I come not to bury Luol Deng, but to praise him

In honor of the Bulls fallen rookie, here's my post from a month ago that goes into just how important Luol Deng is to this team. No need to re-hash what we already know.

But in regards to his replacement, Andres Nocioni, the prospects are worrying at best. While another solid rookie, Noc is obviously no Luol Deng.  Nocioni's poor offensive efficiency (10.08 PER) undoubtedly contributes to the fact that Deng leads the Bulls in +/-.

On the other end of the court, Nocioni is a rugged defender (and superior to Deng), to the point where one might even call him a dirty defender. Not that it stops the Bruce Bowens of the world from being important stoppers on playoff (and in Bowen's case, championship) teams, but Nocioni needs to be careful. As the only true '3' left on the roster (I'm guessing Skiles will try and mix in Griffin and Pike in that spot as well), Nocioni can't let his aggressive mindset get him in foul trouble. It will be a fine line for him, since his reckless abandon is what has made him productive, best shown at his veteran-like ability to coax referees into charging his opponents with offensive fouls. Just remember the way he hassled Lebron James last week. But sometimes his exuberance can get out of hand, as in tonight:

The game had an ugly ending. Haslem was ejected with 2:52 left after retaliating for a hard foul committed against Wade by Nocioni.

Wade drove into the left corner and was fouled hard by Nocioni, who then struck Wade a second time -- this time in the back, knocking him to the floor. Haslem charged toward Nocioni and shoved him, sending him sprawling over some cameramen seated near the baseline.

Nocioni was called for a flagrant foul and a technical. He was not ejected, but was escorted off the court by Bulls team personnel.

I didn't watch much of the game tonight against the Heat, expecting a beatdown for the Bulls (who were without Curry). I had early optimism after learning Shaq was out, but after a 20 point deficit at the half my attention was fully elsewhere. From what I heard on the post-game, Nocioni's hard foul on Wade was in retaliation to a previous foul. Whether Noc was justified or not (and I surely don't blame Haslem in the least for protecting his team's star), this is the type of situation he needs to avoid the rest of the way. While hurting the Bulls on the court when compared to Luol Deng, Noc is sorely needed on that court in Deng's absence. Else we'll be pining for the days of Linton Johnson.

Well, crap

First the Illini lose, then I come back to read this. I guess one way of looking at it is that Deng will be around and be enjoyed for 15 years, and if the Illini play their cards right they can too. But for tonight I'll just let it hurt and gather my thoughts for later in the week.

Number nine

Only half-watched the game last night, an expected win over the Bobcats. I was too full of Illini pride (or was it beer?). Anthony Roche is on it though, so go there.

Case closed? (the sequel)

Soon I'm going to have to remove that question mark from the title. Ben Gordon did it again, albeit this time not with a rainbow three or a floater in the lane (although he did have a couple of those), but with a drive and a dish to Tyson Chandler, who was rolling to the basket and scoring (with a foul) with 2.8 seconds left in the game, putting the Bulls up 3 over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers after the free throw.

Sure a crazy Lebron James 3-pointer sent it to overtime (and why wasn't Nocioni in the game on that possession? He did a fantastic job guarding -and irritating- Lebron), but the Bulls had the momentum and carried it into the extra period, outscoring the Cavs 14-2 for a 102-90 victory. That's 8 in a row, the team's longest streak, and putting them at 9 games over .500, their high-water mark of the season.

Even without Eddy Curry, the Bulls had to look to the national TV audience like the better team down the stretch. Granted Cleveland is a poor road team, but the Bulls had big plays when they needed it, many of which were by Chandler on both ends of the court. He still has the most awkward offensive post moves I've ever seen, but it does work to draw fouls, and that's what he did on that final shot in regulation and in overtime.

Kirk Hinrich was not at 100%, but he did play tonight and chipped in with 13 points and 7 assists, good to see the captain back. Gordon didn't have the explosive 4th quarter that the announcers were hyping for (how many times did Harlan and Collins mention that he leads the league in 4th quarter scoring?), but he did lead the Bulls with 21 points. Tyson had 15 points to go with 14 rebounds.

The Bulls got through March better than expected, and a playoff seed is all but clinched. April is now all about getting healthy and moving up in the seedings. And maybe watching Ben Gordon finally erase all doubt that he is the rookie (and 6th man) of the year.

Case closed?

Ben Gordon sure looked like the rightful rookie of the year tonight, scoring 35 points in a 102-99 victory over Charlotte and fellow ROY candidate Emeka Okafor (who did have 17pts 10rebs).

After Tyson Chandler was ejected with 5 minutes remaining the game, the Bulls heavily relied on Gordon as his floormates down the stretch were Davis, Harrington, Pargo and Deng. Many times the Bulls had nothing going on offense, but just handed the ball to Ben who couldn't miss. Made an otherwise boring game (with the overall lack of talent on the floor) very fun to watch.

My mindset while watching the 4th made me realize how far this team has come. Against an expansion team like the Bobcats, even though the Bulls were in a tight game I fully expected them to find a way. How many times in the past 7 years were similar 4th quarters spent waiting to see how the Bulls could screw it up?

(read below for tonight's earlier post. Like I said I thought this game would be nothing worth writing about so it was posted before it's end)