Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Boxscore
Stats: 31min 12pts (5-13, 0-2, 2-2) 6reb 1ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Summary: so he follows up a hero game with just a head scratcher. Never engaged or focused, hurt us most of night.
Gay ( D ) -- slow and fugly start missing things he does not miss and not looking in rhythm as for no reason at all 3/5 of our starting lineup did not show up. Finally got a post move for only his second score of the game in the last minute of the first half. Some crap play in the third, but got fired up belatedly and made a good defensive play and a quick hit to get us within 1. Continued missing easy ones around the rim however, and down the stretch was of little use. Best that can be said is that he snatched a few aggressive rebounds in front of Pau, and that he left the mysterious head slapping late game foul to Rondo this time.
Stats: 18min 2pts (1-4, 0-0, 0-0) 5reb 0ast 0stl 2blk 0TO
Summary: looked out of rhythm most of night, then finally started having an impact and yanked by Karl for stretch run. Boogie not amused.
Cauley Stein ( C ) -- was wildly forcing too much over people in the early going and kept losing contact with his man on defense. Finally came to play a little in the early 3rd with a block and a finish courtesy of Cuz, but was removed on schedule in the mid 3rd even though Cuz was hobbling and seemed like the guy to take out. Probably lucky to get a third stint given Karl and was finally helping stiffen our late game defense when suddenly Karl pissed off half the fanbase and the whole Boogie as he suddenly yanked Willie from the game with 4:23 to go in favor of the ineffective Rudy. Nowhere near one of Willie's best, but Karl displaying all the symptoms of smallball amnesia syndrome late.
Stats: 37min 30pts (12-25, 0-3, 6-11) 11reb 4ast 3stl 2blk 6TO
Summary: one of a handful of guys who could go 30-11-4-3-2 and have a mediocre game. Beat up and out of sorts all night. Then choked.
Cousins ( B- ) -- for some reason started out the game facing up in a tactical decision that made no sense given the state of the Bulls interior defense. Nor would that change most of the game as rather than punish Taj Gibson's twerpiness, we instead had Boogie facing him up and playing right into his game rather than muscling him in the post. Looked physically sluggish from the start, and over the course of the game would absorb a bunch of other damage ot various parts of the body that had him looking like a gimpy 40yr old by the end of things. Was better on defense than offense early, not moving fast, but the only guy challenging anything (amusingly becoming the first King to get up into Moore and stop him, then picking off an attempted give and go behind him too). Got his hands on a lot of balls as the Bulls repeatedly tried to pass it behind him and he kept on snatching and deflecting the passes. But nothing was falling early until he came up with a brilliant spin move past Gasol in the latter stages of the first, then boom, he was off, and scored 4 quick hoops before leaving. Hit a number of midrange jumpers, but the mix was too jumper heavy overall. Real issue all game long though of the team just feeling out of synch, and that was reflected in a game long turnover problem whenever we tried to run the offense through Boogie and have him dump it off to guards. The passes were off, or the cuts were off, or guys didn't catch or just whatever, but pass after pass didn't reach the right guy and it was damaging. Could see him visibly going into want to win mode late, but was pissed off much of the game (who's hand did he swat off his shoulder on the bench, and what was the thing with Randy Brown afterwards??), out of sorts, got visibly pissed when Karl sabotoged us by taking out WCS late, and "want to win" several times devolved into "f it, I'll do it myself" stuff. Continued to make defensive plays to keep us in it though, including a huge block with 28 seconds to go that gave us a legit chance. But on this night this had to end poorly, and out of the timeout at the 18 seconds mark we chose rather than go for a three, to go to Boogie inside, and he blew two layups over a smaller man, and effectively killed us. When intentionally fouled next possession, he then proceeded to miss the firs FT + missed the second on purpose, and we ended up getting 0pts out of the big guy on two straight possessions in winning time. And so that's how a guy can go for 30-11-4-3-2 and it not be a signature game. He tried and battled, but seemed to be fighting us as much as them, Looked banged up and unhappy at generally everyone. Needed more help, and came up short when asked to do it himself.
Stats: 36min 18pts (7-14, 3-7, 1-2) 4reb 0ast 3stl 0blk 4TO
Summary: one of two guys (DC) who really showed up to help Cuz tonight, and even so it was on one end of the floor.
Belinelli ( B+ ) -- came out again looking more comfortable, and I am wondering if maybe we shouldn't just stick with this. Hit three early jumpers as the only guy doing anything until Cuz snapped online mid quarter. And they were in rhythm sorts of shots. Feet set, or suddenly coming aroudn a screen and getting square rather than still moving sideways on the curl. Nor was he primarily responsible for the E'Twan Moore travesty, as of Moore's first 5 FGs Marco was only defending the last one (Willie twice, Rondo and Gay on the others). first hit by Belinelli along the baseline. Hit several well timed threes, none bigger than the one he hit with 1:23 to go with an opportunity for a 4pt play to suddenly give us a chance...and then he bricked the FT. Why? Got down on the ground for a steal next possession to give us another chance, but we just started doing everything wrong. Not a perfect game by any stretch, but a legitimately good one, and looked much more comfortable than he has in forever.
Stats: 31min 6pts (3-9, 0-1, 0-0) 2reb 9ast 3stl 0blk 4TO
Summary: maybe this one was turf toe, I don't know, but for the third game in a row was flat, and we were better with Collison.
Rondo ( D- ) -- I have very few notes on Rondo's game because he did very little except ocassionaly blow a layup around the rim. This went beyond the mere passing woes he suddenly started having a few games ago, and went to a larger complete lack of impact of any kind. He was invisible, even as a floor general, and we were flat better with Collison out there this night. We'll call it turf toe if we have to, but provided little support, and then in the final two minutes made another one of those bizarre hey let's lose the game plays we have been doing around here ever since..well we started to lose again for the last decade. 1:32 to go, a 5pt game, and suddenly for no reason Rondo hops over and intentionally fouls the Bulls in the backcourt. Didn't even try to play defense. The controversy is whether a coach had that piece of idiocy for him, or he came up with it himself, but game after game our guys are killing any chance we have to win games with late game brainless play, even from the brainy ones.
Last edited:
