Sunday, December 19, 2004

Blazin'

The Bulls go for 4 in a row Monday night at home against Portland. (perhaps not so)Surprisingly if it is achieved it'll be the Bulls first 4-game winning streak 1998, and therefore the first time since the dynasty.

Saturday night's win against the undermanned Pacers wasn't pretty, but like in the Milwaukee game its nice to see the team winning games they should. In the past I would suggest that maybe the Bulls should be careful tomorrow whereas not to get overconfident after the meager achievements they've been racking up lately, but this year's squad doesn't seem to need such advice. Skiles and Paxson seemed to have assembled a team that plays hard no matter what: never getting too up or down in the roller-coaster ride that is the NBA season. Perhaps now I'm the one who's overconfident, but I go into games now not dreading horrid offensive starts.

Speaking of starts, Antonio Davis may be unavailable for the vaunted 4-in-a-row try after getting whacked in the jaw, but the Bulls have surprising depth:

If Davis is out, the Bulls might continue bringing Tyson Chandler off the bench, a role in which they like his enthusiasm and energy. If that's the case, veteran Othella Harrington will start, good timing for a player who produced a big fourth quarter Saturday night after barely playing this month.

The Bulls have had success in their three straight victories by dusting off a seldom-used veteran in the fourth quarter, when the young players have started to play like, well, young players.

"We talked about that with the team," Skiles said. "It was [Adrian Griffin] in Memphis, [Eric Piatkowski] against Milwaukee and [Harrington] against Indiana. This is a nice spot for me to be in as a coach. There's nobody on my roster that doesn't deserve to play. There aren't two or three guys who aren't doing their jobs, showing up late, messing around.

"I go home feeling bad that I can't get certain guys into the game because everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing. These veterans are setting a good example. Some nights, they don't get to play. But every time I've looked down there and put one of them in, they've contributed big."

Replacing AD with Harrington isn't just avoiding a dropoff, its a definitive upgrade. Harrington is 2nd on the team with a +/- ratio of +11.5, well ahead of Davis at -0.9. Davis has played far more minutes which certainly hurts his case, having someone like Harrington to plug in when needed is a nice luxury for such a bad (or at least poor record) team. 

While I agree with the decision not to change Tyson's role off the bench (if it ain't broke...), Tyson may be relied on for major minutes against the Blazers. Their frontcourt of Zach Randolph and Theo Ratliff is going to be a big test, and Tyson might be pressed into action early if Randolph starts hot. Skiles should consider putting Eddy Curry on Randolph. Randolph uses his size to muscle other forwards into position, something he can't do with even a slimmed-down Eddy. And surprisingly enough Eddy has been playing good defense lately, most notably his improbable work on Kevin Garnett last week. Another matchup to look for will be Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni on Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Portland likes to put a big lineup out there with Rahim playing alongside Ratliff and Randolph, so Deng and Noc will have to do their best not to be overwhelmed by Rahim's post ability.

Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks has an ace up his sleeve on the defensive end with Ratliff. Ratliff's shot-blocking ability will make Eddy think twice before going for his patented right-handed jump hooks. If he tries to go right at Ratliff with tunnel vision he may get frustrated early and eventually drift into a night of ineffectiveness. Eddy will have to do a good job of recognizing the defense and making sound passes, something he's been doing pretty well lately(notice all of my kind words for Eddy?).  Now it's another matter of whether Tyson can actually catch that pass....

The Blazers aren't dominating at 12-11, but they will be a great test assuming they will not take the Bulls lightly like Minnesota and Dallas undoubtedly did. I'm not placing this matchup in the 'should-win' category like the last 2 games, but on the other hand momentum can be a powerful thing, and its always nice to see a post-dynasty futility mark fall by the wayside.