The Bulls do the opposite of going out in style

I watched Game 7 in perhaps the best possible setting. I was in Champaigne, hanging out with about 20 close friends, drinking. This had all the makings of an epic night. I was ready for lots of group cheering, booing, swearing, and kind of hoping something would get thrown through the TV.

A Bulls comeback would have made that house explode, and there were so many times when I thought it was going to happen. One thing that really killed me was that the Bulls had so many chances. It seemed like there were countless times in the fourth when one three-pointer would have changed everything. But the Bulls just didn't have another classic comeback in 'em, which probably isn't surprising given how exhausted they must have been at that point.

I thought Game 7 was going to go one of two ways. Either the Bulls would come out flat, get dominated in the first, and it'd be over right away. The other option, of course, would be another classic.

It was sort of a weird game because neither of those things happened. The two teams pretty much played to a stalemate the entire game outside of an eight or so minute stretch in the second quarter when no one on the Bulls could hit a shot. I swear they were stuck on 36 points for a half hour. Besides for that, these teams were even, which is basically what we've learned throughout this series. Despite the fact that the Celtics won 21 more regular season games, there really wasn't much separating them from the Bulls.

There wasn't much separating them in Game 7, either. Neither team really played good, neither team really played bad. It was just sort of a normal basketball game, which, you know, happens sometimes. Just not in this series.

I think it's undeniable that the Bulls are a pretty good team. Probably the best in the conference out of the Big Three (which, admittedly, is a super weak Big 3). But it's clear that if they couldn't win a Game 7 with Scalabrine playing 25 minutes, Big Baby logging 32, Eddie House playing 22, and even Marbury getting 12 minutes, then they still have a ton of work to do.

There will be plenty of time to talk about the Bulls' make or break offseason later, but I want to say that, even though I don't hate him as much as everyone else, and I think he has does some good things, I hope VDN gets fired. I'm 98 percent sure it won't happen, but I think it'd be for the best. The problem is that Del Negro wasn't a very good coach this year, and probably won't be next year either. Which means he's going to get fired. Eventually. I just want to avoid another lost year like they had last season when Skiles got fired. No interim coach bullshit. Find a real coach, pay him real money, and go from there. Derrick Rose is too precious a commodity to waste.

I must say though, now that the Bulls are done, it'll be cool to have everyone 100 percent behind the Blackhawks. I have a feeling like this Canucks series is going to be insane, too.