Dominating

Last night the Bulls dominated the Portland Trail Blazers 110-98 and really the game wasn't even that close. All the talk has been about Luol Deng and his insane 40 points on only 19 shots. He dominated offensively and also helped turn Brandon Roy into a whiner (non stop complaining from him last night, how he didn't get T'd up is beyond me) who shot a pedestrian 4-12 from the field. Lu has been talked about non stop so I'll spare you. If you want the full break down you can read up on Lu at Bulls.com, Bulls Confidential, and Ball Don't Lie. Back to the Bulls game. In reality, this game wouldn't have been anywhere near as close as it was if it wasn't for LaMarcus Aldridge, who continues to be pissed that the Bulls didn't draft him four years ago. Aldridge hit a variety of jumpers, fadeaways, finger rolls and free throws. The Bulls literally threw every big guy they had at him. It started with Gibson, then he got in early foul trouble. It moved to Noah, but he got in foul trouble. Then it went to Asik, but he is always in foul trouble. And even B-Scals got a shot at him. Unfortunately nothing worked, fortunately his 33 points only made the game seem competitive.

But because of the Bulls relentless 'D' the Blazers had very few good looks and almost everything was on the perimeter. The Bulls held them to only 41% for the game and it has become clear the Bulls are buying into what Coach Thibs is preaching, pack the lane and get a hand up on the jump shooters.

One last thing on the Bulls, last night is exactly the type of game I hope to see from Derrick Rose on most nights. I know he needs to score right now, and I'm fine with that when it is within the offense (except for the last 3-4 minutes of the game when he can do whatever he wants), but on most nights I want him shooting less and setting up more. Last night he played the perfect game, except for the late turnovers (6 in total), everything he did was within the offense and it never felt like he forced anything. He ended the night with 16 points on only 11 shots, he got to the free throw line 6 times, grabbed 5 boards, and ended up tying his career high with 13 assists. I'm much more interested in him setting everyone up for three and half quarters and then taking over than him jacking 30 shots a night.

-Some other NBA thoughts:
Rudy Fernandez was terrible last night and under no circumstances will the Bulls trade the first round pick they got from the Charlotte Bobcats for him. Not after seeing him look uninterested, jack dumb shots, and commit four really dumb turnovers in just over 21 minutes. I think the Bulls would still trade their pick in next year's draft, but that is about it.

After Deng's crazy night some are saying there is no way the Bulls should trade for Carmelo. That is obviously insane, but I will say what I said before the season started. Deng and Noah is dumb, it's way to much and doesn't make the Bulls better. Deng, Johnson, maybe Gibson, Asik and/or the Charlotte pick is fair and I would do that. Anything that involves Noah is stupid. Of course now that Noah is a base year compensation player it is almost impossible to trade him anyway.

All this talk of Portland being a championship contender is waaay to premature. They have a franchise center who can't stay healthy, a sixth man that want's to leave the country, their backup point guard is a rookie, and their offense is still too stagnant. Looking at the offense it makes zero sense. They have all these athletic weapons and yet everything is slowed down and they end up either dumping it in to Aldridge or watching Roy go one on one. Andre Miller isn't being used correctly, Batum is strictly a stand still shooter and their bench is useless if they aren't running. So why don't they push up the pressure and run? Who knows! Nate McMillan just refuses to turn these guys loose and even if they are healthy they still won't have a championship level offense until they get a new scheme which may involve getting a new coach.

The HEAT are good! Shocking I know. But they are still going to lose at least 13 games and they are still going to lose games to some good teams. Yes they crushed the Magic, but that doesn't mean they are going to go 81-1. So let's all calm down. And my prediction of Bosh being the highest paid 16 point per game guy is starting to come true. Although I did forget about Rashard Lewis.

Speaking of the Magic, Vince Carter once again sucks and got taken out of the game against the HEAT after playing only 13 minutes because of a minor back injury. Whatever wimp, suck it up. As for Rashard Lewis, he just continues to do nothing but stand on the perimeter waiting to shoot threes. Seriously, what's the difference between him and Trevor Ariza? I can only think of one thing and that's about 100 million dollars. Lewis is a max player, Ariza is a mid-level exception player. Nice!

Now that I live in Chicago I expect to watch more West Coast games, you know, because they're on an hour earlier. That hasn't happened yet, but I expect it to shortly, so hopefully I'll have some thoughts for those Cally teams in the next few days.