Ballin’: Bulls Close in on Playoff Berth
NBA March 12th. 2008, 9:47am
Chicago 108, Utah 96: As atrocious as the Bulls have been, they’re just half-a-game outside of the final playoff spot in the East. Ben Gordon, who led a strong bench effort with 19, has now made more three-pointers in a Bulls jersey than Michael Jordan. After benching Chris Duhon Sunday for missing the team shootaround, the Duke grad was inactive for this one. Gulp.
Phoenix 132, Memphis 111: The Suns dropped 72 in the first half, and led by 31 at the break en route to the rout. You must see this hilarious Shaq highlight.
Los Angeles Lakers 117, Toronto 108: Kobe went for 34 and Andrew Bynum is now running on a treadmill. Can you imagine how much press the Lakers or Celtics would be getting if they had won 19 games in a row?
Indiana 114, Seattle 107: Mike Dunleavy went for 32 points against the passive non-existent Sonics defense. Who will have the better pro career: Oregon’s Mike Dunleavy or Oregon’s Kevin Love?
Portland 103, Minnesota 96: Marko Jaric had three steals in the loss, but we’ll give him four, if you want to count Adrianna Lima’s heart.
93 Responses to “Ballin’: Bulls Close in on Playoff Berth”
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March 12th, 2008 at 9:49 AM
It’s disgusting that the 8 seed in the east will finish somewhere around .400. I think congress should step in and put a west team in that 8 spot.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Kevin Love will have the better career. when the season just started, i was saying Love will have a better pro career than Kevin Mchale. I still stand by that opinion. Mchale had great teammates, but i believe Kevin Love will be a monster in the pros. i got ripped for the comparison then, and i wont doubt if someone rips me now for saying that again
Dwight Howard vs TBL All Star Chris Kaman tonight
should be fun
March 12th, 2008 at 9:51 AM
I don’t know much about the NBA or follow it too closely, but Dunleavy is averaging 18 and 5 while shooting 48% from the field and 40% from three?
When did he all of a sudden become good?
March 12th, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Birdman is back for New Orleans. If he can give 80% of the productivity he gave pre-suspension, New Orleans becomes a much scarier team. The two-headed bench monster of Melvin Ely and Hilton Armstrong have been extremely horrible.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:52 AM
is kaman playing tonight for sure? he was out the last game with a sore lower back..
March 12th, 2008 at 9:53 AM
i hope so, i want to see that guy get destroyed tonight by Dwight
March 12th, 2008 at 9:53 AM
Holy crap! You should write the next Diane Lane/Robert Redford chick flick.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:53 AM
TBL: Just the right amount of sap and snark. Very good.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:54 AM
I think he is on a team that is basically a bunch of crap, when you are with a bunch of crap you look a little better by default.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:56 AM
irish how did you get your avatar back up and running? i havent seen anyone else’s working today
March 12th, 2008 at 9:57 AM
I don’t know much about the NBA or follow it too closely, but Dunleavy is averaging 18 and 5 while shooting 48% from the field and 40% from three?
When did he all of a sudden become good?
When he was forced to take shots. Still not worth $44 million over 5
March 12th, 2008 at 9:57 AM
i paid off the guy Cortes, be honest with you i dont know. i always see mine and my boy spencer096.
TBl- i got a video for you of your boy basketball related no boobs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bQ3y5hTHuP4
March 12th, 2008 at 10:00 AM
He jumped from career 30-32% from three to 40% because he was “forced to take shots?”
C’mon TBL, you’re better than that.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Melrose Place re-run > Spitzer’s retirement speech
Syracuse/Villanova > Melrose Place re-run
March 12th, 2008 at 10:03 AM
is there any way to stream that game TBL?
March 12th, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Dunleavy’s ‘the guy’ along with Granger. He’s never attempted this many shots per game in his career (from 2 or 3), and now, he’s producing. Of course if O’Neal returns, he’ll lose shots …
March 12th, 2008 at 10:06 AM
@coop…i’m sure that dip shit congressman can step in here and at least drag the comis’s ass to capital hill for a grilling. Maybe ask him why he has not enforced some form of policy that forces the west to give up 1/2 it’s players to the east so the east does not suck
March 12th, 2008 at 10:07 AM
80K on hookers…it’s gonna take me some time to reach that level at the current rate I pay
March 12th, 2008 at 10:08 AM
I get that, TBL. But to say a guy is making more shots just because he’s taking more is a bit of a reach. If it were that easy, Larry Hughes would be an All-Star.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Making more on a % basis, I should say.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:13 AM
nick- the nets are looking strong tonight. Are your boys healthy yet?
chalk up a lose tonight for the CAVS, they will stay the 4th seed for the playoffs and face Toronto if you can imagine that. bosh will be healthy by then and i would pick Toronto in that series. Not because i hate Cleve, but i think Toronto is better than them
March 12th, 2008 at 10:14 AM
god damn the East sucks.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Lebron is healthy, so we should win. We always have trouble with NJ, but they don’t have Kidd anymore, so I’m not worried (famous last words?).
If Bosh comes back 100% healthy, we’ll win in 6 instead of a sweep.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:15 AM
I agree with Irish. Toronto will be the sleeper team in this years playoffs.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Devin harris will go at your guards hard tonight Nick. Devon is a quick, strong PG that is hard to handle
the Magic have a easy remaining schedule, but we do face the CAVS two more times. one in Disney, one in Cleve
Orlando wont get pushed out of the 3rd spot
March 12th, 2008 at 10:17 AM
@gonzo- witness protection is looking for you lol
March 12th, 2008 at 10:18 AM
toronto doesnt play defense. if they face the cavs, lebron would go for 40 every game and bosh would get his ass whooped because they have nobody else down low. if toronto had garbajosa, itd be a different story, but hes not there.
calderon scares the bejesus out of me, i have him on my fantasy team and have to double check the stats because they dont seem real. his assist to turnover ratio is just sick.
east still sucks, the whole east too, not just the bad teams. boston, detroit, cleveland, orlando, they all blow.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Devin Harris isn’t a worry at all. Delonte is good on D.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:20 AM
@spencer- do you see your own gravatar? do you see mine as well?
March 12th, 2008 at 10:21 AM
btw i only see spencer, gonzo, and 412’s avatars.. no longer seeing irish’s..
March 12th, 2008 at 10:22 AM
i only see yours irish, i dont see mine.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:23 AM
i see mine and yours at that is it, did you confirm again?
March 12th, 2008 at 10:24 AM
yea
March 12th, 2008 at 10:26 AM
i like the cavs over toronto in that particular series.. cleveland-orlando would be fun..
March 12th, 2008 at 10:26 AM
I see none.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:27 AM
lmao @ Irish.
BTW, I only see irish and Spencer’s avatar. I don’t even see mine. although we can do this all day. I’ll just wait for it to get ironed out over time.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:28 AM
thanks for filling in for me yesterday Gonzo
March 12th, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Will we be able to see irish’s avatar after Orlando loses in the first found?
March 12th, 2008 at 10:29 AM
you got jokes clown
March 12th, 2008 at 10:30 AM
your as bad as Big nuts on here clown, mention me every time you come on here
March 12th, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Sunday could be insane if the Rockets can take care of business and have a 21 game winning streak when they face the Lakers.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:33 AM
You guys know how much I hate Shaq but that clip of everyone parting when they saw him coming their way is hilarious.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:35 AM
@Grunge: See where Rockets waived Gerald Green? Talk about a guy with elite physical gifts and a great jump shot that is just dumb as box of rocks.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:35 AM
@irish, MobiTV has a hole where you don’t have to log in if you know the link. If you have quicktime (or any SDP client, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/rtsp/implementations.html) installed, try opening this: rtsp://live.mobitv.com:554/4103-CDMA.sdp Not sure if the link still works, and the quality isn’t great, but it is espn.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:44 AM
yeah, we dumped Green to pick up Mike Harris – a guy who can jump almost as high and who actually plays defense.
Sucks about Green, though I suspect we have an under-the-table agreement to re-sign him this summer.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Since no one took you up on it Irish….I don’t think Kevin Love will be anywhere near the level of McHale in the league. People seem to forget that McHale was one of the top 5 PF of all time. That said, I think Love will be a solid NBA contributor for a long time (more so than Hansbrough), maybe a couple of All-Star appearances if he gets lucky in some years.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:46 AM
I’m sure there’ll be some teams interested in him, just on physical talents alone. He’s still only 21.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:54 AM
I think Kevin McHale was a bit overrated, but I also think there’s no way in hell Kevin Love is ever better than him.
Who are the top PF of all-time?
Duncan (unless you want to call him a C), Malone, Barkley, Garnett, Pettit, McHale, Rodman? Probably old guys I’m leaving out.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:57 AM
That Shaq video was hilarious. I was impressed with Shaq in that game last night. Only 2 pts but his line was still pretty good 17mins – 8rebs, 6asst and 3blk
March 12th, 2008 at 10:58 AM
larry nance was extremely underrated as a PF.
my top 5:
1. malone
2. barkley
3. rodman
4. mchale
5. KG
duncan is a center.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Dunleavy’s emergence, while it is in part due to his being the “guy”, is more related to playing for Jim O’Brien, and his free-flowing offense. While everybody picks on the Pacers around here, they do have a team that can points on the board, they have a lot of legit scorers…indeed, they are the 2nd highest-scoring team in the Eastern Conference, behind only Orlando. Their weakness lies in the fact they play terrible defense, and outside of Jeff Foster, have no consistent rebounder. I still think that this team gets the 8th seed in the EC…they only have 4 games left vs. teams with above .500 record.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:04 AM
I’m a huge fan of Jeff Foster, Jay.
Good list, spence. I particularly like Rodman @ 3. I don’t think he gets the adulation he deserves from a historical perspective.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Rodman is a Hall of Famer in my book.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Agreed Spencer, Nance was underrated.
My top 5:
1. Malone
2. KG
3. Barkley
4. McHale
5. Pettit (averaged 26 & 16 for his career)
March 12th, 2008 at 11:12 AM
What sort of ‘world imploding in on itself’ scenario would it be if the Bulls beat the Celtics? I’M NOT SAYING IT WILL HAPPEN! I’m just curious as to the level of upset that would be seen as in the NBA world.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:13 AM
i was thinking about putting rodman 2, but the round mound of rebound was just too awesome back in his philly days and his MVP season in PHX (and subsequent playoff heroics) sealed the deal.
but there is more to the game than points. the worm could lock down anyone on the other team, from PG to C, something i doubt we’ll see again. he did everything extraordinarily well except score, that will always count more to me than KG’s empty stats.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Was James Worthy a PF or SF ? He may deserve some attention.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:20 AM
i always considered him a SF…that lakers team was kinda hard to pin guys into positions tho. the only concrete one was Kareem.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:20 AM
He has the statistics suiting a SF. Rambis was the PF, right?
March 12th, 2008 at 11:21 AM
Also consider worthy a SF and Duncan a C
March 12th, 2008 at 11:25 AM
i always thought AC green was the PF.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:34 AM
insert AC Green virgin jokes here
March 12th, 2008 at 11:34 AM
greatest PF’s ever
1. Duncan
2. Malone
3. Bob Pettite
4. KG
5. Elgin Hayes
March 12th, 2008 at 11:35 AM
thanks for the response Diesel. i agree with what you said about Love being more of an impact that Hansbourgh
March 12th, 2008 at 11:39 AM
does kevin garnett qualify?
March 12th, 2008 at 11:40 AM
@Ben: Bulls winning would be hilarious on multiple-levels, first being that a Boston sports team chokes again. F those fans.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:42 AM
ouch…i would be disappointed if boston doesn’t at least make it far in the playoffs. i’m desperately hoping they don’t have to play cleveland in the 2nd rd.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Neo…don’t worry, i dont think you have too much to fret about in the Bulls.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:44 AM
and plus, that would just tarnish whats shaping up to be the greatest NBA playoff season in at least 10 years.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Neo- Cleveland is not the team to be scared about. One man shows dont win titles. history has proved that already
March 12th, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Go Bulls!
March 12th, 2008 at 11:50 AM
true, but lebron could single handedly take over some games, keeping the series close
March 12th, 2008 at 11:51 AM
irish…tim duncan in 2003 begs to differ. manu and TP weren’t any good then and they relied on nick van exel and speedy claxton? come on.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:52 AM
not against Boston, Detroit, Orlando, or Toronto. i hate the cavs, no offense guys, and i see them failing this year.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Jordan? I mean, I know Scottie Pippen was on that team, but seriously those bulls teams were one man wonders. The one man just happened to be the GOAT.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:54 AM
@spencer- Lebrons only help is a streaky shooter named boobie. cmon now
March 12th, 2008 at 11:55 AM
no, jordan had help. kobe had help. Wilt had help. bill russell had help. Larry bird had help. MAgic had help. Isiah had help
lebron has no help
March 12th, 2008 at 11:58 AM
The Cavs don’t have name players, but they will play solid defense and hit open shots. They’re MUCH better than the team that went to the Finals last year.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:58 AM
i never said anything about lebron winning the title this year, im just saying that my man Duncan essentially did it by himself in 2003.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:02 PM
And no offense to your boys the Magic, but Varejao is better than anything you have. Same for Z.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:04 PM
nick…now you cant be saying that AV is better than ANYTHING the magic have. dwight? hedo? rashard (granted not as his contract)?
March 12th, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Oh…I meant anything other than their Best player, Dwight. As in supporting cast.
But yeah he’s definitely better than Rashard (who’s dismal), and I’d prefer him over Hedo, especially factoring in paydays.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:08 PM
eh, if youre factoring in paydays, then its understandable. but id love hedo on the cavs. you dont fuck with a turk.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
hedo just looks like he is afraid of shower water
March 12th, 2008 at 12:11 PM
sideshow bob over Hedo and Rashad, that is fucking ridiculous
March 12th, 2008 at 12:12 PM
neo…he’s carrying vlade divac’s torch.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Rashard is a power forward averaging like 5.2 rebounds in 39 minutes per game. That’s unacceptable.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:25 PM
hedo plays the PF nick. Rashad plays the SF
you should know that
March 12th, 2008 at 12:34 PM
nova is running away with it right now against syracuse
March 12th, 2008 at 12:38 PM
Hedo was guarding Lebron, so I assumed SF.
FWIW, 82games has 70% of Rashard’s minutes at PF also.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:41 PM
i dont know how they can have him there. I watch every single game and he plays the SF. who cares my Magic is better than your CAVS. Fair enough for you lol
March 12th, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Pretty cool that they moved the LA-Rockets game to ABC on Sunday. Now it’s Detroit-NO followed by Lakers-Rockets. Thats some quality basketball, and two good teams people don’t get to see often. I don’t understand why the NBA doesn’t do this more often, since its obvious that they can. It would be interesting to see if there are rules for when a game can be switched.
Durant has now shot 50% of better in 4 of his last 5. 27 points on 14 shots last night is impressive. In a point in the season when most rookies hit a wall, Durant seems to be getting better. This kid is going to be special. Once he puts on some muscle and goes back in the offseason and concentrates more on shot selection, he’s gonna be one of the top scorers in the league. I only hope Seattle gets Beastly.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:38 PM
Hedo best power forward ever