Oh, that Mariotti...

I don't normally read Jay Mariotti's Sun-Times columns, but I do like reading nice things about the Bulls. So I got to read his piece on how the Bulls are back and blah blah blah. It's mostly garbage, standard fare from a guy who seems to have a little too much on his plate, even after getting canned from his radio show. I've pointed out this phenomenon before, but the guy can't write anything about the Bulls without mentioning Michael Jordan. This paragraph comes out of nowhere:

As sure as the Reinsdorf administration is jacking up season-ticket prices -- some b.s. about needing money to keep the young players, as if Michael Jordan didn't make the franchise enough megamillions -- the Bulls are headed to their first postseason since the dynasty years. We can safely assume this when only 13 games remain and they are closer to second place than ninth place in the Eastern Conference. The first instinct is to shout, "It's about damned time!'' and ponder the whereabouts of Jerry Krause, who curiously has never been hired by another NBA team and is holding radar guns for the New York Mets. Yet why dwell in the miserable past when, for the first time since Karl Malone was misfiring in the Utah air, we actually can talk about spring ball on the West Side and how the Bulls match up against, oh, the Washington Wizards. We'll even call it the Jordan Unemployment Series, noting that neither organization has MJ anymore and yet both will make the playoffs while he looks for a team to buy and runs his motorcycle racing team. Vroom!

huh???

Mariotti does eventually go into some peripheral analysis of this year's team, but this guy cannot let go of 1998. Or he hasn't been following the Bulls enough to fill a column on something new.

Another lift from this column is a joke that leads the column. Now either this is simply bad, or really really dirty (and therefore hilarious):

Sorry, but I'm still peeking around every corner of the United Center, expecting to find a grinning Ashton Kutcher. He's a fan of Chicago sports teams, remember, having grown up an Iowa farmboy before finding a bigger field to plow in Demi Moore.

Wowza.

Other internet findings:

• Happy 1-year blogiversary to Celticsblog. They're one of the best around, so hopefully many more years.
• Via NBAFanblog, you need to check out the NBA all-ugly team. As a strikingly handsome young man, this amuses me greatly.
• Another blog that has made my daily rotation is The Cavalier Act on MVN. As a way to preview the Bulls' opponent before the two square off on national tv matchup between the Cavs and Bulls, check out this site to find out how the Cavs have been slipping lately.

As far as the game tomorrow, I will hold back on any preview myself since I have no idea who will be playing. Luol Deng was back for tonight's game against the Bobcats, but Kirk Hinrich wasn't. And Eddy Curry sat out the game with flu-like symptoms, so now his availability will be in question. I would really like to see a full-strength Bulls team showing off their stuff on TNT, so fingers will be crossed.

 

TV Time-out

Two things:

• From the Trib last week:

Comcast SportsNet Chicago launches on the Dish Network March 30, giving the station nearly complete penetration in the Chicago area.

Finally!! Nothing like a Chicago baseball season to get Dish Network off it's collective ass. Where was this announcement in October???

• Similarly outstanding news: The Bulls-Cavs game this Thursday has been moved from 7:30 to 7, because it is the lead game on TNT's national broadcast. Now it'll be neat to hear EJ, Kenny, and Chuck acknowledge the Bulls' success (they better give props to Skiles), but the Bulls have been a suck-fest on national TV over the past few years. They lost earlier in the season to Philadelphia on ESPN, and remember the group of games against the M.Jeff-led Wizards where the Bulls clawed their way to 60 or so points each contest. ::shudder::

Kirk Who-rich?

(Ugh, I apologize, but that title was so lame I laughed when it popped into my head. So there you go.)

Well the Bulls tried their darndest to pull off an Arizona (can we call it that after Saturday?), but held off the Memphis Grizzlies for a 94-86 win, their 6th in a row. In a month that was looked upon hesitantly, and started out a bit iffy, this win streak has firmly placed the Bulls in the playoffs, now thinking about taking the division moreso than the lottery.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this streak is that 4 of the wins were without Kirk Hinrich, still out with an injured hamstring. The fact that Hinrich's absence didn't hurt the Bulls in this stretch of games is a testament to those that gained minutes in his absence:

Duhon	Points	Reb	Ast	TO
Last 4	5	2.5	6	1.75
2004 Year to Date	5.5	2.7	5	1.6
Gordon	Points	Reb	Ast	TO
Last 4	15.5	2.5	2.25	1.5
2004 Year to Date	14.9	2.6	1.8	2.3
Piatkowski	Points	Reb	Ast	TO
Last 4	3	1	1.25	0.75
2004 Year to Date	4.4	1.1	0.7	0.5
Pargo	Points	Reb	Ast	TO
Last 4	6.75	2	4	1.75
2004 Year to Date	4.3	1.3	1.9	1

This improvement in play (and with more minutes mind you) is not very substantial, but the fact that the loss of Hinrich's outstanding defense hasn't hurt them in the win column is enough to give these guys credit.

But where are the points to make up for Hinrich's absence coming from?

Curry	Points	Reb	Ast	TO
Last 4	21	5	0.5	1.5
2004 Year to Date	15.9	5.4	0.6	2.6

Eddy Curry has really turned up his play, and while his rebounding still is poor, his scoring has helped offset the loss of Kirk. And not only that, just looking at him attack the basket the way he has is a very encouraging sign. We all know Curry's motivation could be contract-driven this season, but you have to think the scent of the playoffs getting stronger has encouraged him to be even more aggressive on the offensive end. If you looked at him playing against the Griz' Stromile Swift tonight, while both are looking for contracts (and playoffs) you could tell that Curry seemed to be playing for more. Knowing how 'Eddy Curry' and 'motivated' have gone together in his career makes his play something I'm looking forward to see continue down the stretch. In fact, if you look at how the Bulls performed without Hinrich and compare that to how they do without Curry (perhaps a study for another day), I'd say off-hand that the Bulls need Curry more to win.

On the flip side of that optimistic coin, Luol Deng suffered a wrist injury tonight (not sure on the prognosis), and while the team has stepped up to stay in (and even better themselves in) the playoff picture through the recent injuries, it'd be nice to get healthy for the end of the season.

Carnival of the NBA update

Carnival of the NBA #5 is up on Celticsblog.com. Jeff did a great job over there on it, so make sure you check it out.

And I guess my buddy Jeff (a different one) is right, this weekend's NCAA games totally nullify my post from last week. Then again the point I was trying to make in that rant is that the Basketball is better in the NBA, if not the drama sometimes. Obviously there's good points to both, it just bothers me when people foam at the mouth over a tourney game and say: 'see? this is why I don't watch the NBA"

As far as the Bulls are concerned, two wins over the weekend (without Hinrich), and a home game against Memphis tonight. I'll wait till that one's over before I give another status report looking at the schedule and standings. Until then, enjoy the carnival.

ILL!

INI!