Bulls Fall in 1st Game After Rose Surgery News

February 26, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

The Chicago Bulls can only hope their first was their worst. As in their first game since learning guard Derrick Rose was going to need another knee surgery. They lost to the Charlotte Hornets 98-86 at the United Center. You can blame the loss on the team still in shock. Or anything you’d care to. Primary culprit appeared to be the team’s defense. Not that Rose was a dominating defensive force or anything like that.

Look for Playmate Chelsie Aryn on next week’s “Sports & Torts.”

* On the bright side for the Bulls, forward Pau Gasol had another double-double (25 points, 13 rebounds). It was his NBA-leading 38th double-double of the season. That’s about it in terms of consolation for the Bulls. Assuming that’s even some sort of consolation.

* Aaron Brooks, who started in place of Rose, had nine first-quarter points. He finished with 12 for the game. His performance was OK but nothing great. Something says Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau will try to fine-tune his starting lineup — although with Kirk Hinrich the seemingly only other option at point guard, there’s only so much tuning you can do. And it’s not too fine.

* Bulls guard Jimmy Butler had 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Not bad numbers. Well, until you realize he has to be much more of a scorer in an offense that has been known to struggle. Someone has to be the driving personality of the offense, and Butler is that player. Like it or not.

* Rather than focus on X’s and O’s, Thibodeau is going to have to figure out his rotation and playing time for players. A casual observer (hey, your humble correspondent is ~~crafting~~ typing this in sweatpants after all) thinks Tony Snell and Nikola Mirotic could be two keys for the rest of the regular season. But only if Thibodeau unlocks the mystery of playing time.

* If the Bulls aren’t going to add a player who can break into Thibodeau’s rotation (and indications are that they aren’t going to), the team would be better off spending money for that player on get-well cards and gifts rather than adding a body to fill up a roster spot.

* One certainty in all this: When Rose has surgery, it will be labeled “successful.”

* If it’s Thursday (which seems likely in that yesterday was Wednesday — provided that today is Feb. 26, 2015, or a subsequent Thursday), then it is time for another episode of “Sports & Torts” at noon Central time on Talkzone.com. Co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris, the highly acclaimed interview show (it is indeed held in such high regard in the Spada and Harris households, as well as reportedly elsewhere) features a couple of football-oriented guests on this week’s program: former Colorado coach Bill McCartney and former Cincinnati Bengals (and Augustana College) quarterback Ken Anderson. Podcast of the program will be available later Thursday (and presumably close to forever, if not longer) on the Talkzone.com web site. Reliable sources say Playboy’s March Playmate, Chelsie Aryn, will be on the March 5 “Sports & Torts.” Pretty sure she qualifies as a coming attraction, if anyone was promoting her appearance on the show. Not that we ever would do anything like that around here.

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