Joy to World of Bulls Fans With Xmas Victory

Kobe Bryant sat out the Christmas night matchup Thursday of his Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.

Bypassing the Bulls Christmas game meant missing these lovely Luvabulls,

Well, so did I. Of course, he was in street clothes on the Lakers bench. Your humble correspondent was at ElliottHarris.com corporate headquarters — OK, it might have been on the couch in the family room at home (as if there’s a difference?) — in pajama bottoms and fleece top. And, yeah, nobody paid a lot of money for a Bulls ticket to see me play. Or exhibit creative talents type.

And how was your Christmas?

As I was waking up from a food-induced coma, I heard Charles Barkley declaring on the TNT halftime show: “If they stay healthy, they’re the best team in the NBA.”

Not merely the Eastern Conference but the entire league. Apparently the TNT analyst is high on the Bulls. Possibly high on something else, although the Bulls have won a season-high five in a row and are looking more impressive with each game. Especially against inferior opponents such as the Bryant-less Lakers.

Plaboy 2014 Playmate of the Year Kennedy Summers is quite gifted.

Leading the Bulls to a 113-93 victory was former Lakers standout Pau Gasol with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Carlos Boozer, whom Gasol replaced in the Bulls lineup, had 14 points off the bench for the Lakers.

Gasol told media in the Bulls locker what it was like to play against the Lakers: “It was weird, difficult at first to kind of get going, and once you start playing you’re just playing the game.”

Hey, Kirk Hinrich didn’t play either because of injury, so that’s similar to the Lakers without Bryant for the second game in a row, no?

No.

Bryant’s major physical problem?

“Old age,” he told media outside the Lakers locker room before the game. “My knees are sore at this stage of the season,”g he said. “My Achilles are sore — both of them. My metatarsals are tight, back is tight.”

Well, other than that though …

About the only thing Bryant missed was extending his NBA record for Christmas games. He is the all-time leader with 15. For whatever that’s worth.

Bryant definitely is worth something to Lakers coach Byron Scott. In his postgame chat with media, he responded to a question about people who say L.A. is better without Bryant: “Like I said before, those people are idiots. He’s one of the best to ever play the game.

‘Tis always the season for Playboy Cybergirl Elizabeth Marxs.

“You take him off the team, you’re going to have nights where you struggle, period. And then you’re going to have one night like we had the last game. Anybody that really insinuated that we were better without him, they’re just ridiculous. We’re a much better team when he’s on the floor, period.”

Pardon us for being late with Karen Kennedy’s photo.

Presumably the same could be said of people who think the Bulls are better without former NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose, who scored 20 (his third consecutive contest with 20 or more points). Which brings us back to the Barkley assessment of the Bulls.

They have more offense than in recent seasons past, thanks to Gasol. Not to mention Aaron Brooks and Nikola Mirotic off the bench. Each had 13 points vs. the Lakers. Jimmy Butler’s impressive season continued with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists.

If the Bulls continue to score in triple digits, coach Tom Thibodeau may lose his reputation as a defensive-minded coach. OK, not really. But the Bulls appear to be a formidable foe. And, no, the Cleveland Cavaliers — who lost earlier in the day in LeBron James’ return to Miami — has not coalesced this season. No clue whether they will by the time the postseason arrives.

“I think that right now there is a belief, a lot more than there was a couple of weeks ago,” Bulls center Joakim Noah said of the Bulls. “As a player, there’s nothing better than that belief that when we’re on and we’re competing, nobody can mess with us. That’s the feeling we’re starting to get.”

And quite possibly the rest of the NBA will have to start getting used to.

Here is Britain-based model Emma Glover. How could we not use this photo?

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