Gasol Leads Bulls to 9th Win in 10 Games

January 4, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Sunday smorgasbord: Here’s hoping Pau Gasol does not make the Eastern Conference all-star team. Not that he doesn’t deserve to be on the squad. He simply could use the time off to rest his 34-year-old knees. The Chicago Bulls power forward had 29 points and 16 rebounds Saturday. Which came in handy on a night without starters Jimmy Butler (bereavement leave) and Mike Dunleavy (ankle injury). Gasol’s offensive presence (not to mention his five blocked shots on defense) helped the Bulls to a 109-104 overtime victory vs. visiting Boston. If nothing else, Gasol merits a newcomer of the year award from the Bulls.

Video below of Pashence Marie. Nice start to 2015.

* Speaking of Bulls newcomers, guard Aaron Brooks had 19 points in 20 minutes off the bench, and Nikola Mirotic made his first start of the season (at small forward) and had 10 points and eight rebounds in 38 minutes. Maybe they all can share a newcomer award.

* The Bulls attempted 100 field goal and made 37. Pretty sure — even without a calculator or any other form of assistance — that’s 37 percent. And that’s not good. The Bulls have won nine of their last 10 games. That’s good. Even if they have struggled at times against lesser teams.

* Speaking of field-goal attempts, your humble correspondent is confident that Bulls guard Derrick Rose is confident about his shooting. Why? Good question. Certainly not based on recent results. He went 5-for-18 from the field against Boston. With the statistical-analysis department having yet another day off Saturday, that means you will have to trust me when I say that’s 28 percent shooting. Feel free to double-check those numbers.

For football fans (non-football fans, too), Pashence Marie has posed in a Carolina Panthers jersey. You can check her out at pashence.com.

* Speaking of Rose’s shooting accuracy (or lack of it), in the three games before Saturday’s he was 14-for-60. If it’s any consolation to Bulls fans (and the guess here that it might be minimally), those numbers calculate to 23 percent. Again feel free to double-check. Also feel free to have some concerns about Rose’s shooting.

* Still speaking of Rose’s shooting, if he cannot or does not drive to the basket (he was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line), then there’s a problem that needs to be fixed. He had one assist vs. the Celtics. And four turnovers. When folks were hoping for more consistency from Rose, they meant the games that he played well. Oh, well.

* Former Chicago Bears linebacker Ron Rivera, who coaches the Carolina Panthers, enjoyed a 27-16 victory against the Arizona Cardinals in the first round of the NFL playoffs. Meaning he likely will retain his job and be unavailable to become Bears coach (if the Bears even would have considered him, which they should). Any chance the Bears can swing a deal for Rivera and his quarterback Cam Newton for Bears QB Jay Cutler and other considerations?

* And before I forget (well, this actually is happening after I’ve forgotten a few times), thank you to all who visited this site in December (973,839 hits for the month, whatever that’s good for) and throughout 2014. I can only hope we all are here next year at this time to offer my gratitude (as well as non-gratuitous photos, videos and text).

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