November 11, 2007
Kobe Reaches New Heights in Bulls Loss
Jay wrote this today:
Apparently, Kobe Bryant has such an impact on the NBA, he doesn’t even have to play on your team to make them play like crap. We all know he can suck the life out of the Lakers while he is on the court, but for him to do it to the Bulls while he isn’t even there is truly remarkable.
The Toronto Matadors Raptors handed it to the Bulls tonight, but I seriously have to wonder what is going on in that locker room. Those guys did not look ready to play. They didn’t even look like they wanted to play. Let’s remember, this was a Raptors team playing its fourth game in five nights. That’s not a Scott Skiles team. If there’s one thing you can say about Skiles, it is that he is going to have his team ready to play. They are going to hustle. Not so tonight.
So maybe all of this trade talk really is having an effect on the mental preparation of the Bulls. I’ve never really been a fan of all that kind of talk, I think you should be able to block things out and get ready to play, but man, the Bulls looked terrible tonight. Terri-bull. Whooooaaa—thank you, thank you! Look for that headline on a Chicago paper tomorrow. The Chicago TerriBulls. Anyway, back to the Kobe thing. Is the trade/no-trade/trade/no-trade scenario really taking its toll on the Bulls lineup? Well, who really knows. But if Kobe ever does end up in Chicago, his teammates can count on receiving as many passes from him as they did tonight. Er…yeah, that would be zero.
So back to the Raptors. I wasn’t even one beer in, but I thought I was stark drunk when I heard that Jamario Moon was starting. Jamario “Humpty/Guy Larose” Moon? What? Sure enough, the Bulls come out flat, Jamario comes out hopping around and Sam looks like a genius. Moon just walks onto the court against a team that has owned the Raptors the last few years and puts up 12 points (with a few sick dunks), 6 rebounds, 3 steals and a blocked shot. Given, he had one “WHAT ARE YOU DOING” 3 point attempt (note to Jamario, put that option in the vault dude, the vault), but overall, he played a good game. Guuuuuyyyyyy.
One of the great lines of the night was Jose Calderon’s. In just over 17 minutes, he didn’t attempt a single shot and dropped 9 dimes. He picked up 3 rebounds too. Pair that with TJ’s 14 assists and 5 points and once again, we’re seeing a beautiful balance between the two. I still wouldn’t mind seeing some more minutes for Jose, but in a game like tonight’s those are Juan Dixon minutes.
Speaking of minutes, was Sam really not able to get Garbo more than 10 minutes in this game? Really? If there was ever a game where Sam could have allowed Garbo some more minutes, it was tonight. I’m not sure I understand what is going on here. Maybe the Raptors don’t have as much faith in his leg as he does.
What was that we were saying about Ben Wallace having lost a step? One block, 5 rebounds and no points. Not good. But you can’t single out Ben tonight, the whole lineup was bad. Only one player had a “+” rating on the night (Aaron Gray with a +4), they shot 33% from the field, 63% from the line and turned the ball over 20 times (although the Raptors turned it over 23 and somehow didn’t give up many points off those turnovers). The real telling point is that the Bulls were out-rebounded by the Raptors, which is almost impossible to do. When you put all of that together, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Anyway, nice for the Raptors to get a decisive win and have a few days off. It will be interesting to see what lineup Sam comes back with on Wednesday.
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November 11th, 2007 at 9:41 am
The biggest slap in the face was when the Chicago fans were chanting “Kobe! Kobe!’
Sam’s sudden starting lineup changes still makes me very uneasy. Doesn’t instill a lot of confidence.