Bulls tear it up, bury 76ers - Aphorisms

If I was more ambitious, I would attempt to compare the dominance the Bulls exhibited tonight with that which the Bears had on display last night. I would talk about the smothering, disciplined, relentless defense of both teams. And the way that each team really responded and played for its coach after a disappointing loss the game before.

Spencer Hawes does very little.

Great job Luol Deng, as usual. I apologize for those of my friends who continue to not give you the credit you deserve for your consistent excellence on both ends of the floor all season long. Truly. Sorry about my friends. Luol, you are so dope. Since you got into the league I've noticed that the times when you are playing the best are the times when you are making the best decisions with the ball - when to slash, when to pull up, when to drive. Great decision-making, we saw the full arsenal from you tonight - I'll make sure I mention it to during our weekly blow-out with all of our friends at sub51.

DRose leads all PGs in blocks. He plays spectacular lock-down defense for at least three or four possessions a game now.

DRose had 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 12 assists in 29 minutes.

I haven't looked, but it seemed like Korver made all of his shots in the first half. When he gets off to a quick start like that, beware.

Great start to the game by the Bulls. Another point goes on the 'this is a well coached team' side of the board. A strong beginning to the game has been a point of concentration for Tibs recently, good to see the team responding.
Towards the back-end of the 3rd quarter the Bulls got a 40-point lead. Kurt Thomas picked up a foul on defense, and I loved everyone's reaction. He was so disappointed with the (questionable) call. Ronnie Brewer immediately pointed to himself - 'my bad' - for gambling for a steal and thus blowing his defensive rotation assignment, leaving Thomas to fend for himself. The Bulls were playing so hard, such focused and disciplined team defense. I love how disappointed they were with the mistake, and how little they cared that they led by 40. Wow. Gotta love it. This is the sign of a team that is very much in sync with its coach.

Stacey King called Kurt Thomas 'big sexy'. Then, Kurt Thomas had a great game. In my mind there wasn't really a question about who to start at the 5, knowing that Taj was out - this is why Kurt Thomas is here. I love veteran players (Brad Miller, Joe Smith) who know their role and play within their limits. Let's not forget what he did with the Bucks last year when their starting center, Bogut, got injured. He is a great defender, plays within himself, and hits that pick n' pop 17-footer consistently. I'm excited to have him on our team; he will be on the court a lot down the stretch.

Teams in the NBA are built around stars. Each team has one or two. It's really too bad when the star that your team is built around isn't as good as many other stars - when your star isn't a superstar. We are lucky because we have DRose. But the 76ers are built around Andre Igoudala, and have been for some time. It's too bad - it's like you can only compare to other teams as favorably as your star can compare to other stars. That's the ceiling of your team's success. Portland - bummer. Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge just aren't that great.

For the first minute of the 2nd half the 76ers looked like a decent team, crisp and active on both ends of the floor. That was it for them. They were completely buried by the Bulls.

There hasn't been a player on the Bulls in a long time who steals the ball at the rate that Ronnie Brewer does.

At one point Stacey was describing Ronnie Brewer. In referring to how Brewer won't score 30 points, but will do all these other crucial things to help you win, he said, "Remember, the coaching staff sees it in plays on the floor." Plays on the floor. What a fascinating statistic to keep. I am not one of those fans who is particularly interested in statistics. I would say that, comparatively, I am much more loathe to bring up and rely on statistics to discuss sports and athletes and games than most of my friends. But I would definitely like to try to think about how to measure a play on the floor. I think it's important to think of both strata of the unit: team plays on the floor - a possession of great team defense and defensive rebounding; a nice offensive possession with good ball movement - and individual plays on the floor - a steal; an offensive rebound; a particularly good decision.

Coach Scalabrine! I know we've all heard that Tibs brought Scabbers with him from Boston, that as a player he's an extension of the coach. It's true, he's dope, I'm glad we have him on our team.

Beautiful outlet pass by Carlos Boozer (to Ronnie Brewer, off a steal in the 3rd when the Bulls were tearing it up). I've never seen him make a play like that before.

Something tells me that when he returns Joakim will be better than ever, and will have some very memorable monster games during the back-end of our season. That's just the kind of motivated competitive dude that he is. I also love that I am hardly going out on a limb by issuing this warning - surely there are few true fans who would disagree with me.

Darius Songalia sighting! I liked him when he was on the Bulls.

Great Christmas present from Neil to Stacey at halftime, but I wish they'd played the audio with the video. Neil Funk is very similar to Brian McManus.

Nice new commercial, DWade. That chemo kid is really saving your image.

The Bulls have lost only one game this year to a team under .500. I like the make-up of this team (John Paxson and Gar Forman deserve tremendous credit), the way their defense has been looking, and the fact that they really seem to play for and respond to their coach. They have the talent to beat anyone in the league. Plus they're all friends, and really seem to be enjoying working and playing together. I know it's easy when you win by 40 points, but still.