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Full article here.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=107405

Gordon believes other Bulls should step up late in games
By Mike McGraw | Daily Herald Staff

Published: 1/5/2008 12:20 AM

Ben Gordon wouldn't mind a little help in crunch time of close games.

During overtime losses to Portland and Orlando this week, the fourth-year shooting guard scored 52 percent of the Bulls' points in the fourth quarter and beyond.

"It's tough. I'm not going to lie," Gordon said Friday at the Berto Center. "We've just got to figure out other options, because at the end of games, it's pretty easy to cover something if you know it's coming. As a team, we've just got to help each other and catch teams off-guard a little bit."

The Bulls should have other options.

Luol Deng was out with left Achilles tendinitis late in the 115-109 double-overtime loss to Portland. But Kirk Hinrich was on the floor for 19 minutes in the fourth quarter and two overtimes and scored 2 points. Andres Nocioni didn't even attempt a shot during 11 minutes of court time in the fourth quarter and first overtime.

"Teams are obviously focusing in on him at the end of games because he's our No. 1 option," coach Jim Boylan said. "I have total confidence in Ben Gordon with the ball in his hands at the end of games. We talk about those situations and he understands what he needs to do. I think he'll just get better at it."

Gordon had a costly turnover late in each overtime loss, but they were both specific scenarios. Gordon tried to run time off the shot clock out high, was double-teamed by taller defenders and lost the ball.

"We talked about some things where maybe in those situations we can move the ball and get it back to him," Boylan said. "We're looking at some different things we can do to kind of ease the pressure on him and maybe take advantage of teams that switch and put a big guy on him like those two teams did.

This is pretty obvious, but I'm kind of glad that its Gordon who is saying it.

Btw, for those counting, Gordon's clutch scoring numbers have almost gone back to the absurd levels of before. As was covered in the article, he still turns it over too much.

hard to disagree with that... I mean, realistically, whom on this team, from a skill set and ATTITUDINAL perspective, would you like taking the last shot???? Um... JamesOn??? Ben, even with his deficiencies (and he's got em) is the only assassin on this team.

Clutch scoring stats (last 5 minutes and overtime of close games), points per 48 minutes played:

Gordon 47.1p 41.7%fg 52.1%efg 18.2H
Bryant 54.3p 50.0%fg 54.2%efg 11.4H
Wade 45.8p 38.5%fg 38.5%efg 19.2H
JJohnson 39.9p 48.6%fg 55.7%efg 25.2H
James 62.4p 49.3%fg 52.9%efg 26.5H
Roy 35.3p 60%fg 65%efg 17.7H

Hinrich 5.6p 9.1%fg 9.1%efg 15.5H
Duhon 20.4p 33.3%fg 41.7%efg -3.1H
Deng 20.6p 57.1%fg 57.1%efg 8.0H

H is a hands rating from 82games, basically covering turnovers. Higher the better.

Gordon is up there with the elite guys, but a step behind the best numbers in ball handling and scoring efficiency.


The issue is Hinrich.

I remain under the belief that Luol Deng can be an option in late game situations if he becomes more aggresive and develops a more dangerous dribble-drive that will result in a lot of free throws.

IMO, a key factor in the clutch is being able to go to the line and get some freebies. You can't always rely solely on 3-pointers and long 2's.

Bear with me on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TqNzy-uo6Y

Kobe describes how he can either get a shot off or go to the line in late game situations. Pretty interesting.

Given his number of chances, Hinrich has to be the most unclutch player in the league given his normal numbers this year. He's always had a marked decrease in clutch scoring from his regular scoring which I don't think is unusual given the type of player he is, but this year hte drop off is insane.

Kirk has little confidence right now. And even Brandon Roy could recognize it from the way he was guarding him.

Kirk and Duhon have both missed some late game, wide open shots that hurt us every bit as much as Gordon's turnovers in our two OT games here recently.

This only makes me a little uncomfortable because of the way the last two games have ended...with Gordon turning over the ball in ways a headier player would've avoided. He's right, though. We absolutely have to give ourselves other options, because it just makes sense, and because of BG's demonstrated limitations as a final-possession closer.

I still can't believe how this bulls team manage to win any game in the nba with the starting guards being so terrible. Ben is definitely frustrated because these two guys, Hinrich and Duhon, are playing like they don't belong in the nba. Gordon is not calling out any name, but I think he is trying to say that these two guys need to step up, especially with the possibility of Deng being out. I hate to say it, but I would definitely entertain an Hinrich for Jamal Crawford trade right now.

Gordon is right, no one outside of Joe Smith this past game showed up at all in the final stages of each OT and regulation. It's always been that way and probably won't change until Deng steps up and assumes a more aggressive role late in games.

He does need help who is he going to pass it to if everyone is clanking shots

This only makes me a little uncomfortable because of the way the last two games have ended...with Gordon turning over the ball in ways a headier player would've avoided. He's right, though. We absolutely have to give ourselves other options, because it just makes sense, and because of BG's demonstrated limitations as a final-possession closer.

Gordon's turnovers were bad, but the fact that Gordon is doubled past the 3 point line shows how bad the rest of our guys are in crunch time. A team shouldn't ever be able to get away with doubling a guy for 5 seconds beyond the 3 point line. We should be able to make someone pay for that.

I wonder how many times those other guys get double teamed 30 feet from the hoop in 1 point games down the stretch.. I'm going to guess: not much.

Well, it wont happen unless the Bulls are allowed to play with 2 basketballs at the same time....

Noc has stepped up in the past but lately he's been shooting as if his feet hurt again.

Nobody has a problem with Gordon admitting he can't do it himself.

Obviously he can't, but I would want my 'closer' to have top-shelf confidence.

sk33 wrote:I wonder how many times those other guys get double teamed 30 feet from the hoop in 1 point games down the stretch.. I'm going to guess: not much.

Well other teams don't make the mistake of doing a high screen with a guy who is not a shooter and can't score (Ben Wallace).

There's no need to cover Wallace in the late seconds, so they just double on Gordon, while everyone else makes no attempt to move around without the basketball. Gordon's right, we need more options in the 4th, and if we use that screen, make sure someone like Joe Smith or someone is setting it.

Gordon has the confidence to be clutch, but I think he just wants everyone else to put somewhat near the same effort he does when the game is on the line.

BULL even PAX wrote:Nobody has a problem with Gordon admitting he can't do it himself.

Obviously he can't, but I would want my 'closer' to have top-shelf confidence.

BINGO!!!!
you beat me to it. not to meantion that BG70million single handed blew the Magic and Portland games for us.

This sounds like a cry for help more then a calling for his teammates to step up.

I wonder if Gordon and Deng wish they would have signed those extentions now???

Ben is right...someone else on the team REALLY has to step up in the clutch. Joe Smih did so against Portland the other night, but he's not even always on the floor late in games, so it probably wouldn't be wise to count on him to come through like that on a regular basis.

The obvious candidates are Luol, Kirk and Noc. Looking at the "clutch" stats posted earlier in this thread, Luol is the best option. But then he needs to step up and DEMAND the ball in these situations. He will demand the ball early in games (especially now that BG is coming off the bench), but I haven't seen him do this a lot late in tight games.

Kirk is at least willing to take open shots late in close games. And while he needs to continue to do so (it would be worse for the team if he starts passing up wide open shots), until he starts knocking these down on a far higher rate than his current pace, defenses won't be forced to play more straight up in these situations, taking some of the defensive pressure off of BG.

If Noc is going to be the secondary option in the "clutch", then he needs to revert to his attacking style of play, rather than just chucking up shots from long range. If the Bulls need a 3-pointer and he's open behind the arc, that's fine. But if they don't desperately need the 3-pointer, then attack the basket.

I also think it would be better for Kirk or Duhon to handle the ball for at least the first few seconds in this late game situations, rather than giving it to BG right away. When he has the ball in his hands for too long, he tends to dribble around and gets a little fancy trying to shake free of the defense, which has led to bad turnovers quite a bit this season. If he gets the ball coming off a screen, or with only a few seconds to make a decision or take a shot, the better he seems to be, and the less chance the defense will have to force him into a turnover.

The oher thing I want to say is that Ben Wallace should NEVER be involved in these high pick and rolls at the end of games. Use Smith (if he's in the game), or Noc (who really needs how to learn a soli screen) or even Luol -- use SOMEONE who the defense has to account for so they can't trap BG or Kirk and force the key turnover.

tyrususi007 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

BINGO!!!!
you beat me to it. not to meantion that BG70million single handed blew the Magic and Portland games for us.

This sounds like a cry for help more then a calling for his teammates to step up.

I wonder if Gordon and Deng wish they would have signed those extentions now???

Wha?!?! How did you pack so many incorrect statements into such a small post?

- Gordon denied the $70M rumor.
- Gordon didn't blow either one of those games. He wasn't absolutely perfect, but he was the best player on the court for Chicago both times.
- I don't know how you can read that article as a cry for help. He is saying the same exact thing that everyone here has been.