I’m trying that switch-of-hand runner Derrick Rose hit in my
sleep, and even there I couldn’t pull it off.
With most any other player, you’d consider that move to be a
horseshoe, a wild toss at the rim that just happened to go in. Not with Rose.
If you’ve consumed his career thus far, you’d know he does the impossible with
regularity, making him one of the true must-sees in the league. But he does
this at the most important times of the game.
Blake Griffin is your bagel-coffee-and-YouTube highlight,
LeBron James is impossible to stop stretches but still seems to struggle at the
end of games, Kevin Durant is usually fighting Russell Westbrook for the ball
and Kobe Bryant can still close games with the best of them, but it’s usually a
jump shot.
Here was Rose facing a relentless, athletic defense that was
trapping him at half court. They knew he was taking the shot and yet, even
then, he was still able to turn the corner and rocket past the long and
athletic Thaddeus Young to almost fly past the backboard before switching the
ball back to his right hand and flip the ball up to seal the game.
I yelped. My wife, mindful of our sleeping toddler upstairs,
yelled at me. I reverted to a few fist pumps.
Maybe I’m repeating myself, but this season has been
peculiar: You just don’t know how to enjoy the ups and downs because all along
the joy, you think you know how this story ends: LeBron James shading Derrick
into a trap, only to dump the ball off to Joakim Noah for another wasted
possession. It’s like a flashback that you’d see in a Will Ferrell movie, where
the figure skater falls down and you can’t get over that horrid scene.
“I just can’t do it….GAH!!!”
Sure defenses tighten up in the playoffs and it looks like a
different game, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this one. It’s the
beginning of March and the weather sucks and NCAA basketball doesn’t really
begin for another two weeks. In other words, if you can’t enjoy this kind of
matchup between the two top defenses in the NBA, then why watch the NBA at all?
This was the third game in a row that allowed Derrick to be
the MVP again and I’m starting to wonder just how many people around the NBA
take notice of the theatrics that surrounds his game, the amount of
responsibility he shoulders and the sheer athleticism that makes you forget
that he is only 6’2.
A lot of people—rightfully—have been throwing bouquets at
LeBron James these past two weeks. And they should: He’s playing the best of
his career. But somehow, as one Miami sports show host declares, it’s been an
assault on Derrick’s MVP stake last season.
It screams of insecurity, but I don’t think anyone who
watched a lot of the NBA last season questioned whether Derrick was really
deserving. What he’s done this last week, he had to do for nearly 30 weeks last
season. He was also the lone all-star on the team with the most wins in the
NBA.
Aside from 17-year-olds who think fantasy basketball is a
real thing and John Hollinger, who hopes that Brad Pitt will one day play him
in a movie, Derrick is still the player most responsible for his team’s
success.
As a shotmaker, I’ve never seen anyone hit the layups that
Rose does. Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan come to mind, but it wasn’t the first
bullet their guns. He’s made cold Thursday nights something to relish. He’s
given Chicago back its most successful franchise and he’s gunning for Indiana
after their over-the-top faux celebration.
Derrick is for real, a bona-fide Michael-Jordan-esque
athlete who wants to humiliate you publicly. He takes these things personally.
He manufactures these rivalries, and it may be his most endearing trait: A meek
person who goes into overdrive.
Other Thoughts
This season he’s really their entire offense as it’s
becoming clear that the Bulls have almost no scorer among their backups and
haven’t been able to put teams away with their bench again. I was waiting for
this to happen because you can only go so long with C.J. Watson jump shots and
Omer Asik putting the ball between his legs on putbacks.
Taj Gibson (who is shooting 58 percent from the free throw
line now) and Omer have regressed. Ronnie
Brewer doesn’t seem to be comfortable
shooting the ball much more than twice a game.
Meanwhile Rip Hamilton continues to dabble with the offense
but it’s looking more like he’s a month away from being at all involved with
the offense. They won’t do it, but it might be worth bringing him in with the
backups because they could use the scoring and he isn’t a defensive liability. I’m
getting the sense that the Bulls realize they’re best hope is that he is in
condition by the playoffs and starts hitting shots, but for now, his offense
looks forced and the Bulls are winning games in spite of him.
We need to come up with a term: the Rose Stopper? The Trap
of Roses? Whatever it is, every coach knows the formula: squeeze the ball of
out of his hands as they have no other playmakers on the entire roster.
But given that the Bulls have one the smartest coaches in
the league, and a well-coached squad, why do they continue to look flustered and
hurried when these situations arrive? If anything, this should be plan B. And I’m
really wondering if Carlos Boozer should be there to release the trap because
of his shooting ability. He’s good at knocking down those 12 footers and has
good instincts with the ball. Flare Luol Deng out to the corner three to keep
an athletic three away (that’s LeBron James or Paul George) and keep Kyle
Korver pinned to the other corner. Let the offense rest on Boozer and Rose. I
don’t think that’s a stretch.
Given the scoring lulls that Luol Deng has gone through, has
Carlos Boozer been the most consistent player on offense outside of Derrick
Rose?
Contact Mike Mitchell
at michaelkennethmitchell@gmail.com.
5 comments:
Perfectly normal to wonder the same thing: Derrick has been amazing. It's just national media won't allow for an MVP in consecutive seasons.
-Tony
I don't know about Tony's comment since I think MJ has been an MVP in consecutive years, and so has Steve Nash.
While Rose is playing brilliantly, I do think you can hold his multiple game absences against him in MVP voting, especially with equally brilliant candidates (James and Durant come to mind) playing more games.
I also think you're right about Boozer; he's been justifiably criticized most of the time, but there's something to be said about the intermittent scoring relief he provides. But even with that said, we all know it comes against poor teams most of the time, and it's not enough to overlook his defensive liabilities.
I think the worst case scenario for the Bulls is that they play Indiana and Philly in consecutive rounds. We don't know the seeding yet, but I think it's safe to say that Philly and Indy are the only teams in the East (outside of Miami of course) that give the Bulls serious problems, so any scenario which pits the Bulls against these teams in consecutive rounds will be, in my opinion, nightmarish. Even if they survive I don't think they'll have enough left to beat Miami.
That's right, I've been wondering about that too: What if the Bulls get the 76ers and then the Pacers...or even the Atlanta Hawks. They're all athletic and deep.
My ideal scenario: Boston or New York in the first. I think New York doesn't match up well against the Bulls because of how sharp the Bulls defense is.
While Melo is unstoppable, that roster is still figuring itself out. Jeremy Lin has never seen anything like Derrick Rose and the team simply isn't disciplined enough to stay within itself.
Boston is obviously finished and they know it.
The Magic would be another cupcake. But it's obvious that the three teams that defend--Miami, Indiana, Philidelphia--are not ideal for the Bulls.
Yes I agree on the Knicks. I've reasoned to myself that the Knicks, especially if Lin can sustain above-average point guard play, can pose a formidable threat to most good teams in the East. But you're so right on the discipline aspect, they're clearly lacking.
I saw some of the Knicks-Celtics game yesterday and they were committing the type of defensive blunders that would probably prompt TT, right then and there in the middle of the game, to waive the guilty party from the roster. Lazily running out to open three-point shooters (even if that shooter is Paul Pierce!?!) in a perfunctorily style, as if to say I'm only running out because it's probably what should be done, but not because it's something I really want (or have been coached?) to do.
But I do wonder about Melo's viability in that system, which seems to be more about sophisticated motion that doesn't really mesh well with Melo's ball-stopping. In any case, they're lack of defensive prowess probably eliminates them from serious consideration. The Hawks do pose problems as well, but I think what really separated the Pacers and 76ers from them is--as you alluded t0--defense.
Once in a while Sam Smith can cook up a mind-blowing trade idea that makes sense for both parties involved: Melo and Chandler for Howard. Howard gets New York; Orlando gets a top 7 player in return with a starting level player.
I only do that to get Howard, not so much to get rid of Melo.
Post a Comment