Latest News
A pressbox colleague wondered why I was at Saturday night’s Cleveland Cavaliers-Chicago Bulls game at the United Center. “Wife kick you out of the house?” he wondered. No. And please don’t give her any ideas.
Lauren was the featured Luvabull at the Dec. 21 Bulls game vs. Cleveland.
Truth be told (and I told the guy), the reason for attending a contest between teams that are far from championship caliber was simple: halftime. The Chicago Luvabulls would be performing the holiday routine. Which meant in years past, the delightful dancers had the floor to themselves. This year they shared the stage with other of the franchise’s entertainment entities.
The theme for the halftime performance was “The Nutcracker.” As in the classic Tchaikovsky music. My pressbox colleague thought the theme was a perfect fit for the style of Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.
“I guess ‘Ball Buster’ wouldn’t sound quite as good,” I said to my pressbox pal. He agreed. With my assessment, not necessarily with Thibodeau’s approach to playing time doled out in the Bulls’ 100-84 victory that left both teams with 10-16 records.
D.J. Augustin started at guard and had 18 points and 10 assists in a game-high 46:24 of playing time. Rookie guard Tony Snell had 17 points (5-of-11 overall from the field with 5-of-8 on three-pointers) in 44:12. One guy who had limited playing time (31:02) was center Joakim Noah, who had 11 points and a season-high 18 rebounds.
With Luol Deng and Jimmy Butler sitting out the game because of injuries (joining Kirk Hinrich — not to mention Derrick Rose, who likely won’t play till next season), the minutes go elsewhere, and players such as Mike Dunleavy (11 points in 40:55) find themselves starting rather than coming off the bench and playing more minutes in one game than they usually accumulate for two or three.
On the bright side, the Bulls do have Sunday off from practice.
“We’ve been playing a lot, but everyone in the league has been playing a lot,” said reserve forward Taj Gibson, who had 15 points. “Thibs has been giving us some days off. He understand we are short-handed. But we still have to do our jobs, go to worky every day and improve.”
Whether Thibodeau’s penchant for playing some players seemingly excessive minutes in pursuit of winning each game benefits the Bulls long-term that is to be determined. Whether Thibodeau is around to qualify as a long-term presence is something that likely will be decided in the short term.
As for more serious concerns, call me old-fashioned (mainly because it sounds better than “old fart”) but I liked devoting the holiday halftime to the Luvabulls. Not that this season’s effort wasn’t creative and well-done.
My son Mark suggested maybe for this season the Bulls could play during the timeouts and the Luvabulls could have more of a court presence. The lad definitely has a creative mind, but something says the NBA might balk at the idea. Oh, well. Wait till next — holiday — season.
The featured Luvabull of the evening was the lovely Lauren:
Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the extreme efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):
Advertising opportunities are available on ElliottHarris.com. For information and rates, contact sales@elliottharis.com.