DeMarcus Cousins is Cra, and Other Random Thoughts From Bulls-Kings 12/29

No time for a full credit post (and I'm not sure I want to give them full credit for last night, anyway,) so I'll just do this bullet point style. I saved the most controversial one for the end. Foreshadowing! Suspense! That's why you come to Chitown Sports.

-Nice to see a good game from Boozer, but it was kind of a perfect storm of a matchup for him. Chuck Hayes is strong, but not long enough to do anything about Boozer's jump shot, and certainly can't make him pay on the offensive end. There aren't a lot of other teams in the NBA that have that kind of situation for Boozer to take advantage of (although the Bobcats and Boris Diaw jump immediately to mind), so I think we might want to wait a few games before letting Boozer out of the doghouse.

-TBN, thank you. When you're hitting jumpers and running the floor in transition, there are very few second units that can keep up with the Bench Mob. Stacey, please stop trying to shove "Chicago's Finest Brew" down our throats. He's the Baseline Ninja, as he showed on that play where Derrick broke Jimmer's ankles.

-Jimmer, I'm sorry for saying you can't win the Rookie of the Year award. The Kings truly are a disaster, and if they're going to play like a pickup team that never plays together (and doesn't like each other) all year, there's no reason you can't score enough to win this award.

-Let's talk about the Kings for a second. This game actually worried me more than the Warriors game, because it felt like we should have won that game by 30. We won by 10, and it was helped by the Kings shooting 59% from the free throw line. If they even shoot 78% (27-34), it's a 1-possession game. The Kings have a lot of scorers, yes, but they're terrible defensively and have no decent passers. From the "tweets that sum everything up" file, here's John Hollinger:

But the Kings still managed to keep it close. And the reason for that, worryingly, is that the Bulls were not good defensively. After 3 games, the Bulls are 11th in the league in points against. That number is deceiving, though, because the Bulls play at one of the slower paces in the league. Right now they're 23rd in opponents field goal percentage, and 18th in defensive efficiency. I realize it's early, and we've played some good offensive teams, but...it just looks like teams are scoring easier on the Bulls this year. And the reason for that is...

-The Bulls are going to miss Keith Bogans. DON'T LAUGH. Hear me out. It's hard to be a good defensive team when only 2 of your 5 starters are good at defense (Derrick improved, but he's still at best average.) Last year, if the Bulls starters didn't give the Bench Mob a lead, it was usually because a big man was taking advantage of Boozer. It was very rarely because a wing got hot early, because Deng and Bogans did a great job locking them down. It's a nice psychological advantage to take high scoring wings out of a game early, and even when they Bench Mob did come in, having Ronnie guard you is no better than Bogans. The only weak defensive link was Korver, and when you only have one weak link it's easier to hide them.

Now? Through three games, there have been at least 3 stretches where a wing (Kobe, Ellis, Marcus Thornton) have gotten off on Rip. Which leads to the dilemma, do you switch Deng onto the other wing and risk the small forward posting Rip up? Or do you hope Rip can step up to the challenge and get some stops. Or do you just bring in Brewer right away? All of these are not ideal options, especially if the other team has two great scoring wings (like a certain team-that-will-not-be-named.)

I have been going back and forth with one Will Taplin about this for awhile now, but there is one point I'm willing to concede to him: Rip Hamilton can not guard D Wade. Which sort of defeats the purpose of acquiring him, if we're going to have to play Ronnie 40 minutes a game against them. Either that or Rip needs to outscore Wade, which means he needs to shoot better. Here's to hoping that happens soon.

Blame Game- Bulls/Heat Game 4

There's something we all need to remember while we watch the end of this series. The Bulls weren't supposed to be here. Before the season started, an Eastern Conference Finals appearance was the best case scenario. They almost did themselves a disservice by raising our expectations so much during the season, and playing so fundamentally sound that we didn't think of them like a young team that hadn't been past the first round before. But in the last three games (well, two games that I've seen, although I feel like this applies to game 2 as well) they've looked like a young team, and the Heat have looked like the guys that have been there before. And they have. So while this loss is as painful as a loss has been since Game 7 of the Celtics series from a few years ago, we should do our best to keep things in perspective. That being said, we should have won Game 4.

TT- 40%
I never finished writing a blame game for Game 3, but rest assured, TT would have received a good amount for his unwavering faith in Fredo down the stretch, despite the fact that he isn't hitting shots and even having trouble guarding Mario Chalmers. I just gave him credit in the Hawks series for his newfound flexibility. But for some reason he wasn't trusting himself, Sunday night with Fredo, and tonight with Big Sexy. Yes, I know I wrote this post back in January where I blasted TT for having too much faith in Kurt. But tonight he needed to have a little more faith in him. With Asik out, Boozer and Noah weren't able to handle the minutes they played (49 and 45, respectively), and were clearly gassed down the stretch. A little Kurt Thomas action in the middle there might have helped, and maybe he even stretches the defense out a little by setting good screens and hitting the open 17 footer. It's not like he's a rookie that would be shaken by the moment, or rusty from not having played in awhile. Kurt Thomas is going to be Kurt Thomas on November 1st or June 15th. There is a time and place for Big Sexy, and it was tonight.

The other beef I have with TT right now is the play calls. Standing around and letting Derrick work 1-on-1 is the type of thing VDN would have called, and you don't want to be compared to him when it comes to play calling. After the first try, I think it should have been clear that Derrick wasn't going to get the shot he wanted against LeBron. How about some creativity? Will suggested Korver sets the screen for Derrick, daring the Heat to leave him open again. I would have liked Deng with the ball up top, and Derrick trying to get free off an off-ball screen, with Deng maybe taking it to the hole against the smaller Wade if nothing opened up. But the number of forced shots and 24 second violations in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter and overtime were a testament to not only the Heat's strong defense, but a lack of imagination in the Bulls offense as well.

Derrick- 40%
I love you, Derrick, but if you hit both your free throws with 1:09 left, we win the game. The 1-9 from beyond the arc, 8-27 from the field, and 7 turnovers (which could have easily been 10 if not for a few lucky bounces) did not help either.

But to reiterate the theme from the opening paragraph, Derrick is 22 years old. It's OK that he can't single-handedly win every game against the Heat just yet, even if we've seen him do it before. The Bulls will learn from this experience, and I bet Derrick never looks this...shaken?... in a playoff series again.

Korver- 10%
Make your open 3s, Fredo. What the hell do you want me to say? I'm on record as saying that 2 out of the 3 between Ronnie, Bogans, and Deng should always be on the floor when LeBron and Wade are, or there's a huge mismatch. While Korver never had to guard either of them this game, the fact that he's having trouble with Chalmers and Mike Miller suggests he should maybe start picking up DNP-CDs in the near future. Maybe see what Rasual Butler can do instead.

Mike Miller/Udonis Haslem (and the underestimation thereof)- 10%
Sometimes +/- is a stupid stat, and tells lies. But when the +/- looks like this, there must be something to it:
LeBron -1
Wade -10
Bibby -11
Anthony -14
Miller +36
Haslem +25

Look at that. +36 in a game you won by 8. I know Miller hasn't shot well, but that doesn't mean he can't shoot well. And you need to be prepared for that. The Bulls weren't.

Absolved:
Boozer- While I'm still mad about the rotational defense, I feel like some of it can be credited to playing 49 minutes as much as just being naturally bad at it, and the last two games he's been good on offense and is finally grabbing boards that aren't just over his teammates.
Big Shot Bogans/TBN- Terrible decision on a 3-on-1 aside, TBN pretty much shut down Wade, and Bogans did as well when he was in (Bogans led the Bulls with a +10). Not much else they can do.
Bennett Salvatore-We ripped him a new one when he made that ridiculous call in Game 4 of the Hawks series, so we should give him credit right now. It takes huge stones to call an offensive foul on the last play of the game against a superstar like James, even if it's the correct call. No one outside of Chicago would have complained that loudly if he had swallowed the whistle there. Good job, Salvatore (Crawford, on the other hand...)

Credit Where Credit is Due- Bulls/Hawks Game 5

TT. TT. TT. TT. TT. I love it. You got rid of the stubbornness, and played your 5 that were playing the best at the end, regardless of regular rotations. If there wasn't so much credit to go around right now, I'd give you 100%.

TT- 50% (Honorary 100)

I've probably been a bigger TT critic this season than anyone I know. (See here. And here.) I love the intensity he's brought, the way he's gotten his team to buy into his scheme, the fact that he knows the Xs and Os better than anyone (although after VDN, anyone would have been an improvement there,) but I just couldn't stand the way the rotation was set in fucking stone. Bogans played in even number quarters approximately 5 times this year. Taj could go out and have a beastly night, and be back to 18 minutes the next night. It was driving me crazy.

Tonight he showed some flexibility, and it won them the game. It's quite possible that Derrick does his thing in the 4th even with Boozer, Noah, and Korver on the floor, but it would have been significantly harder. Instead TT put his 3 best energy guys/shot blockers (yes, I'm counting Turkish D as an energy guy, just for his work on the offensive glass) and they disrupted everything the Hawks tried to do on offense for the last 8 minutes, and instead of Derrick having to get his points in tough halfcourt sets with the Hawks collapsing on everything, he could get out and run in transition. Mad credit to TT for trusting those 3 to get the job done.

Derrick- 25%

Of course, that could have backfired completely if Derrick wasn't putting the ball in the basket as well. He stayed aggressive, mixed up the runners with the pull-up Js, and had his best game in awhile in terms of not turning the ball over. I'd really like it though, Thursday, if Derrick didn't have to be the entire offense for stretches of time.

Taj/Asik/TBN- 15%

Probably could have been way more for all three, but I gave TT so much of the credit above, just deflect some of that down to these guys. Seriously, all those stops and run-outs don't happen if there's a weak defensive link (coughboozerandkorvercough) on the floor for the Hawks to exploit. The closest they had was Teague on Derrick, and Taj and Turkish could make up for that. And the way Ronnie disrupted Joe Johnson was amazing.

Possibly premature side-note (knocking on wood) IF the Bulls get past the Hawks in this round, TBN is going to be huge in the next round for his ability to guard Wade. I remember giving Ronnie a ton of credit in games against the Heat earlier, and they're going to need him again. I hope TT keeps this momentum going and makes sure Ronnie gets the minutes on Thursday, too.

Deng- 5%

Great D, aggressive offensive, not too many flat jumpers. Deng looks a lot like the Deng that Kobe didn't want to lose in a trade back in 07. If Ronnie is going to be important in a (hypothetical) Eastern Conference Finals with the Heat, Deng will be 10x more important, since he'll have to guard LeBron while still contributing on offense. Now I know why TT has been playing him 44 minutes a game all year.

Big Shot Bogans- 5%

Again, could be more. I almost want to do the thing I did in Game 1 of the Pacers series and give some other guys negatives so I have more to go around. I like Bogans involved in the offense. It's simple, when Bogans is hitting, there's more room for the big men to work around the basket and Derrick to drive. Even if Bogans isn't having a great shooting night, it's still worth finding him for 3-4 shots a game. And if he is hitting, I'm fine with him playing in even quarters.

No Credit

Joakim- What the hell was that? Maybe Judson was right: the lower the hair is tied, the worse Joakim plays. He couldn't have played much worse tonight, 0 points, poor defense on Horford, and a few head-in-the-cloud defensive rotations, which is very uncharacteristic.

Fredo- I said it in one of the liveblogs, but I'll say it again. There might not be a place for Korver in this series. All the Hawks guards are quick and effective scorers, and having Korver in there for them to exploit gives the Hawks a giant offensive advantage. Bogans or Ronnie should be in the game at all times. Fredo will be important again in the hypothetical ECF, where he could guard Jones or Miller (Assuming Miller isn't picking up DNP-CDs by then.)

Boozer- I'm done with Boozer. He is actively hurting the Bulls right now. I think we win Game 6 easily if Taj was to play 30 minutes and Kurt Thomas came in to spell him. White Mamba can be the emergency big. There's literally nothing Boozer helps us do right now. And don't try to point to his rebounds, fully half of the rebounds Boozer gets at this point are ripped out of teammates' hands. Hopefully this game is a harbinger of things to come, though.

Alright, let's do it again in Atlanta, and not have to worry about a Game 7.

Credit Where Credit is Due- Bulls/Pacers Game 5

It's been said numerous times yesterday and today, but it bears repeating. That was the performance we were waiting to see from the Bulls. Suffocating defense, creative offense, consistent jumpers, and finally the kind of swagger that's been on display all season (not to mention someone finally making a physical statement back in Indiana's direction.) The Bulls were firing on all cylinders.

With one notable exception.

I'm really not trying to be the turd in the punchbowl right now, but it was staggering the difference between the Bulls with Boozer on the floor and the Bulls with Gibson. I probably exaggerated a little last night when I said that Boozer playing only 16 minutes was the only reason we won, the way everyone else was playing they probably could have won in spite of more Boozer action, but man the difference was incredible. With Taj, every shot was contested, he found his way to the offensive glass, and was halfway competent on the offensive end, too. ESPN somehow only has him with 1 recorded block, which can't possibly be right, I remember him getting more than one block on the same possession.

Boozer is now where Ben Gordon was at a few years ago, where I'm actively rooting for him to be in foul trouble so he'll be on the bench, because he isn't really helping on the court. That really isn't what you want from your highest paid player. But enough of the negativity, let's get to the credit:

Taj- 35%
Taj hasn't had the greatest series up to this point, although it could be in part because of the lack of minutes. Either way, it was nice to see the Taj we knew in the regular season here. For some reason it seems like TT doesn't have a great amount of confidence in Taj, so hopefully this game can be the start of him at least evening up Taj and Boozer's minutes (although I've said that before.)

Bogans- 25%
I hate to toot my own horn (did I say hate? I meant love,) but I was probably one of the few people in Chicago that thought the solution to our offensive problems was more Bogans. 5-7 from downtown, and it seemed like every one of them, from the opening shot one, was a momentum killer for the Pacers and/or a jumpstart for the Bulls. Bogans hitting that open jumper is key to keeping the lane open for Derrick, so it couldn't have come at a better time, either.

Derrick- 10%
Speaking of excellent timing, I was quite nervous about Derrick's shot after the first half, but him finding his 3 ball in the second half is a great sign heading into the next series. Plus having a little time to rest his ankle is a nice bonus.

Joakim- 10%
While the antagonizing and physical play was nice, Jo's getting credit for the energy and defensive play we haven't seen much from his since before the ankle injury. Heck, his left hand hook shot looked as good as it has since before the hand injury, too. If it's the Hawks in the next round, we're going to need Jo to keep his old teammate Horford frustrated. And if it's the Magic, get Howard T'd up at least 3 times over the course of the series.

Deng- 10%
This could be much higher, considering Deng's final line of 24/6/7, 3 steals, 1 block, +31 (2nd to Jo's +34). But I kind of expect this from Deng nowadays. That's a damn good sign considering how I felt about Deng before the season started.

TT- 6%
I suppose TT could get more credit for keeping Boozer's ass on the bench, but he was helped by the foul situation. I wonder if TT would have had the stones to do that if Boozer wasn't in foul trouble. We'll probably find out soon, unfortunately.

CJ Watson- 3%
6 points, 7 assists, and not too many egregious mistakes. We're screwed if Derrick's less than 100%, but if CJ can just come in and play his game for 12 minutes, it'll go a long way to keeping Derrick fresh for the whole playoff run.

Fredo- 1%
Just for taking it to the hole strong for once, Fredo's getting a point. I like it.

Blame Game- Bulls/Pacers Game 4

Let's get this out of the way before we start: I don't think there's any type of ref or league conspiracy or anything against the Bulls. It doesn't make sense at all. The Bulls are a MUCH bigger market and fan base, if anything the league should want the Bulls to advance and play the Magic (sorry, win a 3rd game before I believe in you, Hawks), and the Celtics/Heat winner. I think there were some bad calls made against the Bulls (both times Dunleavy went to the line for 3 shots, he wasn't fouled), and some against the Pacers (like when Derrick fell on his own on the way to the rim and they called it on Price). The refs weren't good, but they weren't to blame for this one. Who is to blame?

That God-Awful final play call- 35%
I know it's not fair to give a lot of blame to one play, that wouldn't even necessarily have won the game anyway, but there are so many levels of stupid on this play it's hard to swallow. Let me take you to my imaginary Harris Bank Telestrator.
Deng taking the ball out of bounds, the rest of the Bulls in a diamond shape with Korver at the top of the key, Derrick under the basket, and Noah and Booze on the elbows to set screens. (Go ahead and roll it) Derrick goes under Joakim's screen to the corner, Deng passes it to Jo on the wing. Question #1: Why is Derrick not getting the ball somewhere where he can work with the ball? Is this a play for a quick two, or a 3 all the way? Derrick sets Deng some kind of screen, then tries to get the ball from Noah, but Jones defends it well and now Derrick is sitting 5 feet behind the line with nothing to do, Deng is stuck in the corner, and Boozer and Fredo are hanging out on the other side of the court. Deng comes back, can't get the ball, and curls to the basket (alright, freeze it right there). Deng has the ball at the free throw line. Joakim and Derrick are useless on the near sideline, Fredo is open behind Deng but four feet behind the line. Boozer is wide open in the corner, because Jeff Foster is protecting the basket. Question #2: What is Boozer's purpose in this play? It can't possibly be for him to take a 3, right? He should be around the basket for rebounding purposes. If he was there right now, Deng and Boozer would basically have a 2-on-1 against Jeff Foster. Question #3: What if Rasual Butler was in there instead of Boozer? Foster couldn't leave him wide open (although I assume Vogel might have changed the personnel up in that case) and Deng would have an open lane to the basket. If the plan was to take a 3 the whole time, why wouldn't you have another spot up shooter out there? Hell, even Bogans would have been a good call there. (OK, go ahead and roll it) Deng lets Granger push him to the corner, Boozer takes a terrible 3, game over.

And that's your Harris Bank Telestrator.

Derrick? Or TT?- 30%
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop wrote an interesting piece this week on the topic of rest, primarily as it pertains to the Bulls. As a shooter sometimes you have an off day where everything is just a little off, but in various directions. And sometimes you have an off day where everything is just a little short. That's when you know you're tired. And as every single Derrick Rose jump shotst clanged off the front of the rim, I couldn't help think of that article, and all the times this season Derrick was still in the fucking game when we were up 20 on a team like the Raptors with 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. He did it with Luol, too. You can't blame the ankle, this has been happening all series. Derrick is now 5-29 from behind the arc in the series, and I'm willing to bet at least 20 of those 24 misses hit the front of the rim first.

The Bench Mob (except for Fredo)- 20%
Or should we call Foster, McRoberts, Price, Jones, and Dunleavy the new Bench Mob? Our guys have been outscored 128-84. Take away Fredo's points and they only have 45. Taj has been bad on both ends. TBN hasn't been doing TBN things since game 1. CJ has been playing tentative and scared. Big Sexy has been...well he's been about the same. I wonder how much of it has to do with the reduced minutes (especially in TBN's case. He doesn't seem to be in the flow of the game at all anymore, and I haven't seen him sneak along the baseline more than once this whole series.) Either way, this is supposed to be a strength, so they really need to step it up if we're going to compete for an Eastern Conference title.

The Bigs- 10%
Somehow, when all was said and done, the Bulls outrebounded the Pacers by 1 this game? Does that surprise you? It surprised the hell out of me. Jeff Foster pulled down 7 offensive rebounds, some of them with Boozer just standing there watching. And it wasn't just Boozer, he made Kurt and Joakim look bad when they were supposed to be boxing him out as well. The Pacers big men are a class beneath our guys. I will take Noah and Boozer over Hibbert and Hansbrough any day, but we're not really attacking them and making them play good D. Maybe some of that was Derrick's ankle today, but on one of the many Luol drives to the basket in the 4th I yelled at the TV "Why the FUCK haven't we been doing this all game?!?!?" Attacking the basket will always be there, so let's not get away from it in Game 5.

That 3-on-1 with 1:13 left- 5%
I know Derrick wants to accelerate and finish like normal, but he clearly couldn't today. So please, Derrick, recognize that you have two trailers and dish it to one of them. And trailers (Booze and Fredo), maybe let him know you're there. A basket there would have cut it to 5 with over a minute left, and they probably wouldn't have had to foul at all.

Absolved-
Luol Deng- What the hell else was he supposed to do? Except maybe start attacking the basket like that sooner.
Joakim- 21 and 14 and about all our heart, as usual. The silver lining of this loss is that I expect Joakim and Derrick to be so pissed about it they leave absolutely no doubt in Game 5.
Bogans- Bogans did everything he was supposed to do. I would have maybe liked to see them rotate to him a little more, since nothing else was working.