Like Brandy Said, Almost Doesn't Count

Things looked so good for the Bulls after the first 24 minutes last night. Everything was going their way; the fans were going crazy, PJ Brown was hitting everything in sight, and despite only shooting 41%, the Bulls had a 5 point lead at halftime.

But as we’ve seen all year from these Bulls, when they let off the gas peddle just a little bit, they can quickly find themselves in a hole. That’s exactly what happened in Game 6. The 48-43 lead they took into halftime instantly evaporated, as the Pistons started the third quarter on 12-1 run. The game was all down hill from there. I guess everyone should have seen it coming when PJ provides all the offense in the first half, scoring 20 points. Naturally, Brown didn’t score another point in the game, and the rest of the offense wasn't equipped to handle the Pistons’ defense. Hinrich and Gordon had terrible shooting nights. In this series, the backcourt that has scored more points has won every game. In Game 6, Billups and Rip outscored our guys 44-30. If you look at the box score you’ll see Gordon’s 19 points, but he didn’t have a good game at all. Detroit defenders bumped him every time they had a chance, no doubt wearing him down late in the game, and he never found a rhythm offensively. Hinrich actually would have played great if didn’t come to the game shooting like Dickey Simpkins. He ran the offense well, dishing out 11 assists, helping get the Bulls open shots in the first half, but he couldn’t buy a bucket throughout the game. Most teams aren’t going to win when their points guard, and a top three player, shoots like that. It just isn’t going to happen. And then there’s the curious case of Luol Deng, everybody’s favorite player, getting owned by Tayshaun Prince. Everyone knows Prince is good, but is he possibly this good? Would anyone say he’s a top 25 player in the league? Maybe not, but he absolutely dominated Game 6 when the Pistons needed him most. He out hustled Deng, out rebounded him, and was a force offensively. Twice Prince posted up Deng in the fourth quarter when his team needed points, and Prince scored on both possessions. Maybe people should hold off on calling Luol Deng a franchise player when he got smashed by Prince all series.

The Bulls hung around 5 to 8 points down for most of the second half, but could never but a run together like Detroit did in Game 3. Through the first 10 minutes of the final quarter, they managed to score only 4 points.

Yesterday, before the game, I wrote a post detailing how the Bulls could win Game 6. I said they couldn’t get in a big hole early, they didn’t. I said they had to play at a fast pace, and they did for the first half, but not in the second. I said they couldn’t let Billups dominate, he had 21 points but it’s because he was 14-14 from the foul line. Really the only thing the Bulls didn’t do is the final step, make shots. Sometimes basketball comes down to that.

Even though this final loss is a little disappointing, I thought they were going to lose this game anyway, it still doesn’t take away that the Bulls had a very good season. Winning 49 games, seeing your three best players all post career years and finally putting themselves on the NBA map, and sweeping the Heat constitutes a good year. Those guys have nothing to be ashamed of. Already everyone is talking about who John Paxson needs to bring in- Mariotti threw out the name Amare Stoudemire (?) (Yeah, Jay then let's trade Kryapa for Kobe, Big Marty for LeBron, and Andre Barrett for Dan Dickau) (DICKAAAAAAAU)- I’m not going to focus on that yet, even though playing GM is pretty much my favorite thing in the world. We'll see what happens in the lottery, if the Knicks don’t win their last game and lose all these tie breakers, maybe the Bulls would have a legit shot at a top 2 pick, and then we’ll talk about the offseason from there. The Bulls played very good this year, and ok this series, but their battle with the series proved two things: a) how can you not HATE Rasheed Wallace, b) Paxson’s work isn’t done yet.

But what a great way to transition from basketball to baseball with the Crosstown Classic coming right after this loss. If you want some solid Sox/Cubs banter back and forth, look no further then this post by Jack Cobra, great stuff in there. Now TUP we’ll be all about the White Sox.