Post Chicago game thoughts

[hands11]

Chicago is a dame well coached team. They have taken on the personality of their coach. They are disapline. They run their offense of picks and screen precise and tight. There is very little room to get past their screens. That Thomas kid and Blatche may be battling each other for a while. He is their Blatche like player.

They also have a true PG running the show which keep things running smoothly. Also, they are in your shorts at every opportunity defensively even if they get charged for 5-6 blocking fouls a game. They mess you up. You just have to be aggressive and force the ref to make those calls. But in doing so, they knock you to the ground a lot.

So they took it to us last night with one player ejected and Noesbaloni not playing.

They deserved the win. They were the better team.

That is the kind of ball you have to match to win in the playoffs. 60 wins in the regular season isnt going to change that.

It's time to start modeling our coaching, style and players to beat the teams we have to beat in the post season. That is the next step.

That means we have to play more disciplined. We have to play that level of D. We have to be aggressive in driving at every opportunity to get them in foul trouble. We have to feed to post to get them in foul trouble.

A proven way to beat teams like this, Miami and DET is to put their post players on the bench in foul trouble. If you leave their players in for the game and let them play that level of D, they will beat you more time then not.

We don't pass the ball enough or well enough. They do and did at every opprotunity. Much like SA. Their style is better. Plus, they both have pure PGs. I would also say both team are tougher then ours. They are just pesky teams.

We need to increase the teams foot speed. Sagaila is an AJ. Haywood isnt that quick and ET isnt far behind. Thats 4 players who get regular mins that have average to below average foot speed. That is our biggest problem at this point.

[XxSpearheadxX]

I think Songaila, when rested, has displayed above-average footspeed for a 4, plus he is much more of a banger in the defensive low-post, and is coming off an injury that directly effects the speed of nerve-firing in his legs.

Last night though? He was way slow, AJ is not that slow - or red and huffy after 5 minutes of run.

[BayouBrave86]

Watching Blatche and Thomas go at it was a beautiful thing to watch, they are definately going to be battling for a while. The thing is, Thomas doesn't have much upside to his offensive game, whereas Blatche does. Thomas is a hell of a player and it was awesome what he did for LSU last year, but in all honesty, I'd take Blatche over Thomas. Blatche has better overall game.

[Chachie]

Superb post, Hands. I agree with every word. I've always felt like Chicago is the opposite of the Wizards, and therefore fear playing them every time we match up.
Skiles preaches total defense and execution. other than Ben Wallace, we are more talented than them at every spot but they out-hustle us in every facet of the game.
If you care to, search the game thread where I mentioned this to Spaceman.

The Bulls remind me of the old Celtics. Basic, classic roles being played perfectly with relentless defense. If they had superstar talent beyond Wallace, they'd be dominant.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Superb post, Hands. I agree with every word. I've always felt like Chicago is the opposite of the Wizards, and therefore fear playing them every time we match up.
Skiles preaches total defense and execution. other than Ben Wallace, we are more talented than them at every spot but they out-hustle us in every facet of the game.
If you care to, search the game thread where I mentioned this to Spaceman.

The Bulls remind me of the old Celtics. Basic, classic roles being played perfectly with relentless defense. If they had superstar talent beyond Wallace, they'd be dominant.

Agreed. Hinrich is a great pure PG, Gordon knows his role, Wallace holds it down in the middle.

Skiles is a great coach, he makes sure that team gives max effort. I hate playing them because I know they'll outhustle us and outwork us.

[mojobo]

This game had nothing to do with them having good defense or us having a terrible defense. The game was lost on sloppy play and rebounds. We had 14 turnovers vs. their 5. Other problem was offensive rebounds. They had 14 vs. our 6. When this happens you get a lot less offensive opportunites and we took a lot less shots than them, 76 to their 89. If we eliminate the offensive boards and turnover problem we would have won the game.

[MoochieDC_86]

This game had nothing to do with them having good defense or us having a terrible defense. The game was lost on sloppy play and rebounds. We had 14 turnovers vs. their 5. Other problem was offensive rebounds. They had 14 vs. our 6. When this happens you get a lot less offensive opportunites and we took a lot less shots than them, 76 to their 89. If we eliminate the offensive boards and turnover problem we would have won the game.

My thoughts exactly, but the points Hands made contribute to this numbers as well.....

P.S. the refs made some terrible calls against us after Duhon was ejected which also completely threw of our momentum.

[TakeTheFG]

talent don't buy championship, its how you work as a team

[desioreo87]

We need an inside presence. Blatche, after he gets maybe one more year, seems like he could emerge as the guy on the inside. If you saw with Wallace, that dude has no offensive game but he rebounds like no other and he is a dominant force on teh Defensive end. I think Blatche can emerge into a similar type of player. We also desperately need a pure pg. Arenas is an AMAZING SG but he just cannot run the show and he is definitely not the leader of this team.

[909997]

arenas 4 mvp

[DonMagicJuan]

talent don't buy championship, its how you work as a team

tell that to George Karl and Denver McNuggets

[GOSKINS_08]

You couldn't post this in the game thread? Im not trying to be an ass, but the game thread is for "thoughts" as well.

[fixer26er]

Last night though? He was way slow, AJ is not that slow - or red and huffy after 5 minutes of run.

I noticed that last night and in the Minny game. It was like he was running in mud and everyone else wasn't.

[hands11]

I think Songaila, when rested, has displayed above-average footspeed for a 4, plus he is much more of a banger in the defensive low-post, and is coming off an injury that directly effects the speed of nerve-firing in his legs.

Last night though? He was way slow, AJ is not that slow - or red and huffy after 5 minutes of run.


He was like a raspberry. I noticed that also. We, who didn't? I'm sure he will get quicker since he is out of shape, but I dont see he ever being quick footed. Love the passing and shot though.

[hands11]

Superb post, Hands. I agree with every word. I've always felt like Chicago is the opposite of the Wizards, and therefore fear playing them every time we match up.
Skiles preaches total defense and execution. other than Ben Wallace, we are more talented than them at every spot but they out-hustle us in every facet of the game.
If you care to, search the game thread where I mentioned this to Spaceman.

The Bulls remind me of the old Celtics. Basic, classic roles being played perfectly with relentless defense. If they had superstar talent beyond Wallace, they'd be dominant.


Thanks

Nice add.

But I will say they do have another position better then us, that's PG. Hinny runs the offense, is a pesky defender, excellent from the line and can score when needed. They always run their offense. They are patient for the better open shot then we are.

These guys aren't going anywhere. We better start molding a team to deal with them. This is one thing that worries me about how we are built. We don't have some who is highly discipline to run a well oiled disciplined offense and we have 2 starting SGs.

We are at least another year away from molding a contender. I just don't see us getting their until we have a reliable PG. AB is a year away from being awesome and AJ is a year away from coming off the bench as needed.

[hands11]

My thoughts exactly, but the points Hands made contribute to this numbers as well.....

P.S. the refs made some terrible calls against us after Duhon was ejected which also completely threw of our momentum.


Lots of things happened both ways. They were the better team and they were at home. We could have one if we played and coached a flawless game, we didn't.