Bulls @ Sixers Postgame Thread: When easy is never easy...

[sk33]

Ben Wallace +/- of -22 in 33 minutes
Aaron Gray +/- of +21 in 13 minutes

Tyrus Thomas : +12 in 16:20, playing out of position a portion of the time.

[TB#1]

Naturally, I'll take the win, but this team has lost something important somewhere along the way.

[coldfish]

Here is the story of the game:

3:05 Ben Wallace misses layup 7-24
3:04 7-24 Samuel Dalembert defensive rebound
3:04 7-24 Samuel Dalembert turnover
3:04 Aaron Gray enters the game for Ben Wallace 7-24

8:00 Aaron Gray loose ball foul (Samuel Dalembert draws the foul) 24-31
8:00 Ben Wallace enters the game for Aaron Gray 24-31

2:33 Ben Wallace shooting foul (Andre Iguodala draws the foul) 36-37
2:33 36-38 Andre Iguodala makes free throw 1 of 2
2:33 36-38 Calvin Booth enters the game for Samuel Dalembert
2:33 Aaron Gray enters the game for Ben Wallace 36-38

0:59 Andres Nocioni enters the game for Aaron Gray 40-38

2:14 Aaron Gray enters the game for Ben Wallace 62-53

9:30 Ben Wallace enters the game for Aaron Gray 78-63

Every time Pennsylvania Pudding came in for the Crypt Keeper, the Bulls went on a run.

Special props to Ben Wallace for making yet another mediocre center look like a superstar. And yes, most of Dalembert's production was on Wallace.

[coldfish]

Naturally, I'll take the win, but this team has lost something important somewhere along the way.

Tyson Chandler?

I am being mostly serious here. Back with the Bulls a few years ago, Chandler had some impressive 4th quarters. It was just as much him as Gordon saving all those games a few years ago. He was consistently productive late in games.

[TB#1]

[coldfish]

(picture)

I like pudding better. It kind of reminds me of the way Gray runs down the court. It looks almost exactly like my kid's bib does when she is eating vanilla pudding. You just have the big mass of whiteness oozing and jiggling on down.

[transplant]

-= original quote snipped =-



Tyson Chandler?

I am being mostly serious here. Back with the Bulls a few years ago, Chandler had some impressive 4th quarters. It was just as much him as Gordon saving all those games a few years ago. He was consistently productive late in games.

No, that's not it. Whatever it is they've lost, they had last season, so it couldn't be Chandler.

[coldfish]

-= original quote snipped =-



No, that's not it. Whatever it is they've lost, they had last season, so it couldn't be Chandler.

PJ Brown? OK, I'm not being completely serious here. I am just trying to avoid beating the dead horse that is the Ben Wallace topic.

Ask yourself this:
- If Dalembert gets his averages (11 and 9) instead of 21 and 20 last night, what would your impression of the team be?
- How about Eddy Curry getting 14 and 5 (his average) instead of 29 and 8?
- How about Brad Miller getting 14 and 9 (his average) instead of 22 and 13?


Particularly in the last 3 games, opposing centers are lighting the Bulls the **** up, both scoring and off the boards. If Chicago could have just held these guys to their averages, they likely would have won in blow outs in all three.

I suspect that if that was the case, we would be going off with the praises of Boylan and our players instead of wondering what we lost. Look at last night, Dalembert was 8-12 while all the other sixers were 26 for 69 (37.6%).

[molepharmer]

The early 4thQ replacement of Gray by Wallace had me scratching my head the most. Bulls up 15 with the momentum. Playing well. Gray's not in foul trouble and obviously could use the playing time. Yet, in comes Wallace. If the Bulls can't hold onto a 15pt 4thQ lead without the tremendous defensive effort (cough, cough) of Wallace they're in a world of trouble.

good:
- Somewhat funny to me is that while I've mainly bashed the Bulls recent level of play while some others haven't thought it was as bad....now, everybody's bashing last night's play while I thought some of their play suggested the Bulls are capable of turning the season around. It wasn't much, but I don't think they've come back from that kind of deficit all year to win a game. They actually started to play with some pride.

- Plus we saw a rejuvenated confident Thabo, which could be huge.

bad:
- Kirk and Ben playing like high schoolers to finish the game.
- Ben G taking too many shots without any ball movement; it's games like these where I wonder if Ben would even use (i.e. pass to) a low post offensive threat.

[antemiogordon]

Why the universe is conspiring against us, after some decent collective effort... we got flu?

[bre9]

After watching this game I think the Bulls need Luol Deng back ASAP the starting lineup is ridiculous without him. Plus on top of that you got Wallace and Duhon in their to start with. Deng is the focal point of the starting lineup without him it stinks. The guys who pulled them back in it in the start of the 2nd qtr were Gray, Thomas, and Gordon. Then everyone else came back in and contribute especially Nocioni who really kept us in it. Deng is needed.

[dougthonus]

Deng is definitely the most important piece of the team. He's the only consistent offensive player we have. Gordon can be far more explosive, and Nocioni can catch fire at times, but both guys are extraodinarily streaky. Deng almost always brings solid offensive production.

[newskoolbulls]

Deng used to be consistent, this year he has not shown that.

[MGB8]

Deng used to be consistent, this year he has not shown that.

Yes and no. While he hasn't been as consistent as last year, he's still more consistent than the others, and after that first run of games where they tried to force offense through him in the post (as opposed to using that as a change of pace thing), he got more consistent.