That's the question I asked myself during the closing minutes of Game 3 as I watched everyone clear the lane waiting for John Lucas III to breakdown the 76ers defense. How did the season get to the point where playoff aspirations are put on the back of a 5-11 third string point guard? This is how you lose to the eight seed when you are the one seed. Just last week I still expected the Bulls to advance to the conference finals. Now that seems like a pipe dream.
The Players
Last week I said we need to see Deng and Watson step up. Well they haven't. In Game 2, Deng had 8 points and Watson had 12. In Game 3, Watson was scoreless and Deng had 5 points. In Game 4, Watson came alive in the 2nd half to score 17, while Deng still had only 11. Boozer stepped up in Game 4, with 23 points, but couldn't convert when it was needed. (Well then there's
this too.) Noah upped his game in Game 2 and 3 until he got hurt and never should came back into the game. Neither Korver or Lucas has provided that much of a spark off the bench.
The Games
Here's just a quick recap of why I think the Bulls have lost the last three games:
Game 2 - Horrible 3rd Quarter, not really sure why they came out so flat
Game 3 - Nobody stepped up at the end of the game when they needed somebody to start hitting shots down the stretch
Game 4 - Fought well, but again nobody made shots down the stretch when they needed it. The Bulls also got hosed on the foul calls at the end of the game. (Short rant - Boozer gets hit with some pretty severe contact when he was taking it to the rim with about a minute left. On the next play down, a foul is called on a questionable bump on Jrue Holiday. Next the Bulls try and intentionally foul, but nothing is called until there is a call on Asik as the shot clock is expiring. While there was probably a foul on Asik with the body, it was less of a foul than on Boozer and the refs didn't give the Bulls an intentional foul earlier in the possession. Anyways, rant over.)
Bottom line is nobody stepped up in the crunch. So this is where we are, facing elimination without our MVP and starting center. Beyond that, they lack any confidence. The regular season Bulls would have reeled teams in if they fell behind or beat them up my halftime. This seems like a team which looks lost on the offensive end. It's a team looking for someone instead of being that someone. The only good signs have been that Watson seemed to come alive at the end of the game after being completely lost the last 6 quarters or so and the defense has been there in the past two games. The Bulls just need to get a few baskets down the stretch or its "wait 'til next year" time.
