Couple of random links as we head into the home stretch before tonight’s game:
- Jason Maxiell gets some love from the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as me over at the FanHouse (and big head nod to Tim for the video).
- Everyone expects the Bulls to play better tonight … but is that enough? Scott Skiles is having doubts:
“The question, though, is better good enough?” coach Scott Skiles said. “We’re playing a great team here. We more than likely will have to be exceptional and not just better than we were.”
- I question whether Big Ben really cares about beating his former teammates.
- You’d think a 26-point loss would send the Bulls scrambling to make adjustments, but Chris Duhon and Luol Deng don’t think that’s needed:
[Says Duhon,] “For the most part, though, we’re pretty much going to stick to our game plan.”
Luol Deng was a bit more adamant on the point.
“It’s a matter of playing our game,” he said. “We don’t need to make any adjustments.”
- Maybe so, but Skiles has some advice:
”At least know what the [expletive] you’re doing!” he yelled to his players.
- Yes, Ben Gordon can score when he’s open … but what he does he do the rest of the time? Whether he’s matched up on Chauncey Billups or Rip Hamilton, the Pistons have a Jameer Nelson-esque advantage. Says Scott Skiles:
“We’re having a hard time finding somebody he can guard in the starting lineup,” Skiles said. “He’s got to address that.”
Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune recommends going to extremes:
I’d have Gordon guard Webber in a Don Nelsonesque maneuver to bait the Pistons into trying to have the immobile Webber score. Webber is an excellent passer, so the Bulls couldn’t afford to help much. Can Webber get 25 or 30 on you anymore? Would it even be worth a try?
- A commenter on Blog-a-Bull wants to see more offense from Ben:
Ben Wallace has to be aggressive offensively, but I don’t mean Nocioni aggressive. Detroit is not going to let him wait and find open players. He has to catch it and go to the basket right away to beat Detroit. If he catches wide open within ten feet of the rim, he has to take that little jumper of his. A Wallace miss is better than him holding the ball in this series. Him holding the ball leads to turnovers in the backcourt. If he takes shots in the offensive flow then the Bulls can keep the pace up. It will also create offensive rebounding opportunities.
Ben Gordon on Webber? Ben Wallace shooting jumpers? Chicago-land isn’t panicking at all. No sir, not one bit.
When I read that post about maybe Ben should score more I almost fell out of my chair laughing, but then again, it’s been almost 7 years since the Bulls have had moderate succes in the playoffs… after I looked at it that way, I thought it was kinda cute
I agree — I hope they go to the “create more offensive rebounds” strategy early and often.
Well I won’t have any during the game youtube video posts as I’ll be at the game tonight, but I’ll try and put some up after.
Boney, I’ll give you the one call against Nocioni, though I wouldnt call it a mugging. But overall the Pistons got more favorable calls, especially early on.
what favorable calls? the 2 calls against Gordon were legit, and that’s all that really matters as far as I’m concerned. everyone knows Hinrich grabs and pulls, so his ticky tack fouls were bound to happen. most all of PJ Brown’s fouls were legit, he was in the wrong spot at the wrong time… they will attack him tonight because he’s their only “True” big man.
It got out of hand early on, especially that one series where multiple fouls were called in a matter of seconds. And no team I’ve seen complains as much as the Pistons. Can there ever be a call, where no one on the Pistons scoffs, complains, whines, or makes some sort of reaction that the call was wrong? Do they think that there should be 0 fouls called on them the entire game?
OH MY GOD that site is so funny. Blogabull that is. They are so territorial. They are hatin’ on any fan that isn’t a bulls fan. What little whining babies. Especially that Paxsonjackson dude. They remind me of the kids who used to get all upset take their ball and go home. I think the Pistons are going to advance. I don’t think it’s going to be easy. The funny thing about saturday was reading the comments on blogabull. Whenever I am feeling bad I will go back and read those.
How funny are Sam Smith’s comments now? Not quite 25 points for C-Web in game 2, but I have a feeling he would have made that easily if he played a few more minutes.