Bulls Win Ugly...And That’s Okay

Blog-A-Bull is glad the Bulls got the win tonight. Because they figured it was only a matter of time before they blew the game.

While the Bulls defense held together all night (they shot 30% in the 3rd quarter and stayed within 5), I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and James to pull out the win with no comparable Bulls player existing to respond. It actually looked like it was going that way, with a James three-pointer followed by a block on Salmons. But Mo Williams hesitated a bit on a kick-out 3, then took an inexplicable running layup that wasn’t even close. The Bulls own late-game ineptitude (didn’t score with 3 possessions in the final 1:44) allowed James to still be able to be the hero down one with the ball, but Deng and Noah did the job. In fact, lets not say James didn’t get the superstar call, but Noah did get one.

The Bulls offense still, more or less, blows. They weren’t even able to hit the offensive glass tonight (a Cavs strength, denying that). Deng/Salmons/Hinrich shot a good percentage, but while Deng had a corner three-pointer (huge if he can do that) Hinrich and Salmons only chipped in 2 between them.