Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Bulls come out tied 1-1 after two games in the Garden


Alright so last night's loss was pretty disappointing. The Bulls had a chance to go up 2 games to nothing on the defending champs and really take a stranglehold on the series. Instead, Ray Allen finally woke up and hit 6 of 10 three pointers — including a game winning trey with only 2 seconds left on the clock. But coming out of Boston with one victory is not bad. I don't think many people thought the Bulls had a prayer to even compete in this series. They have proven that game 1 was not a fluke by nearly taking them out in game 2 as well.

Now the Celtics have to come to the United Center where they will not have the crowd (or the referees for that matter) on their side. I feel like the Bulls have a lot of momentum going into game 3, even though they just loss. I think they have messed with the minds of the Celtics players by playing them so tough the last two games. Long story shirt, the Celtics better bring their A-game to the UC if they want to come out of there with any victories at all.

What can the Bulls improve on the rest of the series? Well, let's start with the main reason why they lost game 2: Giving up offensive rebounds and second-chance points. The Celtics had 21 offensive rebounds and it seemed like every time they were able to scoop up an offensive board, their next shot attempt went through the hoop. The amount of second-chance opportunities the Bulls gave Boston in game 2 was sickening. The Celtics had 32 second-chance points!! It just never seemed to stop. If the Bulls could have boxed out and taken away just half of those Boston offensive rebounds, they probably would have won the game.

They also need to work on being more patient on offense. It has worked for them so far because of Rose and Gordon, but sooner or later the quick shots without letting any offense develop is going to come back to bite them. Del Negro just needs to make them understand they need to take some time off the clock every once in a while, especially towards the end of the game when the score is close. Don't take the first available, off-balance shot when only 10 seconds has ticked off of the shot clock.

Other than rebounding and patience, the team has played pretty well. As long as they can keep scoring the way they have been, they will have a chance to win every game. They just have got to stay mentally focused and stay hungry. I don't think staying hungry will be much of an issue for the team, but if they lapse mentally, it could be very detrimental for them.

Photo: Elsa/Getty Images

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