Quick Thoughts on Bulls/Spurs

Stupid Mountain Time game means I don't have time for a full credit post, but I have a few thoughts to record for posterity here:

-While my ideal crunch time 5 is Rose/Deng/Noah/Taj/whoever's playing best out of TBN/Korver/Rip, maybe tonight was one of those times to play Boozer over Taj down the stretch. I know these occasions are few and far between, and probably deservedly so, but Neil Funk made the good observation that Pop put Matt Bonner out to draw Taj away from the basket, which sort of limits his effectiveness. Boozer would have made them pay for that on the other end. Maybe even against Dejuan Blair once he came back in the game late.

-That might have been the best basketball game I've seen all year. After Duncan missed that bank shot with 2:30 left, both teams combined to make their next 6 baskets until Neal missed that 3 (which he clearly traveled on as well. He slides his pivot foot back to get that shot off.)

-If Rip is going 1-8 from the field...maybe he's not ready to come back yet. Just wait. It'll be better for everybody.

-I feel bad that the Spurs have to play Richard Jefferson in crunch time. I know he's taking the minutes Ginobili would have if he was healthy, but however hot they've been, I don't feel good about an extended Spurs playoff run if they're relying on Jefferson at the end of games. (Note: Forgot about Kawhi Leonard, too. I take it back, the Spurs will be fine.)

-The starters had a combined +/- of -4. The Bench Mob was +43. This is a luxury not many teams have. We need them to keep this up going into the playoffs to have any chance.

-I know this is the opposite of a usual problem, but Joakim, I get that you can play when you have a tough matchup like Duncan. Now let's see this effort against bad teams.

-This tumblr is pretty awesome.

-Going to try to have more liveblogs in the near future, now that my coaching season is over. Look for them coming up.