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Missing Rose, Or What Rose Is Missing?

May 6, 2013  ·  10:42AM





MIAMI – So much of this NBA season for the Chicago Bulls, especially in these playoffs, has been about missing Derrick Rose.

Not anymore. At this point, it’s all about what Derrick Rose is missing.

The script officially flipped Saturday night when the Bulls pulled off their stunning, wholly unexpected Game 7 upset of the Brooklyn Nets. Rose was there but he was there in a suit again, no more a part of what really mattered in the arena than the guy wielding the T-shirt cannon.

Wait, that’s not quite right – Rose did play a role in making it remarkable with his very uninvolvement. The Bulls did not have their leader and their superstar, again,  in circumstances that should have doomed them – and then they went about their business as they have all season. Or in Joakim Noah‘s case, with some frenzied, divine, determined intervention.

No Derrick? No problem. No problem too great, anyway.

A too-familiar sight: Chicago's Derrick Rose on the bench. (by Gary Dineen/NBAE)

A too-familiar sight: Chicago’s Derrick Rose cheering, not playing. (by Gary Dineen/NBAE)

Rose was in a suit and Kirk Hinrich was in a suit and Luol Deng was back home in Chicago, and still the Bulls beat the offensively gifted and favored Nets to advance to the playoffs’ second round. It was merely the latest in a season of highlight nights and indelible memories missed by Rose during his recovery from knee surgery last May.

He missed the victory in Miami in January in Chicago’s first meeting with the defending champions and assorted undermanned victories before and since. He missed the Bulls’ run of three straight overtime games in four nights, two on the road, two of which went their way. He missed the game at United Center in late March when the Heat, after stomping pretty much the rest of the league, had their winning streak stopped at 27 games (second-longest in NBA history) by a team, wow, still missing its star.

Because Rose and the team’s front office committed to a cautious approach to his rehab and return – the Bulls and their medical staff overseeing but ultimately empowering Rose and his advisers to make the decisions – the laconic icon hasn’t been a part of anything all season. Even as his absence has defined and made this season special for those who have been a part of it.

Now, Rose is missing this, at least four games and as many as seven against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the rest. It could have been a classic. Remember when Rose took his stand about not working his cell phone in the offseason and recruiting help by courting his competition, it came across as a direct response to the AAU buddy-ball brainstorming of James, Wade and Chris Bosh in the summer of 2010. Neither the Heat nor Rose was fully formed when the two sides met for the first time in the postseason in 2011, but the storyline now, with Rose’s very MVP-ness that year being questioned again, would have been must-see: Some guys want to play with the best, other guys want to beat the best.

The storyline, as is, is pretty compelling. It’s underdogs and Cinderella and, frankly, it’s sad. Because Rose is missing out on the full experience of what his Bulls teammates are. Guys like Rose never fully know what it feels like to be overlooked and underrated because, no matter how humble and unassuming they might be (and that’s no act with Rose), they are their teammates’ swagger. Stars like Rose don’t know what it’s like to have their chances dismissed. Stars like Rose look into fans’, friends’ and family eyes and see hope twinkling.

Maybe one time in the pros, before the end of Rose’s rookie year in 2009, he might seen doubt in people’s eyes. But then he had his coming-out party as a future NBA star, the seventh-seeded Bulls pushing the mighty Boston Celtics to seven games in the first round. Since then, Rose has been the man; when he plays and, without interruption for more than a year now, when he doesn’t.

In the end, Rose is missing a lot. Early in the Brooklyn series, Bulls forward Taj Gibson talked about Rose’s view and words from the bench. “He was just eager,” Gibson said. “He was just saying like, he can’t wait to get back, he can’t wait to play. And just critiquing the game, talking about what we needed to do, what kind of plays. He knew a lot of the sets coming out so he would just scream out plays. He was just hyped talking about good stuff.”

As frustrating as it is for Bulls and NBA fans to wonder what this Eastern Conference semifinal series might be like with Rose involved, as puzzled as they all are by his erring on the side of caution or his timidity or his whatever it is, they can assume that Rose is frustrated too. Or should be.

So don’t be disappointed by Derrick Rose. Be disappointed for him.

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Hinrich Iffy For Game 6, And Don’t Bother ‘Going There’ On Rose

May 1, 2013  ·  2:42PM

DEERFIELD, Ill. – The timing was impeccable. As Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said for the third or fourth time that guard Kirk Hinrich‘s bruised left calf was healing, Hinrich emerged for a cluster of reporters to limp 20 yards toward the locker-room hallway at the team’s Berto Center practice facility Wednesday afternoon.

Long John Silver, Fred Sanford and Jabba The Hutt would have been glancing over their shoulders, laughing, in a foot race. If the Brooklyn Nets have anyone on their bench with whom Hinrich in his current condition can keep up in Game 6, it’s coach P.J. Carlesimo. Maybe.

So it’s a long shot Hinrich — who injured his leg in Chicago’s triple-overtime victory in Game 4 Saturday and sat out the Nets’ Game 5 victory at the Barclays Center Monday — can play Thursday night at United Center. He only ditched a walking boot Wednesday, has yet to test his left leg by running or jumping and said he would have to improve further for his “game-time decision” to go thumbs-up.

That puts instant-offense guy Nate Robinson, the team’s third preferred option at point guard after Derrick Rose and Hinrich, in the likely starter’s role again.

Thibodeau also delivered the news that forwards Luol Deng and Taj Gibson were sick and skipped the practice, further thinning the ranks if only for Wednesday. He didn’t sound optimistic about rusty veteran Rip Hamilton, who hasn’t played since the series’ opener, making an appearance in Game 6, though.

So naturally, it was time to ask about Rose. Hey, he’s moving way better than Hinrich.

“There’s always a chance,” Thibodeau said straight-faced. Then a twinkle appeared in his eyes for what would be a fresh quote on the stale subject. “Small as that might be.”

Chuckles all around. But it scarcely could get smaller at this late date. Rose — whose ACL surgery on his left knee know requires a year reference (April 28, 2012) — still hasn’t felt comfortable enough in his recovery, apparently less for physical reasons than trust and confidence in his game, to return. To do so suddenly for Game 6 or even if his teammates advance to the next round against Miami would be like turning from a standing stop onto a freeway where every other vehicle is going 80 mph, no merge lane, nothing.

That hasn’t stifled impatience and criticism from within the team’s fan base, which has watched a parade of other players — from Hinrich throughout the season and Gibson (strained knee) to center Joakim Noah‘s ongoing plantar fasciitis — gut through discomfort while less than 100 percent.

Thibodeau and Hinrich both said again that the Bulls have Rose’s back.

“We know what kind of guy he is, we know what kind of teammate he is. We don’t feel that way,” Hinrich said. “I haven’t heard one ill word said [among teammates] about it.”

Said Thibodeau: “There’s a big difference between the type of injury he’s had and all these other injuries. We certainly appreciate what all the other guys are doing. But Derrick has had a very serious injury. It requires time. He’s 24 years old. We’re not going to rush him back. When he’s completely comfortable, that’s when we want him out there. If that means we wait another game, if that means we wait till next year, so be it. We want him completely comfortable. We’re not going to make that mistake.”

Criticism from outside of Chicago tossed at its native son, one of the most competitive and popular performers ever for the city’s pro sports teams, means nothing, the Bulls coach said.

“Derrick owes it to do what’s right. And the more I’m around him, the more I’m impressed by this guys’ character. He’s not being swayed by anybody. He’s not quite there, and we made that clear to him from the beginning — we’re going to support him in every way possible. I would never question him. Ever.”

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Good Nate, Bad Nate, Late Nate, Great Nate!

April 27, 2013  ·  10:53PM

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CHICAGO – The team for which nothing comes easy these days got bailed out by the player for whom nothing comes easy ever.

Nate Robinson is a lot of things. He’s a remarkable athlete and presumably a dynamite NFL cornerback, had he ever pursued that, but at a fudged 5-foot-9, vertically challenged for his chosen field. Robinson is a parlor trick among NBA performers, a three-time Slam Dunk champion. He is that rare love-him-and-hate-him player, someone whose exploits and mishaps can flip the switch for teammates and fans without notice, frequently on consecutive possessions.

For those who have coached him at this level, he is a part super-sub, part pact with the devil. Coach Tom Thibodeau, Doc Rivers, Scott Brooks and the others face-palm over his shot selection, rail at his reckless passes and shake their heads when his needle hits red. Sometimes, even Nate can’t recall moments later why he did what he just did, except that his temper or his shenanigans probably put points on the board for the other guys.

Mostly, though, Robinson is one of those basketball itinerants who has built his NBA resume contract year by contract year, sometimes contract game by contract game. Ever since debuting as a rookie with the New York Knicks and fraying nerves there for 4 1/2 years, Robinson has been in motion. Five teams in the past four seasons and, chances are, six in five when he lands elsewhere by October for 2013-14.

But then he goes and does what he did to the Brooklyn Nets Saturday afternoon at United Center, slapping paddles on a game long gone and zapping it back to life for him and his teammates of the moment. Contract game? Lil Nate had himself a podium game. Three overtimes high.

“That was one of the greatest playoff performances I’ve seen,” veteran Bulls center Nazr Mohammed said an hour after Chicago beat the Nets 142-134 in triple-OT. “Especially in the second half. He willed us back … we were what, down 14 at the time? He just made offensive play after offensive play and put us in position to even get this victory.

“I mean, this game is Nate’s win.”

Aw heck, why stop there? For a good stretch of an amazing afternoon in the Windy City, it was Nate’s world. Everyone else either was grinding through three overtimes alongside him, watching slack-jawed or both. That silly cliche about only the last five minutes mattering in an NBA game? The trick Saturday was knowing which five minutes would be the last.

“It was amazing. He put on a straight show out there,” Chicago’s Carlos Boozer said. “It was like he couldn’t miss. We just kept giving him the ball and let him do what he does.”

The fourth quarter began routinely enough, with Brooklyn dusted off from an early hole and pushing ahead by eight, then 10. Robinson’s first nine points of the period were shrug-worthy, because the Bulls slipped further behind, trailing 109-95 with 3:45 left.

Dozens of fans got up and headed to the exits, though most of them are lying about it already.

So it was going to get worse when Nets guard C.J. Watson stole the ball from Robinson and broke downcourt for what, for him, was an uncharacteristic dunk attempt (ex-Bull, rubbing it in a little, right?). Except Watson missed – the crowd hooted, stoked by some earlier shoves between Robinson and Watson. Brooklyn’s Reggie Evans got the ball, got fouled – and missed both free throws.

That’s when Nate happened. He drained a 3-pointer. He burst in for a driving layup. He nailed a 16-foot jumper. He got whacked from behind the arc and coolly made all three free throws. Then, at 1:11, he pulled up at the right elbow and shot over Nets center Brook Lopez to get Chicago within 109-107.

“We got a stop and we got the ball to Nate,” Boozer said.

Robinson’s 23 points in the quarter came within one of tying Michael Jordan (his hero) for the most in a single period in Bulls’ playoff history. Then something truly amazing happened. Next time down for the Bulls, Robinson went pure point guard and found Boozer, whose reverse layup tied it at 109, at 55.4 seconds left. There would be seven more ties across the next 15-plus minutes before anyone could go home.

“It’s not necessarily me taking over,” Robinson said. “The team needed a lift and that’s when I’m usually at my best. … I always feel like I’m on fire. That way, in a game, I can play with a lot of confidence.”

Not always with Thibodeau’s blessing, however. Every so often, Robinson yo-yos the ball too long to eat up precious shot clock or, as he did in the second quarter on a fast break, launches a 3-pointer too quickly. When it drops, Thibodeau and the rest of ‘em have to swallow their bile. When it doesn’t …

“It seems every shot I take, he’s mad,” Robinson joked afterward. “He’s like a drill sergeant but I know there’s a heart in there somewhere. I just keep shooting and hope to make them. Then he can’t say much.”

Thibodeau was seen actually cracking a smile after the game, though Robinson probably won’t believe it.

Robinson wasn’t done quite yet. He almost won it in the first overtime when, in “iso” mode at 119-119, he hoisted a running bank shot from 22 feet that improbably dropped through. Left with two seconds on the clock, though, Joe Johnson‘s jumper queued up another five minutes.

And then, finally, Nate was done. At 127-126 Bulls, he shoved off against Deron Williams for his sixth foul with 1:03 left in the second overtime. The jumper cables were off, yet the engine kept running. In time, Joakim Noah (who already had blown through his sore-foot minutes limit by 10) and Taj Gibson would foul out, too, but each man who subbed in – Gibson, Jimmy Butler, Mohammed late – seemed to draw from Robinson’s energy or at least example.

The Bulls’ dressing room after looked like a train had rolled through. Players slumped in their chairs, ice bags and ice tubs everywhere. The minutes load had been ridiculous: Nearly 60 minutes on the floor for Kirk Hinrich. Almost 57 for Luol Deng. It was the same thing 30 yards down the hall – 58 minutes for Williams, 51 for Lopez, Gerald Wallace and Evans fouling out in overtime, and so on – yet at the Bulls’ end, the bodies were drained but the eyes burned bright.

They were up 3-1 in the first-round series, all that work hadn’t been for naught and their character-in-residence had gone Seussian: Good Nate, bad Nate, late Nate, great Nate!

“The basketball gods were on our side,” said Noah, “because being down 10 [14 actually] with 3 1/2, four minutes left, we just stayed with it and Nate took over offensively. That’s what he does. He’s done that for us more than a few times this year. He did it on a huge, huge stage. To be able to play in a triple-overtime game and to win, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

The best feeling, and a far different mood than the one that permeated United Center 364 days earlier, when a certain irrepressible Bulls guard not named Nate became the story late in a Saturday playoff matinee for all the wrong reasons. Robinson thrilled people in the building like Derrick Rose Saturday, and there was nothing small about that.

–Series Hub: Nets vs. Bulls

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Saunders Likely Back In Minny, Kahn Out

April 26, 2013  ·  11:05AM

Flip Saunders is expected to take over for David Kahn in Minnesota. (by Ned Dishman/NBAE)

Flip Saunders is expected to take over for David Kahn in Minnesota. (by Ned Dishman/NBAE)

Former NBA head coach Flip Saunders is expected to return to the Minnesota Timberwolves as the team’s next president of basketball operations, NBA.com has learned.

Saunders, 58, has been negotiating a contract that, with option years, could run through the 2017-18 season and could be worth more than $9 million over the full five years, according to league sources who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the hiring.

The move, which could become official as soon as next week, would end David Kahn‘s controversial tenure after four seasons and an 89-223 record during which the Timberwolves’ failure to reach the playoffs stretched to nine consecutive seasons. Kahn’s contract includes a team option for 2013-14 that will not be exercised.

Minnesota owner Glen Taylor and Saunders had been meeting in recent weeks, with Taylor confirming a report in March that Saunders was representing a group of prospective buyers interested in purchasing the franchise. Taylor, who turned 72 last week, has been seeking a minority investor or investors who eventually could take over majority control of the club.

Saunders, contacted Thursday evening in Bristol, Conn., where he was working as an NBA studio analyst for ESPN, neither confirmed nor denied his return to the Wolves.

“That’s the same speculation that was out there last month,” he said.

Taylor did not return phone messages seeking comment. He has told associates he would not discuss the matter with the media.

Saunders is the most successful coach in Minnesota franchise history, posting a 411-326 record in 9 1/2 seasons and steering the team to eight consecutive playoff berths. His time with the Wolves coincided with forward Kevin Garnett‘s ascendancy from high school draftee to perennial All-Star, NBA Most Valuable Player in 2004 and shoo-in Hall of Famer.

The 2003-04 team reached the Western Conference finals before falling to the Lakers’ last Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant team. But the expectations that success fueled led to Saunders’ firing in February 2005 after stumbling to a 25-26 mark.

He later coached the Detroit Pistons, going 176-70 from 2005-2008 near the end of the Pistons’ dominant Eastern Conference run, and the Washington Wizards, where the Gilbert Arenas gun situation blew up a potential playoff team. The Wizards went 51-130 with Saunders before he was fired in January 2012. Last spring, Saunders served as a consultant to the Boston Celtics at the invitation of coach Doc Rivers. He joined ESPN’s NBA coverage crew this season.

A native of Cleveland and a point guard at the University of Minnesota, Saunders coached in college and then for seven seasons in the Continental Basketball Association. He was brought to the Wolves in May 1995 by former Gophers teammate Kevin McHale as Minnesota’s general manager, then added head coaching duties when Bill Blair was fired seven months later, in December of Garnett’s rookie season.

Saunders shed the GM title in the wake of Minnesota’s salary-cap violations uncovered in 2000 in its signing forward Joe Smith. A series of illegal contracts, including future seasons after Smith played for what was considered to be less than market value for two years, ultimately cost the franchise three No. 1 draft picks and a $3.5 million fine, still the largest in NBA history. Taylor was suspended for one year and McHale, the Wolves’ VP of basketball operations at the time, agreed to take a leave of absence for the 2000-01 season.

Sources close to Saunders say that, since exiting the Wizards job, he is comfortable with the prospect of a front-office job rather than a future coaching position. Despite his firing in Minnesota in 2005, Saunders and Taylor have maintained a good relationship.

David Kahn (by David Sherman/NBAE)

David Kahn (by David Sherman/NBAE)

Kahn, hired in May 2009, took over a team that had missed the playoffs for five seasons and had posted losing records in the most recent four. He began an aggressive overhaul of the roster – more than one, eventually – and drew immediate criticism for drafting point guards with both the Nos. 5 and 6 picks that spring. Ricky Rubio, a heavily scouted prospect who fell to Minnesota after a poor workout with Sacramento, spent two more years in Spain before coming to the NBA and becoming one of the league’s bright young stars. Syracuse product Jonny Flynn, however, was a disappointment from the start and most recently played in an Australian pro league.

Wesley Johnson, the No. 4 pick in 2010, and Derrick Williams, the highest pick in Wolves history at No. 2 in 2011, also have been underwhelming in their young NBA careers. Other trades have helped rival clubs more than they have Minnesota (Al Jefferson and Corey Brewer). And after four years under Kahn, two of the Wolves’ three best players – All-Star power forward Kevin Love and center Nikola Pekovic – were scouted and drafted by McHale.

Kahn — a former sportswriter who got a law degree, worked in the Indiana Pacers’ front office and served as an executive in the NBA Development League — also made a pair of dubious, expensive signings. In July 2010, he signed failed big man-turned-NBA punchline Darko Milicic to a four-year, $20 million contract (though not fully guaranteed). The Timberwolves used the amnesty clause to rid themselves of Milicic in July 2012.

Also last summer, the Wolves lured Portland guard Brandon Roy out of injury-driven retirement with a two-year, $10 million deal; Roy lasted only five games this season before knee problems shelved him again. Kahn did sign Andrei Kirilenko back into the NBA after the former Utah forward’s one-year hiatus in Europe and added backcourt help via Alexey Shved of the Russian national team.

Kahn’s first hire as head coach, Kurt Rambis, went 32-132 in two seasons before being fired. His replacement, Rick Adelman, got the Wolves to 26-40 in the post-lockout 2011-12 season, then provided roster input that led to the acquisition of players such as Chase Budinger and Dante Cunningham and the departures of Milicic, Johnson and Michael Beasley, among others.

A rash of injuries this season – from Rubio’s remaining rehab of his March 2012 knee surgery to Love’s twice-broken hand, with significant games also lost by Budinger, Roy, Kirilenko and more – thwarted what Taylor, Kahn, Adelman and Minnesota fans felt would be the pursuit of a playoff berth. Taylor said in March that the injuries made it difficult to fully assess the team’s or Kahn’s performance. But sources said Taylor also planned to evaluate Kahn’s rapport with people inside the organization and in the NBA.

Adelman’s status for 2013-14 remains uncertain while his wife Mary Kay‘s health issues continue to be addressed. The veteran coach missed 11 games while doctors in Minnesota worked to determine the cause of her seizures.

Adelman, who will turn 67 in June, returned to pick up the 1,000th victory of his coaching career and has talked optimistically about the current roster’s potential. He and Saunders reportedly have a good relationship after years of competing on NBA sidelines, and the Wolves are hopeful that Adelman decides to return.

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Boozer A Constant In Bulls’ Painful Season, 2-1 Lead Vs. Nets

April 26, 2013  ·  1:30AM

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CHICAGO – No way the Chicago Bulls can win a championship with Carlos Boozer.

For Boozer’s first two seasons in this town, that was the vibe, sometimes an undercurrent, more often a topic that could light up the phone lines and carry a whole show of afternoon sports talk.

Then a funny thing happened. Derrick Rose‘s knee blew up (we’ re talking funny strange, not funny ha-ha, in case you’re wondering). Expectations in and for Chicago plummeted. At various points in the 2012-13 season, the bar was set no higher than having five Bulls players healthy enough to start and two or three more in reserve. And Boozer kept on being Boozer, to the point that …

No way the Chicago Bulls can win much of anything right now without Carlos Boozer.

On a team whose offense too often looks like tossing horseshoes at a trailer hitch on I-94, Boozer has been nearly a sure thing through three games of the first round against the Brooklyn Nets. He’s averaging 20.0 points and 12.0 rebounds, shooting 57.4 percent and logging serious minutes, an average of 42:19.

In the unsightly but effective 79-76 Game 3 victory Thursday night at United Center, Boozer was good for 22 points and 16 rebounds, his second 20-15 playoff game since signing with the Bulls and his 10th in the postseason  in 11 NBA seasons.

With Luol Deng (21 points, 10 rebounds), Boozer even participated in a little Bulls playoff history. They became the first Chicago teammates to post 20-and-10 performances in the same playoff game since June 2, 1993, when Michael Jordan (29 points, 10 assists) and Scottie Pippen (28 points, 11 rebounds) did it against New York in the Eastern Conference finals.

Michael and Scottie, of course, were beloved. Deng is admired, certainly, and increasingly appreciated by the United Center fans. And then there’s Boozer, receiver of much guff both earned and unearned during his Chicago stay.

“I’m really happy for Carlos because Carlos has been criticized a lot since he’s been here,” Bulls center Joakim Noah said afterward, Boozer dressing about six feet away. “I just see in his eyes, he’s really, really hungry. Just to prove all his critics [wrong]. And he’s been huge for us. … We’ve had so many injuries this year and he’s been the one constant all season. I think he’s put it in the books that he’s going to get us rebounds, get us buckets and make plays.”

Without Rose, with others such as Noah, Richard Hamilton, Kirk Hinrich, Taj Gibson and Marco Belinelli coming and going from the rotation due to injuries, Boozer, 31, appeared in 79 games. That was third-most on the team and the most for Boozer since he was 26 years old.

As for his numbers, well, Boozer always has been a Tim Duncan Jr. as far as year-to-year predictability. In 2012-13, his shooting was off but only by slivers – he averaged 0.2 fewer field goals (7.7) for every 36 minutes played compared to his first 10 seasons in the league (7.9), while taking 1.4 extra field-goal attempts (16.1 vs. 14.7).

Boozer is, pure and simple, a 19-point, 10-rebound man, regardless of circumstances, through good and through bad, season in, season out. His personality pretty much tracks his stats, affable yet inaccessible, a cool professional-athlete-as-clock-puncher veneer with a hint of Teflon. It has frustrates fans who revel or suffer so publicly, win or lose with each Bulls outcome. Particularly those who still haven’t gotten over Boozer not being LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Joe Johnson in the summer of 2010.

Boozer has shrugged that stuff off his broad shoulders since Day 1. He hasn’t let outsiders in through various lows – notice how his minutes so far this postseason compare to what he averaged last spring (33.3) or in 2011 (31.7), when he wasn’t trusted on the floor for his defense. So Boozer isn’t inclined to let the outsiders in now, either, with things perking up.

“I feel good and my teammates are great,” he said, slipping a question about the criticism. “I’ve got great teammates and a great coaching staff, great management. Family’s great. So I just feed off of that.”

Right now, Boozer has a great opponent, too. In six games against Brooklyn, he has averaged 20.7 points and 11.3 rebounds. The Nets have not come close to solving his combination of baseline and mid-range game. Meanwhile, he ripped rebounds away might have gone to others, taking 15 off the defensive glass to make sure Brooklyn’s 34.6 percent shooting hurt to the max.

“We’ve tried to deny him the ball,” Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “We’ve tried to make him go a certain direction and we’ve contested his shot. But we haven’t done any of it real well. When he gets shots, he’s making shots. He doesn’t seem to miss an open shot. … We have to do a better job on him.”

Said Gibson: “Carlos is so skilled offensively. They throw a lot of things at him, they try to front him, try to double-team him. But Carlos is such a smart player mentally. Plus he’s been in these situations before with many teams in the playoffs. And he’s real humble about it, but he understands he’s a leader now and he’s calling for the ball. He’s being dominant. That’s what we need him to do.”

Some of this might not be there for Boozer if Rose were around, carving lanes to the basket with his drives, changing the rhythm of the Bulls’ offense. He still has an amnesty clock over his head like that big national-debt counter, except that Boozer’s counts down the days until the Bulls – if they choose – cut him loose a year early in the offseason of 2014. Probably he never will be beloved at United Center.

But he has been good enough this season, and especially this week, that the discontent with him previously seems a bit harsh now. It’s as if those who booed rather than “Booooz!”-ed are coming around to him, but he already has their number.

Said Noah: “I don’t think it’s easy for anybody to play through that. Everybody’s human. He’s a tough guy … but it’s still not easy. I think he’s using all that as motivation.”

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Shaqtin’ A Fool: Worst Of The Worst

April 23, 2013  ·  2:49AM


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With the regular season in the books, it’s time to look back at the top 5 worst “Shaqtin’ a Fool” moments from this season. Vote for your favorite Shaqtin’ A Fool moment!

#shaqtin

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Lopez Thrives In Bulls’ Middle Mismatch

April 22, 2013  ·  12:45PM

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NEW YORK – The way Joakim Noah sounded at 10 a.m. Monday, half awake and with nagging soreness in his right foot, the thought of the Brooklyn Nets’ Brook Lopez banging into, past and through him right then, right there was cringe-worthy. Good thing for the Chicago Bulls center it was only his team’s morning shootaround in an opponent-free gym on Manhattan’s west side.

The challenge posed by Lopez, both to a hobbled Noah individually and to the Bulls’ hopes of advancing beyond this first-round series, still was 12 hours away.

The idea of him and the havoc he can wreak in the heart of Chicago’s defense, though, was ever present.

“It’s not only his back-to-the-basket game,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said of Lopez, who scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half of an easy Brooklyn victory in Game 1 Saturday. “It’s what he gets off pick-and-rolls and spotting up. The first quarter, I think he was 3-for-7, but he got seven free throws.”

Lopez drew fouls on three different Bulls big men, sending Taj Gibson back to the bench after barely four minutes. Noah, limited by his plantar-fascia tear, stuck around for only 6:25, which left Nazr Mohammed, Carlos Boozer and gang tactics to cope, poorly, with Lopez.

Noah, while reporting less discomfort in his foot Monday, still will likely be held to restricted minutes.That means more gang work, again, in trying to keep Lopez from too much early impact.

Said Thibodeau: “You have to play him on the perimeter, play him to put it on the floor and play him back-to-the-basket. We allowed him to get some easy ones, too, which got his confidence going.”

Exactly, said the Nets. Brooklyn guard Deron Williams said after Game 1 that he’s been urging Lopez to follow his lead when the playmaker penetrates the paint. “I’ve been on Brook all year that when we get two [defenders] on the ball on my penetration, just trun to the front of the rim, because he’s going to get easy baskets,” Williams said.

Lopez seems to be learning. Williams’ play improved after the All-Star break and Lopez has benefited. The big man’s field-goal percentage in the opening quarter of games in February was 40.0 percent. That bumped to 56.3 percent in March and 62.0 percent in April as he and Williams built their on-court chemistry.

That’s what Noah and the Bulls, aching or not, will have to thwart, especially in the first 12 minutes after tipoff.

Said Noah, who has tried just about everything – ice, stretching, massage, acupuncture – to ease his foot pain: “We’ve got to try to find a way to slow him down. It’ll take a team effort. Can’t let him get [to his spots] on the floor.”

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Brooklyn Peaks At Right Time, Based On Opener Vs. Bulls

April 21, 2013  ·  1:40AM


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BROOKLYN – The last postseason game played in this borough, the guys from Brooklyn didn’t even score (Johnny Kucks and the New York Yankees shut out the Dodgers 9-0 in Game 7 of the 1956 World Series at Ebbets Field).

So things already were looking up when Brook Lopez turned teammate Reggie Evans‘ offensive rebound into a layup 62 seconds into Game 1 of the Nets’ best-of-seven series against the Chicago Bulls Saturday night at Barclays Center.

The thing is, it only got better from there. Everything got better. The Nets’ offense purred under the direction of Deron Williams. The Brooklyn defense clamped down hard on a Bulls team with a reputation for clamping down (“I think we’re better,” Nets forward Gerald Wallace said).

Lopez played so well – 19 of his 21 points by halftime – that it might not have mattered if Chicago center Joakim Noah had had three good feet, never mind two. Brooklyn scored in the second quarter alone (35 points) what it took the Bulls a whole half to post and needed only three quarters to do (89 points) what took the visitors the entire game.

NBA playoff series are all about game-to-game adjustments, holding home court and never, ever getting out front of one’s self in excitement or assumptions. The Nets expect nothing less than a resurgence by Chicago’s players, properly chewed, spit out and told to do better by coach Tom Thibodeau.

Still, if a series opener could count double or at least set a tone for what’s likely to follow, this one would shoot to the front of the pack. This was one of the Nets’ most complete victories of their inaugural season at Barclays and it came precisely at the right time.

“Fresh start. New season. Playoffs are totally different,” said Wallace, who has seen performances by his squad similar to Saturday’s but only for partial credit.

“We’ve been doing that in the regular season against them but we’d give it away in the fourth quarter,” Wallace said, referring to Brooklyn’s 1-3 record against Chicago in the regular season. “We just been really inconsistent at times – we got comfortable during the regular season when we got leads as well as we did tonight. Tonight our focus was for 48 minutes.”

Funny how the urgency takes hold when the wiggle room vanishes. “You’ve just got to know that it’s win or go home,” said Wallace, whose 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks mattered less than the aggressiveness he showed, particularly on defense (his counterpart, Luol Deng, got sideways with just six points on 3-of-11 shooting).

“There’s no, ‘Well, OK, we’ll just chalk this one and come back tomorrow.’ We don’t have 82 games to kind of fix things. Four losses and we’re at home. And all the little nick-nack things and petty things that you had to deal with during the regular season have to be thrown out the window now.”

Swapping East Rutherford, N.J., for their fancy new digs, the Nets brought to their new home an almost entirely new team. That bunch got off to an unrealistically perky start – 11-4 through November for East Coach of the Month Avery Johnson, who was gone before their full reversal in December (5-11) was complete.

The parts didn’t always fit, especially with Williams out of shape, aching in his ankles and generally cranky about it all. Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo steered the Nets to the best winning percentage in franchise history (.648) but there still were hiccups late in the regular season, including a loss to Toronto and a scare against Indiana.

But Williams shed some weight, got specialized treatment on his ankles and came back from a getaway All-Star break in Miami looking like a new player, as in, the old D-Will. Guys around him got healthier and more comfortable playing with him, even as Williams’ bursts and jump shots improved.

The Nets’ attention to detail picked up. They have made it routine to get Lopez active early, because of the good things that usually follow. Just run to the rim, big fella. As forward Reggie Evans said: “I have so much confidence up to the point where I know he’s gonna bring it every night. I won’t worry about him … we’ve already been talking about this moment and stuff. Typical Lope – here early, ready to roll, and he did what he did. You can’t really argue, one of the top two big men in the league by far.”

There was hardly a thing to dislike, as “Brooklyn basketball” played to an identity Saturday rather than just a marketing slogan. Highlights abounded, from vet Jerry Stackhouse singing the anthem to Williams swiping the ball and racing downcourt for a reverse dunk.

Chicago was the team in off-day disarray, with a lot of its fans wondering if Noah’s sore right foot (plantar fasciitis) can heal enough again to allow him on the court. Failing that, some who noticed All-Star guard Derrick Rose on the visitors’ bench might be wondering if Noah’s heart could be transplanted into Rose’s chest. The healthiest guy on Chicago’s roster might be the one who hasn’t played since last April 28.

Still, this one was about Brooklyn, so much so that some were bemoaning the Nets’ failure to chase down the No. 3 seed, considering the second-round showdown it might have set up with the Knicks.

For now, though, one Brooklyn postseason game that went right nearly 57 years after the last one went wrong was cause enough for anticipation.

Williams, touting “ball movement, defensively being attentive and helping each other out,” called it “really unselfish basketball.” And “fun basketball.”

“We’ve had ups and downs all season,” the point guard said. “But I think we always expected to be in the playoffs. and hopefully [we're] clicking at the right time.”

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Chicago Shifts Gears, Hopes Loose Playoff Schedule Good For Health

April 20, 2013  ·  12:14PM

NEW YORK – Think of the difference between the NBA’s regular season and its postseason like this: You’re taking a college course that meets four times weekly, covers a fresh topic each class and grades you on daily multiple-choice quizzes, each of which represents only a sliver of your overall mark.

Then, late in the semester, everything changes: twice a week sessions, same narrow subject matter drilled down into again and again and one lengthy, hand-cramping essay exam at the end that makes or breaks your final grade.

The former is the regular season. The latter, the playoffs. Some teams are better at shifting gears than others.

“That’s NBA basketball,” Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said before the Bulls’ shootaround Saturday morning. They went through their workout/walk-through at a gym on Manhattan’s west side but cross over to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for Game 1 of their first-round series Saturday night against the Nets.

“That’s what you enjoy. That’s the challenge of it,” Thibodeau said. “But you’re playing against a great team. To me, you play the regular season to put yourself in the best position you can. But once that’s been determined, now you’ve got to go out and try to get it done.”

For a gym rat and grinder like Thibodeau, the playoffs are an opportunity to lock in on one opponent for as many as seven straight games. So it’s all about adjustments in between, from one to the next. Back-to-backs are over, there always is time for practice and what worked one night might be the thing your foe takes away from you the next from tipoff to final horn.

Of course, the smart guys at the other end of the floor are doing precisely the same thing.

“You have to earn your wings” Thibodeau said. “You’ve got to be at your best. You’ve got to have a lot of toughness. You have to be able to get through things.”

In Chicago’s case, that means injuries. The playoffs lend a different approach to those, too. On one hand, there’s recovery time between games. On the other, every game a hobbled player sits out gets him two, three or four extra days of healing.

The Bulls’ most pressing injury belongs to center Joakim Noah, hampered by plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Noah warmed up for shootaround, then had a long chat with Thibodeau at center court. He was considered a game-time decision even to test his foot in limited minutes.

Forward Taj Gibson, who is back from a sprained left knee and healed enough to don a smaller brace than he had been wearing, said: “Anytime we can give Jo time to heal up and rest, it’s great. We were in the same position last year when Joakim turned his ankle [in the first-round elimination by Philadelphia]. We’re just trying to give him some time to get back and get right.”

That puts pressure on Gibson and likely starter veteran Nazr Mohammed to contain Brooklyn’s All-Star big man, Brook Lopez. Said Gibson: “We’ve got to throw bodies at him. We’ve got to be strong with fouls. Just got to contest a lot of shots.”

Stretching the schedule out in the playoffs also provides even more time for injured Bulls guard Derrick Rose – who has yet to play since blowing out the anterior cruciate ligament in 2012′s playoff opener – to theoretically get healthier. Thibodeau repeated the team’s stance that it will give Rose minutes whenever he’s ready for them – “that’d be fine” even in mid-series, the coach said – before veering close to saying what most people have assumed.

“I mean, most likely [he's] out, but you never know,” Thibodeau said. “The playoffs are stretched out, too, so you have to factor that in. Who knows another week from now where he is. You always want to leave that possibility open.”

Rose is on the roster. There’s nothing to be gained from ruling him out. But Noah’s injury and day-to-day status is the one matters most to Chicago now.

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Seattle-Sacramento Tug O’War Gets 3 More Weeks Of Rope

April 19, 2013  ·  4:26PM

 

NEW YORK – Calling it a “wrenching” decision, NBA commissioner David Stern told reporters Friday that the thorny issue of the Sacramento Kings’ proposed sale and relocation would be resolved within the next three weeks.

Which way it goes – the Kings staying and playing right where they are or shifting north as the second coming of the Seattle SuperSonics – remains unclear. And, as Stern told it after the latest NBA Board of Governors meeting, it even has him guessing.

“It’s the only time in the last 37 – 47 years – that I haven’t known the answer,” Stern said, playful with his own timeline in response to a reporter’s question, then turning serious about the process. “No, but this is one that’s just been quite difficult and confusing for the owners as well. And we’ve been working very hard to give it a structure at their direction.”

Whether you believe that assessment might hinge on your view of Stern. Did the most powerful (and some would say controversial) commissioner in sports get that way by behaving like Lady Justice, blindfolded and scales all even-steven? Or is he still the delicatessen owner’s son from Teaneck, N.J., adept at resting a thumb ever-so-slightly on the scale?

Advocates on both sides of the Maloof family‘s possible sale and transfer of the franchise to Seattle interests headed by investors Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer are skeptical that Stern isn’t shading or influencing the process in some way. If both sides are worried that it’s tilting against them, that at least is worth something.

The bottom line out of the BOG sessions held Thursday and Friday, after diligent work by the relocation and finance committees, was that any tilting would matter after the week of May 6-10. That’s when a FINAL final vote will be taken and the Kings’ fate decided.

Why the wait? Those committees will meet again next week to sort through remaining questions about arena construction and financing and about the particulars of each group’s offer. The report they issue will be sent to the entire Board of Governors, which must have at least seven business days to review it. Also, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson told NBA.com Friday that he thought his group would be permitted to make a final pitch on that city’s behalf.

All of that pushes the BOG vote out three weeks. A league spokesman said it could be held face-to-face again or via conference call. Any meeting might be back in New York or could be held in one of the active playoff cities. Then and only then would folks watching the NBA Draft Lottery know whether the team card in the big envelope said Sacramento or Seattle.

Said Stern: “What makes this particularly difficult … is the Seattle group has done a lot of work. It’s well funded. It’s got spectacular businessmen who support the community behind it, and the Sacramento group has a very strong base of economic support as well.”

The Hansen-Ballmer group recently upped its offer to $357.5 million for a 65 percent controlling interest in the Kings, which pushed the team’s valuation to $550 million. The Sacramento group led by Johnson and investors Vivek Ranadive and Mark Mastrov also have made a bid that, Stern said Friday, is being treated as a signed agreement. Both offers are “in the ballpark,” Stern said when asked about significant differences.

Both have the same negative, too: Neither the Kings’ current home or an NBA return to Seattle’s KeyArena offers the long-term solution.

“We’ve got two temporary facilities that we’re going to be playing in,” Stern said, “whichever way the board goes, and the quality of those facilities and there’s so many other issues and the critical path based upon environmental reviews, potential lawsuits and the like.”

It’s a hot mess, an either/or dilemma that is likely to leave one of the markets – the capital of California or the former Pacific Northwest home of one of the league’s showcase teams – on the outside looking in.

When asked about expansion to Seattle as a compromise solution, Stern said: “I haven’t heard that in any shape or form, particularly when we don’t know at this time what the next television network contract would be.” Remember, beyond dilution of talent and scheduling and alignment concerns, divvying up the hundreds of millions of dollars a 31st NBA franchise would pay for entry would mean cutting another slice from the broadcast revenues in the future.

Then there is Stern’s legacy, which will be sealed next Feb. 1 when he resigns after 30 years. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver has been tabbed as his successor.

Said Stern: “We have expended not only enormous man‑hours but enormous sums of money for outside consultants. This will be by far our most extensive review of anything like this in the league’s history.”

Among other items on the BOG agenda Thursday and Friday:

– Reports on revenue-sharing and the impact of the collective bargaining agreement were heard. “Very upbeat in terms of improving team operations and the competitiveness of the league,” Sterm said.

– Jeannie Buss was approved as controlling governor of the Los Angeles Lakers, as the family continues its succession of late owner Jerry Buss. Also, Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert and partners purchased additional interest in the Cavaliers franchise.

– The governors “had fun” with a report on officiating, while formally welcoming former NBA player and league exec Mike Bantom as the new head of officiating.

– A report from the competition committee was educational for the owners in highlighting the trends of increased 3-point reliance – from no teams that averaged 20 or more attempts from the arc in 2001 to a dozen that did so this season, Stern said. That, in turn, has opened up the game to the bosses’ satisfaction.

– Security matters also were discussed, especially in the wake of the events this week in Boston. The bombings at the Boston Marathon led to the cancellation of Tuesday’s Pacers-Celtics game in that city. The NBA will be making a “significant contribution,” the commissioner said, to the One Fund established to aid victims of that terrorist attack.

– Stern said he remains optimistic that human-growth hormones will be added to the NBA’s anti-drug testing program but that addition involves cooperation of the National Basketball Players Association, which is busy finding a replacement for executive director Billy Hunter.

 

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