The score was closer than the game. That was very uninspiring play. We're back on the Rose carousel again. (Did we ever really get off?) Pau's a very good player but he's really not a hustle player. He doesn't go after balls at all, mostly just stays in his spot and gets what comes to him. I think Bulls fans are going through a little bit of cognitive dissonance right now with our lack of rebounding, D, and hustle. It's never really been there the whole season.....and maybe that's not who we are anymore as a team, strange as that may seem.
That's my take as well. We finally have that "post guy" and he's kind of lazy. Still a heck of an asset.... but going hard for loose balls, aggressively helping and just simple things like getting a hand up on jump shooters (why is that so hard to do?) are not in the cards. I know I am. In the end, if the Bulls can turn that on in the playoffs, like most of the other NBA teams do, I guess I'm OK with that. As long as its there for the playoffs. Frustrating to watch games and see the Bulls not getting stops and not clearing the boards. I know Thibs believes that is ingrained as a culture over the course of the season. Perhaps we have so many vets (Boah, Taj, Hinrich, Butler) that know this already that it can be turned on for the playoffs. The personal on this team, if healthy and buying into the system, is good enough to win the title this year, IMO. Jimmy is going to get paid this off-season. That's one guy that you probably won't hear complain about the minute load he's getting.
When we talk about Hinrich, one of the positives, if not the only positive he has is his defense. Last night, Lawson 'ate him up' Kirk could not keep up with him.
Not just Lawson. But when he's running around looking for a man to guard and throws up his hands and gets hit with the ball, it's a steal!
I think you guys are reading too much into things. The Bulls haven't won in Denver since something like 2006. They're not going win their at altitude on a back-to-back with an injury riddled front court. It was never going to happen. This was a scheduling loss, with all the other factors being at best secondary (hustling, defensive intensity, crashing the boards). I think I saw Jimmy Butler walking up the court in the first quarter. That dude does not have an issue with hustle or conditioning. Let's not read anything more into this.
