Bulls Need to Block Out Defeat by Heat

January 26, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Monday meanderings: If Sunday’s Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls game was a statement game for the Bulls, the statement would have to be something like: “We’ve still got a lot of work to do.” Or possibly: “We miss Mike Dunleavy.” In case anyone was wondering what a 96-84 Bulls loss before embarking on a West Coast trip means.

Congratulations to Miss Universe Paulina Vega of Colombia.

* Miami’s Hasaan Whiteside — who? — had an unusual triple-double: 14 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocks. Yes, 12 blocks. And he did it as a bench player in 25 minutes. The Bulls’ Taj Gibson had five blocked shots. Only problem for him was those were his shots that Whiteside blocked.

* Bulls forward Taj Gibson had five blocked shots. Make that five shots blocked by Whiteside.Gibson was 3-for-10 from the field. The only Bull to shoot 50 percent from the field was reserve guard Aaron Brooks (6-for-11, 4-of-5 from three-point range).

* Speaking of Bulls shooting, Derrick Rose was 7-for-17 (0-for-6 on three-pointers). Yeah, he’s back.

* Folks clamoring for Bulls guard Jimmy Butler to be an all-star reserve or receive a “max” contract might want to make note of his 2-for-8 performance for five points in a game-high 43 minutes.

* For those Bulls fans who missed Luol Deng, the former Bull made his first United Center appearance as a member of the Heat — and did his share of missing, too. He went 5-for-15 for 15 points.

Congratulations to Whitney on becoming Miss Chicago.

* The one good thing about the Bulls playing an early afternoon game was Luvabulls member Whitney Wandland was able to compete in the Miss Chicago contest in the evening. And she won. Congratulations.

* OK, another good thing about the Bulls playing early was folks could focus on the SAG Awards or Miss Universe. Or anything else, I suppose. Some of us focused on the first two. Some of us also liked to think of that as research. Congratulations to Paulina Vega of Colombia for being crowned Miss Universe, although some of us still are waiting for contestants from other planets to participate.

* Speaking of the Miss Universe gathering, a fellow on Facebook and Twitter — OK, it was Mark Harris (aka The Son) — made the astute observation that the event is Donald Trump’s greatest achievement. Let the record show Trump acquired the contest in 1996. And there are some of us who believe that Trump’s greatest achievement actually is being able to keep his hair in place.

* In Sunday’s Pro Bowl (which your humble correspondent did not watch), Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews congratulated Packers teammate/receiver Jordy Nelson for a touchdown catch. The only catch (not involving a properly inflated football) is that the two were playing for different teams in the contest (and that’s using the term “contest” with a broad definition). It’s simply not right — some might say “stupid” — for teammates to play against one another. Then again, I did not watch the event, and I’m not the one who makes such decisions. And I’m not the target demographic: namely someone who cares about the lame game.

* Speaking of all-star games in which teammates play against one another, the NHL held its Sunday. If it had been baseball, it would have been incredible because the contest was a double no-hitter. Meaning no player hit another. Also no penalties. And a 17-12 result. In other words, the closest the contest came to resembling a real hockey game was that it was played on ice.

* In the coverage after the death of Cubs legend Ernie Banks, I would have loved to have read something from former Sun-Times colleagues Ray Sons or Ron Rapoport in that once-proud paper. Fortunately, Ron did offer up something at the web site L.A. Observed. To read it, click here. Glad Ron’s computer keyboard works. Even gladder he uses it and shares it with us.

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