Mech Engineer wrote:fleet wrote:DannyNoonan1221 wrote:Sorry I don't have time to look through the whole thread, but someone please tell me Taj came up at some point...
The guy literally WOULD NOT PASS the ball. He shot down any chance the team had at a comeback in the game. He is the reason Whiteside had a triple double. Taj was set on scoring on him one on one, or two on one, or three on one. It didn't matter. If Taj got the ball within 10 feet of the basket he was backing him down and shooting and Whiteside was racking up another block.
It was the first time I was legitimately pissed with Thibs- after about 4 possessions of this (not consecutively) I saw gasol go to the scorer's table in the background and I was hoping when they showed the players again Taj wouldn't be there- but he was. It was brutal.
Taj might be more stubborn than Thibs, or at least he was on Sunday afternoon. It was bad, bad basketball to watch- extremely frustrating.
Taj does not pass well out of the post. Granted. But he knows when the team around him is mailing it in. He wants to win so bad and he tries so hard, he figured he had to do it himself since nobody else was. Stupid? Probably. But he wouldn't be doing that to such an extent if the other guys were playing basketball that night. When I see stuff like that, my anger and frustration is not directed at the guy who tries too hard. For my way of thinking.
Everyone got blocked by Whiteside yesterday. People want to use this fancy 2015 3pt barrage game tactic when there are no 3 pt shooters other than MDJ who is missing in action. The rest of them were missing 3 pointers without even the rebounders being set.
Strategically, it makes sense to have a diverse offense of 3 pt shooting and post-up game. Pau, Joakim can't do that and Taj is the only sneaky strong big on the team. He scored in the post a couple of times when Whiteside was not set and got some fouls too. If everyone else can bring his and Niko's energy for their minutes, the Bulls record would be a lot better.
Noah Taj and Niko are probably the nutsack of this team. The rest of them are often soft and missing and they don't take it personal I guess. Title teams have whole rosters of guys that dont settle for jumpers when a team gets tough with them. They might get in a fight under the hoop if things are getting embarrasing instead of trying to make smart plays. But I think this Bulls needs more of that fighting spirit. They went down soft. Most of them.