Game Thread: Bulls @ Magic 11/3

[Shine88 89]

I wonder why Gortat isn't getting any mins, I thought he was suppose to get alot of mins this year.

[richnba 3]

Its tough to close out games 4 on 5

 

Peaches I believe if given the chance would definetly help us.

[richnba 3]

quote:

Originally posted by Kramer:

It is a lot more important for Pietrus to become comfortable with defensive schemes than it is to have him playing the end of early season ball games. If the reasoning is true, that he really doesn't have that great of a grasp on schemes, than it is a blessing our coach realizes that he needs to pressure him to get it by not letting him play.

 

But Bogans is not the answer to close out games.

[Kramer 0]

quote:

Originally posted by richnba:

quote:

Originally posted by Kramer:

It is a lot more important for Pietrus to become comfortable with defensive schemes than it is to have him playing the end of early season ball games. If the reasoning is true, that he really doesn't have that great of a grasp on schemes, than it is a blessing our coach realizes that he needs to pressure him to get it by not letting him play.

 

But Bogans is not the answer to close out games.

 

Well of course but right now it is better to force Pietrus to learn the schemes so that come playoff time we can have our defensive stopper comfortable out there. I'd rather sacrifice defense now over then. Let me point out that I am in no way a Bogans advocate. I think that he is just preventing our young talent from developing

[andie 0]

**** I missed the entire game dealing with my cat who needs surgery.

[richnba 3]

I guess it is better for us to struggle right now to close out games, we have firepower we have shown that in the last 3 games, but we need to close out.

 

And **** Phili kills Sac-town.

 

If we cant solve this we will get walloped by Philly.

[ball junkie 277]

Wow...I have been aware of it but I didn't think the coaches put a lot of stock into that +/- stat that the box scores use now...Denton asked Stan about using Bogans as the first guard off the bench or either he asked him about using Keith in crunch time...Stan's response:

 

Easy...Bogans was the only shooting guard with a positive Lenovo stat for the first 3 games.

 

Interesting...

[ThisIsTheYear 241]

quote:

Originally posted by andie:

**** I missed the entire game dealing with my cat who needs surgery.

 

All you need to know is that we edged out a win. That's all.

 

You couldn't pay me enough to watch this game again.

[richnba 3]

The thing is while Bogans has been effective on the floor, he has given up so much points in the last 2-3 minutes of the game.

 

Bogans has been a spark, and I am in no way putting him down, but in the last 2-3 minutes we definetly need Peaches. But...

[andie 0]

quote:

Originally posted by ThisIsTheYear:

quote:

Originally posted by andie:

**** I missed the entire game dealing with my cat who needs surgery.

 

All you need to know is that we edged out a win. That's all.

 

You couldn't pay me enough to watch this game again.

 

 

That doesn't sound good but it's still the first week of the season and the team needs time to jell and for Stan to work out his spectacular rotations.

[Skywise316 211]

Phew.. what a game.

 

Stock Up:

 

Offensive Rebounds. (How does sixteen offensive boards sound? The Bulls got killed in second chance points despite the fact the Magic let the Bulls have 11 offensive boards of their own. The Magic capitalized on their second chance opportunities, the Bulls really didn't. That's the difference in the game.)

 

Jameer Nelson. (See? Don't count him out so soon. 13 points on 5 of 11 shooting. That's 9 of 20 over the past two games, pretty good. He had 3 assists against 4 turnovers which is a bit much, but also 3 steals including a HUGE steal of Ben Gordan down the stretch. Also he maintained pushing a quick pace down the floor which opened plenty of scoring opportunities. He (along with A.J.) held Derrick Rose to 14 points, only 1 assist, and 3 turnovers. Much to everyone's surprise, Jameer was the best PG on the floor tonight and it wasn't really close, especially in the first half.)

 

Keith Bogans. (From bell to bell he played a very, complete, active game. I'm half happy and half angry when he plays this well. Like, where the hell has this been? Seriously?

 

But he got 13 points, shot from 2, 3, and free throws all well. He had five boards, a couple of them very tough. He had a couple of turnovers, who didn't, and a steal and an assist.

 

Look, I have a big problem with Bogans defending Gordan down the stretch when Pietrus or even C-Lee is just a smarter matchup, I'm sorry. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. SVG can be blind to Bogans continuously getting shot over in the clutch if he wants to, but the facts on the ground are the facts on the ground. But that's a coaching issue in my mind, Bogans is doing the best he can and maybe then some. So big ups overall to Bogans for his game tonight. If he can keep this up the SG controversy won't be as hot as one. Let's see if he can keep up this energy level, I sure hope so.)

 

Courtney Lee. (It doesn't show up too much in the stats. He only had two points and two steals but his defense on Ben Gordan was downright stellar. Off of screens, post up, iso, no matter what they tried Gordan had to work for whatever he could get. I think the fact that Gordan only shot 14 shots is telling. Nocioni only shot two less, and Drew Gooden of all people had two MORE shots.

 

The only buzzkill.. 1 of 6 shooting and a couple of them weren't really close. I think the board's right, hopefully its just first-time-run jitters for C-Lee. But that kind of D is one heck of a foundation.

 

Ball Junkie and I may of finally found some common ground.. and his name is Courtney Lee. LOL.)

 

Tony Battie. (Yes! This is the Tony Battie I've been defending for well over a year now. Much more active like I've been wanting him to be, only 2 points but 5 boards, an assist, 2 steals, and 2 monster blocks. Joakim Noah's gonna need him some therapy after his stuffing. He struggled a little bit more in the 4th quarter than the first half, but still very encouraging. My grip on his bandwagon loosened but I think its tight again now.

 

Bottom line is if he's gonna get Gortat's minutes he better freggin' do something with them and tonight he did.)

 

Stock In The Middle:

 

Dwight Howard. (22 points. 15 rebounds, his 4th straight game with at least 14. 8 of those boards were offensive. An assist. A steal. And again, 3 out of 4 games now with exactly 5 blocks. But again, what takes the luster off? 4 out 11 free throw shooting. Yuck! This time his poor free throw shooting nearly cost us the game. On the plus side, his other bugaboo wasn't too much of a bugaboo. Only 2 turnovers. That's only 3 over the past two games, so hopefully his efficency in the post continues.

 

Also as a side note, his passes out of double teams have been awesome. Today they seemed to go for naught, every time he'd make a good pass out someone else would screw up the possession. But another great sign for Dwight. If he'd just pick up those FTs a little!)

 

Rashard Lewis. (A mixed bag that was mostly good.. 21 points but only 2 of 9 from the 3 point line. What was biggest by him was 11 rebounds, but he had two really boneheaded fouls on Nocioni shooting jump shots that helped to endanger the game. Overall he played a good game, but there are a couple things he could correct and do better.)

 

Stock Down:

 

Turnovers. (ARGH! These stupid turnovers. They had 19 overall and seven in the 4th quarter. So much for protecting the ball better in the Kings game. It's like they were trying to give the game away at one point. Jameer had 4 turnovers and the other guilty party was....)

 

Hedo Turkoglu. (Welcome back to Earth, Mr. Turkoglu (I actually typoed Turkaflu.. isn't that ironic). 3 of 16 shooting. Horrendous. He still got 7 boards and 7 assists, but he also stumbled his way into 4 turnovers. He contributed but this is a downer after his last two good games.)

 

I don't know what to make of Pietrus and what SVG is or isn't doing with him, so I'll leave him alone. He shot the ball well but also turned it over 3 times, so we'll call it a push.

 

An ugly win is better than a pretty loss, but there's definitely work to do. For now we'll just breathe a sigh of relief that Nocioni and his evil, flopping ways failed on this night to get his way, and the Magic escape with a 2-2 record.

 

Until our first national TV game of the year against Philly....

 

Good night and good luck.

 

Go Obama~!

[BLUEHEART 0]

thnk you sky..