An Improving East, Rose’s Buzzer-Beater, DeRozan’s Game 2, Ticket Prices and Other Bulls Bullets – World Wides Biz

Posted on by eboudaoud

As the camera panned to Steve Kerr and Taylor Jenkin during last night’s Warriors-Grizzlies game, a simple question popped into my head: What would my coaching quirk be?

Would I be a side pacer, hand shaker, sit-on-the-bencher, croucher, clapper, puller? Billy Donovan is clearly a chewer. He’s almost like a baseball manager in that regard, because I’m sure he completely sprays a stink of gum in 48 minutes with those rigorous bites. For me, however, I think I would be an impossible reader.

I might be one of the worst people to watch a game with, and I have to imagine that would quickly translate to the sidelines. Although I panic inside about a great play or a bad call, I rarely show emotion on the outside.

Remember when DeMar DeRozan hit his first buzzer-beater this season? Yeah…I didn’t move a muscle. Remember when he hit his second buzzer-beater *literally* a night later? I just mumbled “wow”. Again, my insides were screaming in disbelief, but my skin seemed to act like an impermeable wall to most sports-derived emotions.

Another good example is this famous clip of Jay Wright as Villanova wins the national championship on one of the most iconic shots in college basketball history. As Jenkins hits the buzzer-beater, Wright looks completely out of phase. And that would surely be me.

I know it’s super weird, but I blame my journalism degree and all those years in the press gallery. Curse you, education!

• Jason Patt raised an important point:

• We’ve already talked about the desperate need for this team to increase in size and shooting, but we need to point out the ‘why’. The thing is, teams like the Bucks, Celtics, and 76ers are probably going nowhere in the years to come. Of course, it’s always possible for a superstar to ask and an organization to suddenly find itself in rebuilding mode, but none of these franchises seem to be anywhere near that stage. The Bucks aren’t losing Giannis Antetokounmpo anytime soon. Joel Embiid is probably going nowhere. The Celtics will surely keep Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown together after this season’s turnaround. Heck, the Heat might get up there in years, but they still have an encouraging future with guys like Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.

• We can’t forget the rising teams from the East either. The Hawks still have Trae Young and a recent Eastern Conference Finals appearance under their belt. The Cavaliers took a big step in the right direction this season with two emerging stars in Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. Charlotte has a potentially generational talent in LaMelo Ball. Oh, and even the fucking Detroit Pistons have a real advantage with No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham up front. I guess all I’m trying to say is that the East is no longer the bottom conference. There’s a terrific mix of young and veteran talent on this side of the NBA roster, and that only further underscores why the Chicago Bulls need to invest in the right talent moving forward. If they can’t keep plugging the holes, they’ll get stuck in the middle of the pack.

• DeMar DeRozan sat down with the Chicago Sun-Times for a quick Q&A, and he only gave one wrong answer! When asked to rank the top 3 players to pull off a winning shot, he listed Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and LeBron James…in that order. Considering DeRozan is a huge Kobe guy, I can’t say I’m the least bit surprised. But we all also know that the correct answer is MJ. Sorry, DeMar.

• Happy birthday to one of the most memorable shots in Chicago playoff history!

• DeMar DeRozan’s Game 2 against Milwaukee was the best playoff performance since that Rose buzzer-beater, wasn’t it? Our only other option would be a game in the 2016-17 Three Alphas vs. Boston series, and I can’t think of anything that stands out more than DeRozan’s 41-point takeover. Seriously, even with this most recent streak ending in a quick five games, I’ll never forget that individual effort. He shot an absurd 15-31 from the field on a blizzard of contested jumpers to even a series against the defending champions. The Bucks were already guarding the All-Star starter pretty darn well, and this game forced them to put virtually all of their defensive focus on him for the rest of the series (and, spoiler alert, it worked). Yes, the overall result was bittersweet, but I think that singular performance from DeRozan belongs in the Bulls history books.

• No one is surprised.

• I don’t see anything malicious here, but the optics aren’t great. Let’s hope Ja Morant doesn’t have to miss any matches, because this series has arguably been the most entertaining so far.

• Someone tell Billy to put this in the playbook!

• HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

• The Cubs played two…and they lost two.

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