All That Jazz: Utah Humbles Bulls

January 8, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Based on the way things went Wednesday night, the Chicago Bulls better hope they don’t play the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals. Then again, if the Bulls play the way they did, they won’t reach
the NBA Finals. And the chances of the Jazz (13-23) making the NBA Finals — or even the postseason — seem unlikely with the third-worst record in the Western Conference. How unlikely? Less likely than Bulls guard Derrick Rose making a field goal Wednesday — and he was 3-for-15 in a 97-77 loss at the United Center.

* Speaking of Rose, a lot of people will focus on his performance. But the Bulls were playing without Mike Dunleavy (ankle injury) for the third game in a row, and it hurts when the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player doesn’t show up. Oh, wait. That was Rose who won that MVP award. Never mind.

* On the bright (?) side, Rose made three of his last five field-goal attempts. With the statistical-analysis department taking the night off because of the cold (weather, not basketball shooting), your humble correspondent is fairly confident that that means Rose missed his first 10 attempts. Not exactly a glass half full or half empty view, is it? More like completely empty followed about 60 percent full — for the mathematically inclined (which your humble correspondent is not inclined to be).

* Don’t look now (OK, you can if you want), but here was the lede from Tuesday’s effort on this site: Random thoughts (or as close as we come to such things around here) while wondering whether a Chicago Bulls home victory vs. a good Western Conference team (Houston on Monday) means they are about to lose to a bad one (Utah on Wednesday). Guess I must be psychic. Or psychotic. Possibly both. Now if I could be that presecient about lottery numbers. Of course, then I also would have to play the lottery to cash in.

* Speaking of prescient, if you said Rose was going to miss a field-goal attempt in his last six games, you would have been correct 82 of 110 times. Meaning Rose made 28 shots. Meaning he made 25.5 percent of his attempts. That’s not even good if all the tries were from three-point range. Those are Michael Jordan-like numbers — if MJ were playing today at age 50. OK, not really. Something says His Airness could do better than that nowadays. Possibly left-handed.

* If it’s any consolation to Bulls fans (and the guess here is that it is not), Rose had company in a bad night for starters’ shooting. Kirk Hinrich went 0-for-5 and Joakim Noah 0-for-3. So things could be worse. MVP candidate Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol each went 5-for-13. That’s 13-for-49 if the ElliottHarris.com calculator is working properly (and it’s only as good as the person inputting the data). Meaning that 26.5 percent. Rookie of the year candidate Nikola Mirotic was 1-for-7 (including 0-for-4 from three-point range). Guess this qualifies as a team effort. All right, maybe more like a lack of it.

* In defense of Rose’s offense (or lack of it), Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told media after the game: “You have to understand, he’s been out for 2 1/2 years. When you get away from that competition for 2 1/2 years, it doesn’t come back in a week. You have to compete in practice, you have to compete getting yourself ready and you have to keep going. There are gonna be some bumps in the road. As long as he keeps stringing games together, he’ll figure it out. I have a lot of confidence in that.”

* Memo to Thibodeau: The NBA season has been going on for more than a week. More than several weeks. More like about two-plus months. And he has been stringing games together; they merely have been bad ones. Minor detail but worth noting.

In case of any confusion, this is not Bob Kuechenberg.

* With the Bulls playing Friday at Washington, look for Rose to be more successful. He will be on the court against Wizards guard John Wall, the NBA assist leader who also averages 17 points a game (as does Rose). Repeat: Look for Rose to be more successful. In large part because it would be difficult to be much worse than he has been recently.

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In case you were wondering about the cartoon that accompanies today’s effort, it is a response to the killing of 12 people at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical publication. Islamic extremists appear to have carried out the despicable crime because the publication has run cartoons that offend some followers of Islam. Global reaction has been for people to support the flow of free thought — written, drawn or otherwise.

I’ve always envied cartoonists. Not only can they draw but they also can send a message with or without words. Some of us would settle for being to do either. To be able to do both — especially under the pressure of a daily deadline — seems superhuman.

But the cartoonists and others who were murdered were human. And although they died, the concept of freedom of expression did not. And hopefully never will.

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If it’s Thursday (which we’re pretty sure it is because yesterday was Wednesday), then it is time for another edition of “Sports & Torts” at noon Central time on Talkzone.com with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris. The guest on the Jan. 7, 2014, program is former Notre Dame and Miami Dolphins lineman Bob Kuechenberg. The show also will become available via podcast later Thursday at the Talkzone.com site. Thank you to all who have tuned in to the interview show that enters its fifth year. To celebrate, we decided to run a photo of a Dolphins cheerleader rather than one of Kuechenberg. To all who were hoping for a picture of him, we sincerely hope you understand.

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Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the endless efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):