couldn’t stop thinking in a robotic voice after I watched it and I’m even thinking the words I’m typing in a robotic voice. “You are guilty of making Sam Cas-sel no longer noteworthy as the ugliest player to play the game I’m ordering you to get some braces and cut your f#$%ing hair and wear a mask at all times we will claim it is to protect your face from a previous past injury.” Classic.

Without further ado:

• Chris Paul is fearless in playing the passing lanes and looking to pick the ballhandler’s pocket.
• Kirk Hinrich is no slouch and seemed to fluster Chris Paul on a number of occasions, using a combination of quick feet and a bigger body than folks give him credit for. Also the elbow to CP3’s temple and the ensuing step back 3-pointer was vicious.
• Aaron Gray looked like a pretty big jack ass grinning on the Hornets’ bench after they tied it up late in the game and went ahead. Now I know how the rest of the NBA’s fans felt all these years. (Javier Sandooski and I are organizing a Favre-like burning of all Aaron Gray jerseys the next time Gray returns to Chicago).
• Luol Deng really seems to be finding his rhythm in the Bulls’ offense and looks more confident than he’s been in the last year and a half.
• The City of New Orleans is awesome right now. Most of the crowd was on their feet for the last 5 minutes of the game. Consistently cheering, living and dying with every play. This is obviously spill over from the Saints making the Super Bowl but the entire city is just jacked.  Hell, do you realize that Mardi Gras is in full force from the February 7 until February 16th? If the Saints win on the 7th, the city would be a non-stop celebration for the next two weeks.  Chamber of Commerce meetings would include beads and beer bongs.  The local Jaycees would devolve into an organization dedicated to the flipping of cars.  The National Guard will be called in to combat public urination and treat those traumatized by incessant “Who Dat” cheers.
• What a great play at the end of the game by Hinrich to track down Chris Paul, corral the loose ball, and push it up court quickly.  And what a great controlled follow up finish by Luol. Really took the energy out of the crowd.
• On second thought for most of OT, the crowd sat on their asses and barely cheered. If the Saints lose the Super Bowl and in heartbreaking fashion, they might have to ban beads from Mardi Gras as a preventative measure for emotionally distraught fans.
• Brad Miller redefines the  “crafty veteran” role. Only he would have the guile to pretend he’s injured for a month, lull opponents into thinking he’s even slower than he already was, believing his only move is the flat footed jumper from the top of the key, only to appear in January and become an offensive threat with his patented head fake and burying hanging driving jumpers in the key.
• Hinrich and Deng sealed the game with the great stop at the end forcing Collison’s turnover.  The Bulls defense is good and getting even better.
• It also appears the offense is gelling, with guys getting comfortable with their roles. We had six players in double digits, and Taj Gibson and John Salmons each threw in eight.
• Joakim Noah continues to impress, thoroughly outplaying Emeka Okafor, and continuing to shoot well from the charity stripe. Did you know he was an 88% free throw shooter in the month of January (52-for-59)?
• All in all, this was a great win for the Bulls. Who would have thought they’d win five straight over five legit Western Conference teams, closing out a 10-5 January?
• Heading into February, the Bulls play 14 games, only 3 of which where they will be the underdog (@ Atlanta, and home against Orlando and Portland).  While this road trip proves that the Bulls may let down to lesser opponents (or we can just blame it on the flu) they could be heading into a tough March around nine games above .500. Not too shabby for a team we left for dead in December.

As comforting as that is, it does little to change what we’ve seen the past couple weeks.  Getting blown out during the Circus Trip is one thing, but coming home and getting absolutely pummeled by Toronto at home really makes you wonder.  These aren’t just losses, they are disheartening blowouts.  And now, to top it off, we have this embarrassing little sequence.  During live play, Jarrett Jack tucked the ball under his arm to tie his shoe for a good 8-10 seconds:

Deng, Hunter, Johnson, not a single one of them even make an attempt to poke the ball out.  There is clearly a lack of effort here that is a problem.  It seems like almost a level of frustration the Bulls are playing with, like they can’t beat these teams, so why try?  Vinny needs to fix that quickly, because this team may not be talented enough to beat Cleveland on the road, but they sure as hell should be beating Toronto at home, or at least not taking the worst loss the Bulls have had in years.

Maybe Swedish Television has this all figured out for us….

Farted?  I think Del Negro took a dump on a whiteboard and called it an offense.  That’s probably the smell.

I can understand Noah’s frustration. The Bulls have struggled since leaving for the Circus Trip and Noah is a passionate guy that hates to lose. If anything this makes me like him more. Also, if I was getting blown out and someone from the other team did a stupid little celebration dance, I would probably be pretty pissed too.

***UPDATE: According to Ric Bucher’s Twitter: Sources @ the bench on what Joakim said to LeBron: “This is so ****ing old” + the clincher that got LJ coming at him: “You’re a b****.”

Whether you agree with him or not, you have to love the balls on Noah to call the NBA’s biggest superstar a bitch.

h/t: Docksquad Sports + BDL