I still think we'll win one or two, and I'm still glad we're playing
them instead of the Heat, but man, this Bulls team is pretty good. They
got what essentially amounts to an average game from Derrick Rose (23
points on 9-23 shooting with five TOs, though with nine rebounds and
nine assists), but still easily handled the Sixers, getting fine
contributions from their wings (a combined 36 points on 12-21 shooting
from Luol Deng and Rip Hamilton) and swallowing the Sixers in the
frontcourt, allowing just a handful of layups and completely shutting
many of the Sixers' bigs. The Sixers hung tough for a half but let
things slip away in the early fourth, eventually losing 103-91.
Aside from Elton Brand, who was money all night with his jumper (19
points and 7 rebounds, 8-15 shooting), and Evan Turner, who was the
team's most aggressive scorer and playmaker off the bench (12 points and
5 assists, with a rare five trips to the FT line), it's a lot of mixed
reviews for the Sixers in this one. Jrue attacked early but shot poorly
(16 points on 7-18 shooting) and committed some costly turnovers (three
giveaways to just two assists) early. Lou also got to the line (7-8 FT)
but shot miserably (1-6 from the field), while as per usual, Andre
Iguodala did everything well (six rebounds, five assists, solid D)
except scoring (11 points on 3-11 shooting). And the less said about our
centers—a combined nine points and ten rebounds for the Allen/Hawes
combo, much racked up in garbage time—the better.
Of course, the actual outcome of the game was well overshadowed by the
events of the final 90 seconds, in which Rose, the Bulls' oft-injured
star player, went down with a gimpy knee or some such and laid on the
ground for several minutes. The Bulls could probably beat the Sixers
three more times with a limited or absent Rose, but such an injury would
have untold consequences on both the Bulls' finals chances and the
entire Eastern Conference playoff outlook. (And we'd probably have a
better chance of sneaking out a game or two.) Though it's certainly an
easier matchup for us without Rose, we still wish him the best in
getting healthy and back in the game ASAP—you hate to see injuries so
shaping the outlooks of these series, regardless of opponent. (Not to
mention we might be rooting for them to beat Miami at some point.)
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A couple notes for game two: I really hope that Coach Collins stops
overthinking things and just goes with the
Holiday-Turner-Iguodala-Brand-Hawes starting lineup for game two.
Actually, I might prefer Turner over Iguodala to allow Meeks to give us
some three-point production at the two, a look this team might have to
go with a bunch next year if 'Dre gets traded as expected, but there's
no way our All-Star will be coming off the bench in this series. Turner
was the only guy on the Sixers today who really seemed to make things
happen against this stout Bulls defense, and we owe our former #2 pick
the shot to be the breakout performer of the Sixers' (likely short)
post-season run. And Hawes...I just can't see us getting much out of
Lavoy Allen this series, and I just trust Hawes more (albeit still not
much) in the pick-and-pop and maybe battling for an offensive board or
two.
Ultimately, it wasn't a shameful effort, though maybe not a particularly
valiant one either. It's hard to feel too strongly about this game one
way or another, and I guess that's just where we are with this Sixers
team right now. Game Two is on Tuesday and will likely go similarly,
though maybe with Turner in the starting lineup (which I expect will
happen, with Collins going with him nearly the entire second half) we
can get a little juice from that–he seems to get both teams (and the
audience) fired up, at the very least.
If the series proceeds as the game today did, I am glad about one
thing—it makes our team's mission to rebuild (or at the very least,
restructure) in the off-season that much stronger. None of the Spencer
Hawes/Lou Williams/Andre Iguodala trio did much today to demonstrate why
they need to be a part of this team's long-term plan, and hopefully
that will make cutting the cord with all three this off-season a little
bit easier. Still a lot of post-season to play, obviously, and I'd like
to see a bit more from Jrue and Evan before all is said and done, but in
general, I think we're moving in the right direction here—even if
that's cold comfort at best after a loss like this.
UPDATE: Rose is done for the series and the postseason with a torn ACL.