I'll be honest with you, it rarely happens when I read something about a game and feel, "That's about as good of a recap as I've ever seen." Anyways, it happened this morning, so I'll pass along this K.J. Johnson article opening for you about the Bulls/Pacers game last night:
Even if the NBA is a game of runs, rare is the contest that features a team turning a 16-point lead into a 21-point deficit and eventually a 117-102 loss.
Welcome to the 2007-08 Bulls, who continue to find new ways to define underachieving.
A spectacular defensive collapse allowed the Pacers to post season-highs for a Bulls opponent in points, field goals (44), three-pointers (11), points in a quarter (40 in the third) and field-goal percentage (55.7).
The next Bull to find a Pacer in transition—here's a hint: the three-point line—might be the first.
"Defensively, we had a meltdown," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "At first, our defense was good and it was fueling our offense. We were doing a good job getting up and down the floor. Then we fell apart and forgot everything we knew how to do, especially in transition."
These aren't your dump-it-in Pacers anymore, although Jermaine O'Neal piled up 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
More telling, Kareem Rush came off the bench to hit three three-pointers and score a game-high 22 points. And the Pacers drained 11 of 24 three-pointers overall.
I could not have summed it up any better than that. What an odd game, much to the pleasure of The GM, or Arin or....damnit I'm confused, just stick with one name! Anyways, it's tough for the Bulls to win when their opponents shoot nearly 56% from the floor. Plain and simple. Give the Pacers credit, they could have given up after being down in the first quarter but they fought back and won a game they probably shouldn't have won.
The Bulls came out on fire and, as K.C. stated, actually led by 16 points in the first quarter. At that point I walked away from the game to watch "The Bourne Ultimatum". Unfortunately, the Pacers became shooting assassins like Bourne and the Bulls were down one at halftime. The Bulls went on to have an atrocious third quarter defensively and in total gave up 73 combined points in the second and third quarters. Not exactly a recipe for success.
By the time the Bulls righted the ship in the fourth quarter, it was too little too late and Scott Skiles was left emptying his bench just like on Tuesday night, except for a different reason. There really isn't much else to say here other than Tyrus Thomas and Troy Murphy were ejected for fighting pushing each other (video below). It looked like Thomas threw at least one punch so he's looking at sitting out a game or two for that. That's not the best way to earn playing time.
The Bulls are off until Friday when they host the Knicks at the United Center. With the way the Knicks are playing lately, the Bulls should beat them pretty easily...then again, it's hard to tell what you are going to get with the Bulls these days.
2008 Cubs Preview
somebody is going to say something about dunleavy to you, it is inevitable.
He's shooting 53% from 3 pt range this month....maybe this is the offense for him....maybe he cools off. He's playing well, I can't deny that.
Even though I said something to you about this already today, the Pacers are smashing your pre-season prediction!
http://www.cobrabrigade.com/2007/10/200708_nba_season_predictions.php
Their 11-11, on their way well past 25 wins....
blah, blah, blah...it's a long season.
Dunleavy!
There you go Bruce...!