Encore Efforts: 30-Plus for Butler in Bulls Victory

December 20, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

As boldly forecast here in Friday’s edition, the Chicago Bulls faced quite a challenge in winning on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies. No Derrick Rose. No Taj Gibson. No kidding. Grizzlies with best home record in NBA. There was a mention of the Bulls have the best road record in the Eastern Conference. Which must explain why the Bulls won 103-97. No explanation for the same score as Thursday’s Bulls victory at home vs. New York. Strange forces at work? More likely coincidence.

Playboy’s Candace Leilani answers some questions in video below.

* Speaking of he Bulls, Jimmy Butler had a game-high 31 points. The first time he has had consecutive 30-point games in his career. Considering he had three career 30-plus games entering the contest (all this season), that makes some sense. And will make him some sum in free agency, if he can come anywhere close to that on a consistent basis.

* Speaking of making sense, who would have figured rookie Nikola Mirotic would have scored a career-high 27 points vs. Memphis? Other than perhaps relatives or friends. Fairly certain no one predicted Mirotic would have made all six three-point field-goal attempts. Even more unfathomable was Mirotic having departed the locker room before media entered the Bulls locker room.

* Speaking of making sense (non-Bulls variety), the Cubs reportedly have a two-year, $5 million deal with catcher David Ross, who is expected to be Jon Lester’s designated batterymate. In 18 games last season with Boston, Lester had a 2.02 earned-run average with Ross behind the plate. Lester has a 2.77 ERA the last two seasons together (29 games). All this would seem to mean the biggest surprise of the Cubs offseason would be if catcher Welington Castillo isn’t traded before the start of spring training. Unless the Cubs plan to carry three catchers (with recently acquired Miguel Montero the likely everyday starter). Not sure what the market is for a catcher who batted .237 and struck out 102 times in 380 at-bats in 2014, but pretty sure there will be one. Maybe there’s another former Red Sox available who played during Theo Epstein’s tenure as general manager with Boston.

* A seasonal reminder: This is the last Saturday before Christmas and the second-to-last Saturday of the Bears season. Not sure which leads up to a more joyous occasion.

***

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