Holy ****! 
That, ladies and gents was history. Just did the math -- we finished this game on a 58-19 run.
Boxscore
Nocioni ( F ) -- well..hate to start this one off with a downer grade, but then again maybe its appropriate since we started this game off with a downer effort. In any case, like Sergio before him up in Portland, Noc returns home to his original team, no doubt wants to put on a show, and instead just utterly stinks the place up. Got squared up and shot over by Deng to start things, but then had his absolute lone bright moment of the game as he came up with a strong take and continuation. From there on down it was a spiral of buttkicking that reached embarrassing proportions. Dribbled the ball off of his own foot starting a Bulls fast break, barely grazed iron for a three, got beat by Deng in the post, another short three, then overcorrected with a high arcer that didn't go either. Inexplicably played the whole first quarter despite getting killed on both ends -- Deng had somethign like 14 first quarter points, Noc was 1 for whatever, and really all I can figure is that this is Coach doing his best to let a guy get his comeback game back home. But it hurt us. Was back briefly to start the third. Just long enough for us to discover that things weren't getting any better with that crew before quickly going to the bench. Altogether played 16+ minutes. Shot 1-7 with 1reb and 0 assists. Got torched oin defense by Deng. And in those 16 minutes we were outscored by 28 points. Up until the point he left the game for the final time (about 4 minutes into the third) it was going to be the defining performance for what was a disastrous outing for us. And then, not coincidentally we start our comeback as soon as he went to the bench for the last time, and now its just a footnote. A very bad little footnote, but it will be forgotten in the wake of the teamwide heroics to pull this out.
Thompson ( C+ ) -- got off to a lousy start to this one, which has been a recurring pattern of late. Missed an opening jumper and then was repeatedly blown right by by Noah, who is having a breakout year, but its not because of his offense. Finally hit a turnaround jumper in the post in the late 2nd, and then went inside and got fouled. Unfortunately the lead was already 23 by the time he showed up. Sort of summarized his, and our first half when he blocked himself off the bottom of the rim at the end of the 2nd. Splashed in several 16 foot jumpers as we struggled to life in the third. Never at any point a major weapon, but was just hitting here and there in support of whoever was hot at the moment and helping us keep momentum. Came up short with a hook shot with us down 13 at the 6:30 mark, just after Reke had blown a layup the possession before. At the time it looked like we might be stalling out and the comeback was going to fall short. But a minute later hit the buzzer beating little jumper off the Evans drop pass to get us to 11 at 5:20, and then it was time to hand it over first to The Incredible Udoka, and the of course to Superrook. Can't say this was a particularly good game for Jason, in fact below average both statistically and in impact. But he had a minor role to play in the comeback, and provided just enough support to keep us chugging along toward history.
Hawes ( C+ ) -- Spencer was gone long before we got around to winning this one, but you know, in the early going when all else was dim, he was one of our few bright spots. Played some good help defense on Noah to start to create the double team, and was able to take Miller to the hoop, then hook over him. Yes, you will be relieved to know that Brad's unparalleled ability to make any opposing big look like a star has been undiminished by the trade. In fact might actually have been our best player in the early going, although under the radar also had a big hand in our early turnover woes as he was repeatdly stripped and fumbled balls down in the post. Came out in the third and di not get anything accomplished, and so when we went to Brockman and found fustle gold, that was that as we just rode our defense/hustle crew all the way right through the end of the game. Still Spencer wasn't awful himself. He just wasn't involved in the winning portion of the game.
Casspi ( D ) -- well, for the first time in a long time here, Omri was not a positive factor for us. Starting out of position at OG again, and facing a tough opponent on both ends in Salmons. And while it was not nearly so bad as the Noc/Deng mathcup, Salmons dominated the Casspi matchup as well, and Omri's minutes were similar to Noc's. Was having trouble against Salmons on both ends early and produced no numbers of his own. Was back in the second and a little more effective. Missed a little flip after a nice drive and then finally hit a three at the 2:30 mark of the second to bring us back within 18. Only lasted a short time into the third, during which he did contribute a single FT, before we went back to Beno for stability, and from that point on it was Reke, Beno/Sergio and Green/Udoka.
Evans ( B ) -- so...yeah. How do you grade this? One of his worst games of his young career that yet somehow ends up with him doing Sam Cassel's big brass balls dance as he takes over down the stretch and tears the heart out of the opponent to complete one of NBA history's great comebacks? While finishing with a cool 23pts 8rebs 3ast 2stl? Nothing for it but to run through the whole thing and see where it ends us up. Started off the game with a good little stop and pullup for a little midrange jumper (actualy almost a set shot), but that was one of the last pieces of good news for Reke in the first half. Next shot attempt Rose timed his post move and blocked it, and really Derrick Rose is not known for his defense, and yet funny thing, Reke just could not seem to get around him in the early going. Was on the d-glass, but got a lot of balls tipped on the drive and had few tough calls go against him for TOs. Finally hit another three -- been a while. Back the other way got several touch fouls on Rose, who was pretty much schooling him -- been awhile since we said that about any Reke opponent. Not CP3, not Deron, not Arenas, really not anybody. But in the first half Rose was great, hit every shot even when Reke was draped all over him, and dominated the matchup something like 18-5. Aggressive take on the break to start the 3rd, but just could not get it to fall -- in and out, the story of Reke's night until it mattered. Hit 1 of 2 FTs near the end of the 3rd to bring it back under 19, and then after a pair of Taj Gibson FTs back the other way, sliced through the defense for a buzzer beating layup to again get us within 19 and jsut right on that border at that point where you feel compelled to continue to fight -- down 25 going into the 4th, its pretty much garbagetime (although maybe not for us). Down 19...you know..maybe, just maybe... Pace and rhythm to his game began to pick up as he, and we, started to believe -- for a long time there we were fighting just to show we had fight. But then you could just see us sense the moment, and reke most of all. Drew the double and kicked to Udoka for the foul. Then did the same thing and kicked to Green for the 3. Then played good D on Deng. Continued to have terrible problems getting layups to fall -- blew a layup at the 6:50 mark with us down 13. Blew another one at the 3:45 mark that would have got us to 8. Then it came time to win it. Pushed the break at the 2:14 mark for the layup + continuation = 1pt game. Then we just said Reke, your game, and cleared out the side for him to superstar it with the strong take to tie it at the 1:45 mark. On our next defensive possession got into the wild scramble on the floor for a loose ball, then used a wild drive to get back to the line. Hit 1 of 2 to give us a lead, and after a giant Brockman rebound of the missed FT, got the ball back and with time running out leaned back and canned the clutch 20ft jumper to put us up 3. Did just barely miss the game sealing layup at the 20 second mark, and after we again grabbed the big o-board hit 1 of 2 rather than 2 of 2 keeping the Bulls alive. But played strong defense on Rose on the Bulls attempt to tie, and after we grabbed the d-board and Beno hit the sealing FTs, nothing left to do but pop that jersey and let them know who we are. And so what do you do here? A D maybe, something like that, and then jsut takes over the game down the strecth and singlehandedly outscores the Bulls 9-3 in crunctime. That's Kobe is what that is. And so its too high given the game long strugles, but with what we achieved, just could not go lower than a B here.
That, ladies and gents was history. Just did the math -- we finished this game on a 58-19 run.
Boxscore
Nocioni ( F ) -- well..hate to start this one off with a downer grade, but then again maybe its appropriate since we started this game off with a downer effort. In any case, like Sergio before him up in Portland, Noc returns home to his original team, no doubt wants to put on a show, and instead just utterly stinks the place up. Got squared up and shot over by Deng to start things, but then had his absolute lone bright moment of the game as he came up with a strong take and continuation. From there on down it was a spiral of buttkicking that reached embarrassing proportions. Dribbled the ball off of his own foot starting a Bulls fast break, barely grazed iron for a three, got beat by Deng in the post, another short three, then overcorrected with a high arcer that didn't go either. Inexplicably played the whole first quarter despite getting killed on both ends -- Deng had somethign like 14 first quarter points, Noc was 1 for whatever, and really all I can figure is that this is Coach doing his best to let a guy get his comeback game back home. But it hurt us. Was back briefly to start the third. Just long enough for us to discover that things weren't getting any better with that crew before quickly going to the bench. Altogether played 16+ minutes. Shot 1-7 with 1reb and 0 assists. Got torched oin defense by Deng. And in those 16 minutes we were outscored by 28 points. Up until the point he left the game for the final time (about 4 minutes into the third) it was going to be the defining performance for what was a disastrous outing for us. And then, not coincidentally we start our comeback as soon as he went to the bench for the last time, and now its just a footnote. A very bad little footnote, but it will be forgotten in the wake of the teamwide heroics to pull this out.
Thompson ( C+ ) -- got off to a lousy start to this one, which has been a recurring pattern of late. Missed an opening jumper and then was repeatedly blown right by by Noah, who is having a breakout year, but its not because of his offense. Finally hit a turnaround jumper in the post in the late 2nd, and then went inside and got fouled. Unfortunately the lead was already 23 by the time he showed up. Sort of summarized his, and our first half when he blocked himself off the bottom of the rim at the end of the 2nd. Splashed in several 16 foot jumpers as we struggled to life in the third. Never at any point a major weapon, but was just hitting here and there in support of whoever was hot at the moment and helping us keep momentum. Came up short with a hook shot with us down 13 at the 6:30 mark, just after Reke had blown a layup the possession before. At the time it looked like we might be stalling out and the comeback was going to fall short. But a minute later hit the buzzer beating little jumper off the Evans drop pass to get us to 11 at 5:20, and then it was time to hand it over first to The Incredible Udoka, and the of course to Superrook. Can't say this was a particularly good game for Jason, in fact below average both statistically and in impact. But he had a minor role to play in the comeback, and provided just enough support to keep us chugging along toward history.
Hawes ( C+ ) -- Spencer was gone long before we got around to winning this one, but you know, in the early going when all else was dim, he was one of our few bright spots. Played some good help defense on Noah to start to create the double team, and was able to take Miller to the hoop, then hook over him. Yes, you will be relieved to know that Brad's unparalleled ability to make any opposing big look like a star has been undiminished by the trade. In fact might actually have been our best player in the early going, although under the radar also had a big hand in our early turnover woes as he was repeatdly stripped and fumbled balls down in the post. Came out in the third and di not get anything accomplished, and so when we went to Brockman and found fustle gold, that was that as we just rode our defense/hustle crew all the way right through the end of the game. Still Spencer wasn't awful himself. He just wasn't involved in the winning portion of the game.
Casspi ( D ) -- well, for the first time in a long time here, Omri was not a positive factor for us. Starting out of position at OG again, and facing a tough opponent on both ends in Salmons. And while it was not nearly so bad as the Noc/Deng mathcup, Salmons dominated the Casspi matchup as well, and Omri's minutes were similar to Noc's. Was having trouble against Salmons on both ends early and produced no numbers of his own. Was back in the second and a little more effective. Missed a little flip after a nice drive and then finally hit a three at the 2:30 mark of the second to bring us back within 18. Only lasted a short time into the third, during which he did contribute a single FT, before we went back to Beno for stability, and from that point on it was Reke, Beno/Sergio and Green/Udoka.
Evans ( B ) -- so...yeah. How do you grade this? One of his worst games of his young career that yet somehow ends up with him doing Sam Cassel's big brass balls dance as he takes over down the stretch and tears the heart out of the opponent to complete one of NBA history's great comebacks? While finishing with a cool 23pts 8rebs 3ast 2stl? Nothing for it but to run through the whole thing and see where it ends us up. Started off the game with a good little stop and pullup for a little midrange jumper (actualy almost a set shot), but that was one of the last pieces of good news for Reke in the first half. Next shot attempt Rose timed his post move and blocked it, and really Derrick Rose is not known for his defense, and yet funny thing, Reke just could not seem to get around him in the early going. Was on the d-glass, but got a lot of balls tipped on the drive and had few tough calls go against him for TOs. Finally hit another three -- been a while. Back the other way got several touch fouls on Rose, who was pretty much schooling him -- been awhile since we said that about any Reke opponent. Not CP3, not Deron, not Arenas, really not anybody. But in the first half Rose was great, hit every shot even when Reke was draped all over him, and dominated the matchup something like 18-5. Aggressive take on the break to start the 3rd, but just could not get it to fall -- in and out, the story of Reke's night until it mattered. Hit 1 of 2 FTs near the end of the 3rd to bring it back under 19, and then after a pair of Taj Gibson FTs back the other way, sliced through the defense for a buzzer beating layup to again get us within 19 and jsut right on that border at that point where you feel compelled to continue to fight -- down 25 going into the 4th, its pretty much garbagetime (although maybe not for us). Down 19...you know..maybe, just maybe... Pace and rhythm to his game began to pick up as he, and we, started to believe -- for a long time there we were fighting just to show we had fight. But then you could just see us sense the moment, and reke most of all. Drew the double and kicked to Udoka for the foul. Then did the same thing and kicked to Green for the 3. Then played good D on Deng. Continued to have terrible problems getting layups to fall -- blew a layup at the 6:50 mark with us down 13. Blew another one at the 3:45 mark that would have got us to 8. Then it came time to win it. Pushed the break at the 2:14 mark for the layup + continuation = 1pt game. Then we just said Reke, your game, and cleared out the side for him to superstar it with the strong take to tie it at the 1:45 mark. On our next defensive possession got into the wild scramble on the floor for a loose ball, then used a wild drive to get back to the line. Hit 1 of 2 to give us a lead, and after a giant Brockman rebound of the missed FT, got the ball back and with time running out leaned back and canned the clutch 20ft jumper to put us up 3. Did just barely miss the game sealing layup at the 20 second mark, and after we again grabbed the big o-board hit 1 of 2 rather than 2 of 2 keeping the Bulls alive. But played strong defense on Rose on the Bulls attempt to tie, and after we grabbed the d-board and Beno hit the sealing FTs, nothing left to do but pop that jersey and let them know who we are. And so what do you do here? A D maybe, something like that, and then jsut takes over the game down the strecth and singlehandedly outscores the Bulls 9-3 in crunctime. That's Kobe is what that is. And so its too high given the game long strugles, but with what we achieved, just could not go lower than a B here.
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