Spurs Salt Away Win vs. Bulls; Bears Axe Peppers

March 12, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Midweek musings: In fantasizing about the NBA Finals, if Sunday’s victory over the Miami Heat said the Chicago Bulls had hope, Tuesday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs said, “Nope.” Not if the Spurs win the Western Conference. A 38-14 first quarter by the Spurs reminded of the Michael Jordan-era Bulls who would let their opponent know early that victory would be the Bulls’.

Playboy’s Miss March Britt Linn is a guest Thursday on “Sports & Torts.”

* Of course, a 104-96 decision (the game was far from that close until a well-managed 30-14 Bulls fourth quarter) is not particularly meaningful. Unless, of course, your team wins. You know, like beating the Heat on Sunday. On the bright side for the Bulls, Jimmy Butler led them with 36 minutes played; next was Joakim Noah at 31. So the team should be fairly well-rested for Thursday’s home game against Houston.

* The Jimmer Fredette era continues for the Bulls. For what it’s worth (admittedly not much), he led the team in the plus/minus category with a plus-17 (he had five points in eight minutes).

* The Spurs (47-16) have the NBA’s best record. And one of the best-rested squads, too, thanks to coach Gregg Popovich. Former Bulls guard Marco Belinelli came off the Spurs bench and had 10 points in 28 minutes. The only starter to log more minutes was Kawhi Leonard at 29.

* The NFL’s free-agency frenzy began Tuesday. The Chicago Bears released defensive end Julius Peppers, who had an expensive contract (cap number and other things that your humble correspondent does not understand). They repotedly signed defensive end Lamarr Houston for some sum that really doesn’t matter much because players — such as Peppers — receive mega-dollar deals that actually amount to far less than the teams announce. Maybe the big bucks are supposed to impress someone. Maybe players or fans or media. Some money is guaranteed, but only a fraction of the total generally provided for public consumption.

* Some fairly instant analysis of the Bears signing Houston was along the lines of the team wanting to “get bigger” on defense. Shows what some of us know. Given the woeful performance by the 2013 Bears defense, you’d think the priority would be to “get better.” And bigger is not necessarily better.

* If it’s Wednesday (which seems reasonably good because yesterday was Tuesday — provided that today is March 12, 2014, or a subsequent Wednesday), then it is almost time for another edition of “Sports & Torts” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Central time on Talkzone.com. The highly regarded interview show (well, it is held in such esteem in the Spada and Harris households as well as reportedly elsewhere) has a couple of great guests this week. Featured are Playboy Playmate Britt Linn (Miss March 2014) and former Kentucky basketball coach Joe B. Hall, who still is going strong at age 85 as a radio personality on a program he co-hosts with former Louisville coach Denny Crum. After “Sports & Torts” airs on Thursday, it will be available on podcast at Talkzone.com later in the day.

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