# Playoff GAME ONE: Heat @ Bulls 4.21.07 - 2pm CT *ABC*



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

Hello? Got Game Thread? (could a mod please STICKY this.) 










*@*











*Game 1 Heat @ Bulls - Sat. April 21, 2007 
*ABC* 2pm CT United Center, Chicago*











_The Miami Heat have a championship to defend. The Chicago Bulls have higher expectations after consecutive opening-round exits. And here they are, standing in each other's way again with another first-round series set to begin Saturday at the United Center - two rivals ready to go at it (2:00 p.m. CT | ABC | WCKG 105.9 FM & ESPN Radio)._


bulls.com/playoffs


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## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

Thanks Miz. I don't know how to make a game thread with all the pics and fancy designs. 

Go Bulls.

Skiles - Make the right adjustments and game plan
Limit our TOs
Rebound!
Don't be lazy! 
Drive to the hoop if the shots don't go down


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

http://www.nba.com/nba_news/heat_wade_070420.html

and the AP spinning on behalf of riley and co.



_MIAMI, April 20 (AP) -- Heat guard Dwyane Wade is a Chicago guy, someone still in love with his hometown. But the Chicago Bulls rarely give him a warm reception.

*Bulls forward Andres Nocioni pushed Wade in the back and sent him sprawling after a play two years ago, then delivered more hard hits on him during last year's Miami-Chicago series, won by the Heat in six games. This season, Kirk Hinrich tugged the Miami star's arm so hard that Wade sprained a wrist.*

And the Heat expect more ruggedness from the Bulls starting Saturday, when the teams open an Eastern Conference first-round rematch in Chicago.

*"Am I concerned? Yeah. Knowing Scott Skiles, yeah,'' Heat center Shaquille O'Neal said, referring to the Bulls' head coach. "He'll be saying foul him, foul him hard.'*'_





_it's ON!_


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## IbizaXL (Sep 21, 2005)

theanimal23 said:


> Thanks Miz. I don't know how to make a game thread with all the pics and fancy designs.
> 
> Go Bulls.
> 
> ...


man, i just dont see that happening. :biggrin: 

heres to a good game fellas':cheers:


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## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

Despite all the trash talking between the two teams and their fans, Good Luck to you. Win or Lose, I hope it's an entertaining series.


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## Sham (Dec 2, 2002)

WOOP WOOP

*push it up push it up*

WOOP WOOP

*raise the roof*


*more early 90's music plays*


*Sham puts on very big lapelled shirt*


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

95-88 Bulls. Bulls cruise through three quarters. Wade gets hot in the forth and draws the Heat within 3. Gordon then hits a dagger three to stretch the lead.


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

Bulls win this 100-96, Gordon 32,5,7
BigBen 8/18,5,4 blks,4 steals
Deng 24points,10 rebounds


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

What time is it??????????????
Bulls timeeeeeeeeee:clap: :clap:


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Oh no, I think Jon Barry's calling this one. Blech.


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

oh i hate my local commentator,i prefer mike breen


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Well that was an annoying intro.

Williams, Wade, Jones, Haslem, Shaq the starters for Miami against our usual...


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Easy bucket for Deng to start the game.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Gordon steps up and hits a quick shot after Shaq hit on the other end. 4-2 Bulls early, foul on P.J. Brown...


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

oh here they come the ticky tack fouls,bs call


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Riley sure is a genius. Wade on Deng is working out well for them.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

12-4 with 8:47 left, Deng has half of our points on 3-3 shooting. Heat look slow out there on D...


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

the UC crowd is very quiet for a playoff game,pathetic


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## Future (Jul 24, 2002)

I hope the white hot Heat burn in white hot hell...screw that team...ain't got nothin on the Bulls.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

And here we go...


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Refs starting to make some noise.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

P.J. gets his 2nd foul (8-0 run for the Heat, by the way) and in comes Nocioni...


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Duhon in for Hinirch now...


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Nocioni!


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Shaq with 10/14 Heat points; Nocioni drives and scores!


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

and kirk sits already with two fouls. ugh.


and nocioni finally scores for the bulls. yay!


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Posey enters to a chorus of boos...


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

nice dive by Wallace to pick up a foul on Shaq.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

The Heat have never commited a foul.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

LOL. very loud boos for posey as he checks in.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

21-16 Heat and a Bulls timeout.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Walker for 3. I'll still leave him open for that though. Usually it'll lead to transition for us when he clanks it off back iron.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Wow. The Bulls look like crap. Turning the ball over, leaving people open on D, clanging jump shots. Hinrich especially had an awful start. Hopefully, they pick it up. I officially hate the Miami Heat. Everybody on their team except maybe Wade. Come on Bulls. 

Shaq dominated early. I hate Shaq because he's not a good player. Just bigger than everyone else. And Jon Barry really needs to be fired. Every heard of checking your bias at the door Jon.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Wallace with a nice feed to Deng for the score!


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

I'm surprised more of us aren't here.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Anybody else wanna see Thabo out there on Wade. I feel like he'd do a good job. Duhon has really declined and brings little to the table.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

ViciousFlogging said:


> I'm surprised more of us aren't here.


Me too. Is everybody else hunkered down somewhere?


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Maybe the playoff forum? No idea.

Meanwhile, Tyrus checks in for Deng...


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Anybody else think Riles contemplated having Posey chug a fifth of JD and drive his car onto the floor before the game running Gordon, Deng, and Hinrich over. I bet he did, the cheater.


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

must. make. free. throws.

it's the playoffs!!

nice applause for tyrus as he checks in.

jon barry is officially a jerk. bias much?


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Duhon should not have shot there. Yeesh...


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Wallace scores at the end of the 1st quarter to bring it to 28-27 after one quarter. This *****cat Dolls song is already getting on my nerves.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Ummm, Duhon drew the charge but did anybody else see how Tyrus jumped on that Walker shot. Looked like he coulda touched the top of the backboard with his wrist. 

Bulls down 1 at the end of 1, but playing pretty poorly. Kapono, Walker, Haslem with 2 for the Heat. Hinrich and Brown with 2 for the Bulls.


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

Jon Barry is terrible. God, could you be any more bias?


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Heat are hounding Gordon's every move. Gordon will simply have to do a super job moving w/o the ball(something he's pretty average at) to get some decent looks. 

MIAMI looks all business on the court. They didn't get that look until Game 5 last year.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Anybody else happy Walker's hit some shots? It means he's most likely gonna take a bunch of shots through the game, which is always a good thing (assuming he doesn't have one of those nights where he can't miss)...


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## Sham (Dec 2, 2002)

I just ran down the stairs at full tilt so as to not miss the start of the second, and levelled out one step from the bottom, thereby falling flat on my face. That would have been fun had it happened to someone else.

At halftime, I'm going to see if I can sever my leg off.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

OK, time to guard Walker on the 3 point line. Argh, this is a tall order if he's hitting those.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Refs taking over the game.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

King Joseus said:


> Wallace scores at the end of the 1st quarter to bring it to 28-27 after one quarter. This *****cat Dolls song is already getting on my nerves.


The *****cat Dolls can get on something of mine. Whoaaa. 

WTF is up with 'Toine. There a magnet in the ball or something.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Gotta do a better job closing out. Way too many open looks.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Kirk picks his 3rd


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Hinrich picks up his third foul a minute into the 2nd quarter. Ouch.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

gordon nice scoop! Now a couple stops please!


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Gordon taking charge with Hinrich out!


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

We have no chance of winning if BG is gonna miss that shot.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

That three would've been nice. 33-31 Heat for now, though...


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

NOC!!!! Two big blocks!

Nice take by Deng, picks up a foul on Mr. Cheap Shot.


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

We can't let their role players have good games!!!


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

I hope nobody's missing how much better PJ looks guarding Shaq than Wallace(whose always been Shaq's *****).


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

How is that not an offensive foul. BS.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Posey with his second foul; Williams, Wade, Jones, Walker, and Shaq in the game for the Heat...


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Bulls can take this if 'Toine starts playing like 'Toine. 

Arghhh! Get Duhon out of there.


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## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

Wow Wade is abusing our gaurds. Freakin' free throws after free throws


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

I hate how Wade plays the game.


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

I hate Wade and his jumping INTO PEOPLE to get the foul!!!! Jordan would bump the player before he went up, not jump into them. Jordan was a real superstar and everybody knows that!!!

Pretty amazing people around the league are starting to notice how Wade is protected by the refs!!


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

In honor of this series, presenting my new avatar and title. 

Thabo in. Gordon flings it out of bounds.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Yikes, horrible pass by Gordon. Gordon, Thabo, Deng, P.J., and Walace on the floor now.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Wade tries to draw a foul on Thabo rather than trying to make a shot. Weak.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

C'mon BG!!


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Thabo looking good so far.

Shaq picks up his 2nd. Jon Barry should just put on a Heat jersey right now.


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## chibul (Oct 14, 2006)

What the hell happened to Deng's shot?


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Gordon pulls up and hits the shot - 37-35 Heat...


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

TIE game.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Timeout Miami after Jones falls down giving Deng an easy score to tie it up 37-37.


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## mippo (Apr 27, 2005)

King Joseus said:


> Timeout Miami after Jones was pushed down with no call giving Deng an easy score to tie it up 37-37.


Fixed it for you


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

Have the Heat turned into last year's Pistons? Every chance they get, they are complaining!


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

King Joseus said:


> Wade tries to draw a foul on Thabo rather than trying to make a shot. Weak.


That's what i'm talking about. Wade plays for the foul, not for actually making shots. It reminds me of Reggie Miller. It's very weak.


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## IbizaXL (Sep 21, 2005)

souleater said:


> oh here they come the ticky tack fouls,bs call


LOL oh man....


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

BullsAttitude said:


> Have the Heat turned into last year's Pistons? Every chance they get, they are complaining!


Deng and Gordon are supposed to be "British", but the Heat appear to be inviting the refs over for tea and crumpets. 

Wade: Hello good sir, may I invite you to my home to complain about the fact that I get every call.
Ref: Sounds lovely.
Jones: Did you not spy that miscreant throw me to the floor.
Ref: No I apologize.
Jones: Then away with you.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

BS call on PJ. Shaq to the line for two bricks.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Man another BS call


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

Another phantom foul.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Everybody on the Bulls is so afraid to take it to the basket.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Thabo drives and draws the foul on Shaq!!!


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## chibul (Oct 14, 2006)

SPMJ said:


> Everybody on the Bulls is so afraid to take it to the basket.


Not Thabo!


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

Sefolosha is a gamer.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Thabo with the huge drive. Glad he's playing over Duhon.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

3rd foul on SHAQ!! Good call. He was moving.

Thabo is really GOOD at splitting those pick n rolls.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Man that was a nice shot by Wade. 

Funny thing is Riles claims that the Bulls harrass on defense, but the Heat have been hand-checking and grabbing our guards all game. Hypocrite.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

TECH on Posey!!!


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Posey gets a T called on him from the bench for talking trash after the Heat score...


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## chibul (Oct 14, 2006)

God, I love the Chicago crowd at times like these. Chants of "PO-SEY SUCKS! PO-SEY SUCKS!"


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

Posey is such a *****.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Gordon another unforced turnover. UGHHH!!


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Nocioni hits the 3!


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Noce!!!!!!!!!!!

Up 1


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Nocioni is such a nice player. Does everything well, nothing spectacular, but def a crucial part of this team.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Jon Barry: "Brian Urlacher would've been proud of that hit by Posey"


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

If Sefolosha can contribute like this - steady, good defense -- that could be huge.


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## CanadianBull (May 6, 2006)

God, I hate Posey and Toine. Can someone throw a beer at those **** tards?

EDIT - No dodging the censor - KJ.


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

teck on posey!!!!!!!!!!!yeah,kiss my big fat *** u *****!!!!!!!!!!!!1:clap: :clap:

EDIT - Let the censor work - KJ.


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## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

POSEY SUCKS! posey sucks!


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Nocioni in the playoffs = huge.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Sefolosha huge on defense.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Thabo playing good D, shouldn't be shooting from outside though...


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Thabo's pumped.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Some ugly offensive attempts by the Bulls there. Heat ball.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

OOH! Thabo was real close to stealing that ball from Wade...


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

I'm really liking what Thabo's doing on Wade. And this quarter is proof enough that Gordon will never be able to play the point full time in the NBA.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

I can't even describe those closing seconds of the 1st half, but Thabo scores on the layup! Bulls up 49-46 at the half.


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## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

What a GREAT first half. Thabo completely shut down Wade, coming up big. What a way to finish each quarter! I'm shocked most of the calls are going our way


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Very poor call there. I'll take it though.


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## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

1-9 from 3pt land. Surely that will change in the second half. 

O'Neal had some lame fouls called on him. I'd prefer that didn't happen but I'll take what I can get.


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

SPMJ said:


> Very poor call there. I'll take it though.


Makes up for the foul call they made on PJ, he blocked Shaq. Also, I'm getting sick of Jon Barry! He closing in on Bill Walton as "most annoying announcer!!!"


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

King Joseus said:


> Jon Barry: "Brian Urlacher would've been proud of that hit by Posey"



i almost threw something at the TV when he said that.

_very impressed_ by the play of thabo. and nocioni looking like he's coming into form just in the nick of time.



oh, and that stupid PCD song? it just makes me laugh, cause the last thing you really associate with the bull is the sexy, ya know?


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## UD40 (May 12, 2005)

King Joseus said:


> *I can't even describe those closing seconds of the 1st half,* but Thabo scores on the layup! Bulls up 49-46 at the half.


"goaltending" pretty much sums it up.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

I've got to go, unfortunately, so I'm stuck with text message updates from my buddy now. Any mods around keep an eye on this thread and make sure it stays clean.

Most importantly, go Bulls! Finish 'em off in the second half!


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

UD40 said:


> "goaltending" pretty much sums it up.


I don't want to see a Heat fan complaining about calls. Period.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Kirk picks 4th. How dumb can you get?


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

BS call on Hinrich. Wade was moving.


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

kirk. kirk. kirk.

:naughty:

gets the technical for ejecting the mouthpiece into the stands (ick!).

ok. thabo. instead of duhon. thank you skiles.


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## VincentVega (Oct 12, 2003)

How Was That A Foul?


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Whatttt???

Hinrich picks up a cheap foul as Wade flops. Wallace gets a bs call. 

Big Hinrich play there. Instead of being up 7, Hinrich picks up his 4th, gets T'd up for throwing his mouth guard into the stands and Bulls are only up 3 right now.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Gordon really does not know when to shoot when he's playing PG. Now he's gonna be all passive.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

LOL, but he does have 8 assists.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

SAT Question and Answer:

Thabo Sefolosha is to Dwayne Wade in 2007 as:

c) Tayshaun Prince was to Kobe Bryant in the 2003/2004 Finals.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Jon Barry is a joke.


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## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

Kirk should be smarter than to let it get to him. Yes it's frustrating but he can't pick up a tech out of it.


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

UD40 said:


> "goaltending" pretty much sums it up.



stop trolling dude,go to yours forum,or u do not have one?no guys around?:lol:


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

9 assists for Gordon.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

souleater said:


> stop trolling dude,go to yours forum,or u do not have one?no guys around?:lol:


UD is a quality poster. He's more than welcome to participate even if he is a freaking Heat fan.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Ref must have had his whistle in his pocket or something. Foul called five seconds after the Bulls got the board.

Btw Deng and Posey 1-on-1. I was worried about Posey just leveling Deng.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Another BS call. Nocioni blocks Haslem, gets called for a foul.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

These refs need to calm down. There have been a lot of ticky tack calls both ways.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Posey is such a *****. Throwing elbows at Deng. 

Skiles playing Thabo instead of Duhon changed this game.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

2 shots we passed up on that possession


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

Noce and Thabo coming up big!!!


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## Chops (May 30, 2002)

BS calls, man. Isn't Chicago the home team?


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Another offensive foul!! WOOOO!!


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

barry: oh i don't know about that.

breen: no. it was a good call.



:laugh:


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Immediately after Shaq picks up his 4th...

Barry: Oh I don't know about that one.
(Replay proves Shaq just threw an elbow at Wallace to get space)
Barry: Ok I was wrong.

At least he's man enough to admit it.


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## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

Thabo if he plays this way against Wade can be a deciding factor in this series especially with Kirk having foul trouble and all.


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## IbizaXL (Sep 21, 2005)

Chops said:


> BS calls, man. *Isn't Chicago the home team?*


apparently, yes.


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

We just need to keep our intensity up, make sure they don't get open 3 pointers!! Ours doesn't seem to be falling, but we need to keep getting those 15 footers!

Play smart, play hard, play smart, play hard!!!

Go BULLS!!!


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Wow. Gordon gets hammered. No call. Walker charges into Nocioni. No call. 

It's been somewhat even as far as calls are concerned. Heat just seem to pick up all the ticky-tack garbage.


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

Gio305 said:


> apparently, yes.


You want to make that statement again after the last 2 plays!!!


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Barry. STFU.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Barry: I don't like that call. But it was a good call.

Haha. 

Thabo=MVP.


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## eymang (Dec 15, 2006)

I am glad Skiles is playing Thabo right now, but if he did that more in the regular season (at least over Duhon), we'd have the 2 seed.




And ****, here comes Duhon


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Duhon in for Thabo.

Heat go on 11-0 run. I'm callin it.

P.S. Just kidding.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Shoot The Ball When You Get An Open Look, Gordon.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

These refs really need to get a talking to. No one wants to watch FTs, you *****s.


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## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Fire Skiles - Replacing Thabonator with DuNothing?

Who would've thought the key to any game would be Hinrich not playing?

Keep it up and finsih it off Bulls!


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## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Unleash the TT


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

TYRUSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Throws Payton's shot. Throws Walker's shot. Finishes off the 'oop.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Tyyyyyrus!!!!


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## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

TT & Thabonator DENG GORDAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

Tyrussssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Holy Moly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

TT With the JAM!!!!!


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

That's why we drafted the stringbean! What a sequence!


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Woooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!1


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## Future (Jul 24, 2002)

HAHAHAH!!!! TYRUS!!! I love it!


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## Showtyme (Jun 24, 2002)

Holy cow. That was freakin awesome.


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## souleater (Apr 21, 2007)

tyrussssssssssssss eating soulssssssssssssss yeahhhhhhhhh baby


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## Mateo (Sep 23, 2006)

lol, wow what 3 fantastic plays in a row. i can't believe the heat let off thomas on that play.


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## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

OK, gotta keep up the intensity for the remainder of the game. 
Winning game one is very important. Of course, winiing games, 2,3 4,5 6,7 also very improtant - Atleast according to Bill Walton. LOL


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## CanadianBull (May 6, 2006)

Great stuff by Tyrus!!!!


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

Thomas Baby!!!


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

stupid Walker. He usually bricks those.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

We should've been able to build a much bigger lead by now. Shaq and Wade haven't been on the floor for a while.


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

WHOOHOOO.


so maybe skiles' secret strategy all along was to play thabo and tyrus limited minutes in the regular season only to UNLEASH them in the playoffs!

:laugh:

meanwhile, i didn't mind duhon coming in for thabo. kid needed a blow. and he got a nice ovation. 

and kirk, well, he better come out next game and drop 30+. disappointing outing for the captain.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

12 minutes. 10 pt lead. Can anybody we're up 10 with Hinrich having scored exactly 0 points.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Another dreadful looking miss from Gordon.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

10 point lead heading into the fourth. Gotta expect at least one Heat run...how we respond could be indicative of the whole series.


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## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

If we win this game
Player of the Game goes to Thabo.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Saw this on SportsCenter...

Shaq's teams are 26-0 in playoff series when they win Game 1.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Miami is a terrific comeback team and 10 point is nothing for them. We gotta keep our FOCUS.


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## Future (Jul 24, 2002)

UD40 said:


> "goaltending" pretty much sums it up.


Want some cheese with that 'whine'?

boo hoo


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## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

Stay focused!!!


----------



## CanadianBull (May 6, 2006)

ViciousFlogging said:


> 10 point lead heading into the fourth. Gotta expect at least one Heat run...how we respond could be indicative of the whole series.


Gotta agree with that. Very important 12 minutes coming up. 

C'mon Bulls!


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Cmon, Kirk. That 3 would have been enormous.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

I'd love to see TT learn to hit that shot, but not during the playoffs.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

THis is crunch time and anyone not advocating taking a breathing big man in the upcoming draft, just watch Shaq continue to to PipSlap Ben wallace.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Beautiful, Luol. Just beautiful.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Gonna need Gordon back in soon.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

How did that Posey shot end up going in? Looked like Ben was ready to just snatch it.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

We need Gordon and Thabo!!!!!!!!!!1


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

ViciousFlogging said:


> I'd love to see TT learn to hit that shot, but not during the playoffs.


The clock was running down so he had to take it.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Dude, Bring back the Headband or please never shoot again


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Uhh no, he's not allowed to do that in the playoffs.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

See, I was wrong, Wallace's offensive driving ability picks up Shaq's 5th


If we could only convince Skiles to put Gordon and Thabo in place of Hinrich and Dunothing, we'd be set


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Bad call there. That should have been a travel.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Clock was running down on Wallace's shot too. Just had to throw it up. Bulls just need to hang on. Shaq has 5. Where has Noc been? Noc for TT.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Wow, huge. Deng getting some respect


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

I wish these refs would swallow ther whistles a little more.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

wow, Shaq and Wade both have 5. We need to extend this lead!


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

It's pathetic how many ticky tack fouls are being called each way.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Miami's one terrific defensive team. We've had very few decent looks in this game.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Buls up 6. 7:30 left. I do not feel safe at all.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Too many pump fakes from Gordon tonight.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

POSEY SUCKS! POSEY SUCKS!

Deng takes the first FT of the half for the Bulls. At 7:30 in the 4th Q.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Deng working HARD! He came to play.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

That 5th call on Wade was pretty lame. Don't take out star players like that, refs.

Now all Riley will do in the press conference is talk abt officiating.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Bulls not hitting the wide open shots. 

God now Breen is on the Heat's balls too.


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Bulls have got to hit a few of those threes.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Wow, Hinrich is giving us nothing but heartburn today!


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

damn. That's a rough sequence. Missed two wide-open 3s, now we're up 6.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Talk abt no killer instinct. Shaq and WAde have barely been on the floor since mid 3rd qtr and we haven't done anything.


----------



## IbizaXL (Sep 21, 2005)

SPMJ said:


> Talk abt no killer instinct. Shaq and WAde have barely been on the floor since mid 3rd qtr and we haven't done anything.


blasphemy!


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Gordon has to start looking for his own shot.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Bulls inability to finish all year cost them a couple of games. We're seeing it firsthand here. Legs get tired in the 4th, jumpshots stop falling.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

now we're getting sloppy, AND missing good shots. I'm officially terrified.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Damn, the Bulls are a horribull closing team. They are the proverbial front runner.....that doesn't finish


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

what is with Walker and making 3s and FTs? Could do without that.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

BOY...if we can't score in our building then every game in Miami is a guaranteed blowout.


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Crowds are so dumb. The team feeds of your energy. Give it to them!


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Gordon's not handling the trapping that well right now.


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Gordon needs to step the F up.


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

can we ever just do the foot to the neck thing? 8-2 heat run with wade and shaq on the bench. geeez. 

put thabo back in!


----------



## Chops (May 30, 2002)

Bulls going to lose this one.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Here comes Shaq. Please let the Bulls win the game.


----------



## JRose5 (May 4, 2003)

Noch for three!
8 point game.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Nocioni=straight up gangsta


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Nice rotation by Wallace to get there for the charge.

Now it's on. Shaq and Wade back in.

Gordon! Thanks, get it going now!


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

TripleDouble said:


> Crowds are so dumb. The team feeds of your energy. Give it to them!


Crowd's been terrific all day. We haven't given them much to cheer for though the last 10 minutes.


----------



## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

Wooooooo!!! Chapu with the big 3!


----------



## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

NOCH!!!!!!! YES I was getting worried WOW!


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Bad job by Skiles not getting a Wallace a breather with Shaq out. 

Noc!


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Nocco Locco


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!!!!!

that was HUGE. I'm officially slightly less terrified.


----------



## CanadianBull (May 6, 2006)

Noc!!!! Very nice response from the Bulls there.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

2 huge shots.


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

SPMJ said:


> Crowd's been terrific all day. We haven't given them much to cheer for though the last 10 minutes.


The point is, teams play better when the crowd is loud so they should be loud all the time if they want their team to win.


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

*nocoloco!!*


----------



## BenDengGo (Feb 1, 2004)

DAMMMMNNNNNN

son of a noch!!!!


----------



## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

We can't score against their bench, Shaq and Wade come back, we score 5 straight points?


----------



## Chops (May 30, 2002)

Wade needs to get up and stop flopping around.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Can we put Thabo in and sit Hirnich?


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

good defense there.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Wow, Hinrich is nothing today. Can't even give us some defense.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Kirk is just off today. Not recognizing much of anything.


----------



## JRose5 (May 4, 2003)

Shaq's gone!


----------



## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

Oneal Gone, Chapu big for us Again!


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

OMG! way to go Nocioni! Fouled out Shaq


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Wow, that is a HORRIBULL call. We can expect major ref payback in Miami.

I'll take it cause it'l huge for the outcome of this game


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

WOW!

I need to see a replay of that call, but I'll take it.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

ViciousFlogging said:


> WOW!
> 
> I need to see a replay of that call, but I'll take it.


It was a good call. Noc has been huge. Can you image not having this guy?


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

Way to go Noc


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Shaq's foot was indeed on the line. Good call.


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

memo to ABC: national announcers, especially in the playoffs, should be NEUTRAL. the bias for the heat from these guys is sickening.


nocioni!


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Not good. Gordon having a Hinrich moment


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

God Jon Barry wants the Heat to win this game so bad. 

It's close. There's still a lot of time left. Shut up Jon. We know you like the Heat. Call the game.


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

Got to hand it to Miami, they aint 'goin away


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Would you sit Hinrich already. Thabo is the only guy that gave Wade problems


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

big shot by Deng! Bulls up by 6


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

chifaninca said:


> Wow, that is a HORRIBULL call.


No. That was the right call. His foot was in the circle.


----------



## JRose5 (May 4, 2003)

Deng is a stud.


----------



## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUooool DENG!!!!


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Luol is my hero. Forget Pau Gasol.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Deng =- Untouchabull


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

deng 


coming up big today. 

wow.

DENG!!!


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Deng! Clutch. 

AND AGAIN FOR THE THREE POINT PLAY!!!!!! 

YYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSSS


----------



## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

WOW. Luol is an IMPACT in the playoffs. Pau gasol what? Gordon 3 RB away from trip double


----------



## CanadianBull (May 6, 2006)

Stupendous strength by Deng there. Almost got clotheslined and still made the shot lol


----------



## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

I've always stated, Deng has the greatest upside of anyone on our team!! Keep provin it baby!!


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

all my posts are on like a 45 second delay. But who cares? Deng is taking care of business.


----------



## BenDengGo (Feb 1, 2004)

holly deng!!!

that posey foul was almost flagrant!

just draw the foul on wade already


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Charging on mr. Nothing today


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Oh come on!

Williams's prayer answered.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Crap. How is this happening?


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

Kirk! Should have taken more time off of the clock


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

are you freaking kidding.


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Hinrich has been really bad today. 

That was a crappy call. He was not in the act of shooting when the contact was made.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

wow, this would be a monumental choke.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

There is four 24 second possessions left in the game. Bulls need to take the clock down here and score.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Kirk has had one of the worst games of his life today. I guess the good news is that he probably won't be this bad again.


----------



## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

Why is Kirk in the game at all? He hasn't done anything and it's an overall bad game. Skiles should go with what worked before.


----------



## CanadianBull (May 6, 2006)

If we can't win this game today, we wont win any against Miami. Shaq has been in foul trouble all day and Wade has only showed up for the 4th. I'm gonna be devastated if we blow this....


----------



## JustinC (Jul 10, 2006)

We better not choke this game away!


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Wow, the one real foul and we get no call


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

So Wade gets that call, but Gordon doesn't.


----------



## BenDengGo (Feb 1, 2004)

a choking lose here, will cause sever mental problems.
we'll possibly go out possibly 1-4


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Friggin unreal.


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

oh i don't believe this.

****.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

i don't believe what I'm seeing. We're falling completely apart.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Gotta make both of these Gordon. Wallace maybe saves the season.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

thank goodness for that tip-out. Gordon better freaking hit these.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Gordon with big free throws. I'm nervous as hell.


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

Big ft by Ben G. 
Good deal up by three.


----------



## JustinC (Jul 10, 2006)

Gordon make 'em both!!!


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Very clutch FT's, Kudos to to Wallace for getting it to Deng and Deng for getting it to Gordon


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Thank you, Gordon. 

Let's see what this team is made of. I hope Miami's already hit their quota of circus shots this quarter.


----------



## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

Just one stop is needed, come on Bulls.


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

ViciousFlogging said:


> Kirk has had one of the worst games of his life today. I guess the good news is that he probably won't be this bad again.


lets hope not.


----------



## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

Up 3 with 18 secs to go! I can't believe they didn't call that foul on Posey!!


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

ok. breathe. just breathe. maintain poise. 

i really hope they pull this out. i want jon barry eating a huge plate of ****ing crow. what a *******.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Huge.
Inbound to Gordon please


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

We need a stop or at least do not give up a 3


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

yes! Solid d by Hinrich, now let's hit the FTs and get out of here with this win!


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

Noco Loco


----------



## JustinC (Jul 10, 2006)

C'mon Noc', you gotta make these.


----------



## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

For a minute I thought they would go for the hack-a-wallace.


----------



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

bulls win!!! 1-0


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Huge win. 

Jon Barry must be devastated.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

ice water in NOC-I-ON-I's veins on the first one.

ICE IT HERE PLEEEEEASE.


----------



## JustinC (Jul 10, 2006)

Chicago wins!!!!!


----------



## BeZerker2008 (Jun 29, 2006)

Yes, Bulls Win!!!:clap:


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

BULLS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It wasn't easy or pretty, but what a nice bounce back from that NJ debacle. This team can be maddening, but they have guts.


----------



## JRose5 (May 4, 2003)

Sloppy sloppy sloppy at the end there, but a win's a win.

They have to be able to bite down and not let that kind of thing happen when you get a big lead with 2 minutes left.


----------



## BullsAttitude (Jun 11, 2002)

Bulls Win!!!


----------



## darlets (Jul 31, 2002)

man, because of the time difference I just woke up. Logged on to find us up by 3 with 9 seconds to go. Go bulls.

Nothing like some tension in the morning.


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

_whew._

we win!!!

ha. take that. jon barry. and the heat. and pat riley!

:cheer:


great games from luol, lil' ben, nocioni and ESPECIALLY thabo.

kirk. not so much. 

but, man way to gut it out.


----------



## CanadianBull (May 6, 2006)

Thank god we didn't blow that. I might have lost it if we did.


----------



## chifaninca (May 28, 2002)

GAME ONE WIN!!!!!!!!!!


Wow, very tough win.

Gut check.

Can't count on Shaq being in foul trouble all game. Hopefully we can count on Hinrich not Sucking all game.

Lots of fouls called. We have to be aggressive ont he offensive side if they are calling it like today.

Great games by Deng, Gordon, and Thabo! Good games by Wallace and TT. 

We need two things desperately - Post scoring and a killer instinct. One we might get in the draft, the other has to be found asap!


----------



## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

What scares me, we played this well and Miami still hung with us.

Great play by everyone, especially Thabo filing in for Kirk

Since I started the Kirk vs Everyone thread, some fouls on Kirk were questionable, but I will say, the Bulls also seem to get more respect and the benefit of the doubt on some calls. Maybe we do versus Miami only? I don't know.

Props to Miami for coming back. More props for our team to not panic and play well.

Noce, Gordon, and Deng came up plenty big. Same for Thabo. Ben Wallace arrived today. 

Someone better have a clip of Tyrus's two blocks and dunk sequence. !


----------



## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

YES! Deng + Gordon came up BIG! Thabo STOPPED Wade for a whole quarter, very good game. I can't beleive this INTENSE game is just GAME ONE.


----------



## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

Great win, but did anyone else feel that the calls were almost always in our favor? I'd prefer to win without Shaq fouling out on weak fouls.


----------



## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

rwj333 said:


> Great win, but did anyone else feel that the calls were almost always in our favor? I'd prefer to win without Shaq fouling out on weak fouls.


I think we did get the benefit of the calls this game. Kirk's 3rd foul was questionable to me, but overall, I think yes we did get the benefit of the calls. Thats what worries me, Miami was still in there the whole way and we played a great all around game.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

rwj333 said:


> Great win, but did anyone else feel that the calls were almost always in our favor? I'd prefer to win without Shaq fouling out on weak fouls.


Aside from those weak fouls #5 on Shaq/Wade early 4th I thought it was an evenly officiating game(as in both teams got their share of good/bad calls).


----------



## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

SPMJ said:


> Aside from those weak fouls #5 on Shaq/Wade early 4th I thought it was an evenly officiating game(as in both teams got their share of good/bad calls).


True, maybe because Shaq and Wade were reffed like normal players, not superstars. It did feel like we got the Benefit. But we played great all around. Maybe we are getting more respect all around for our team D and how we play.

OMG that stretch of two Ty blocks and sick alley oop were incredible


----------



## darlets (Jul 31, 2002)

theanimal23 said:


> What scares me, we played this well and Miami still hung with us.


Hopefully Noc will be better for the hit out, he should keep getting better th more he plays.

TT and Thabo should be better for the game too. They got court time in a tough play off game. They'll be better for the experience.


----------



## VincentVega (Oct 12, 2003)

What is Skiles doing with the lineup?! We're gonna lose this one! Aaaagghghghhhhhh!


----------



## nybullsfan (Aug 12, 2005)

well you can make a case and say heat was in the game because our starting pg i dont think even cracked 30mins


----------



## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

VincentVega said:


> What is Skiles doing with the lineup?! We're gonna lose this one! Aaaagghghghhhhhh!


Well, he did bench Gordon for a minute late in the fourth and tried to win with defense... didn't work out too well.


----------



## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

The game _was_ close, but Gordon and Hinrich had pretty poor games. So I think that gives us a slight edge in the upcoming games.


----------



## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

nybullsfan said:


> well you can make a case and say heat was in the game because our starting pg i dont think even cracked 30mins


Touche. I hope Kirk brings it next game. But wow, we all can say Thabo could be a serious contributor. He played excellent D and you can see what Pax had in mind with him as a defender. 

Overall, you gotta be proud of the way everyone on this team contributed tonight. There weren't too many boneheaded plays. I hope their preparatoin can stay sharp as you know Riley will make his adjustments.

Go Bulls


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

rwj333 said:


> Great win, but did anyone else feel that the calls were almost always in our favor? I'd prefer to win without Shaq fouling out on weak fouls.


I think the calls were bad both ways. The biggest problem I had was the consistancy at the end. On one play they call Thabo for very marginal contact on Wade and on the next, Gordon gets mugged and no call. If you're going to call ticky tack stuff the whole game, don't just stop on one key play.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

theanimal23 said:


> What scares me, we played this well and Miami still hung with us.


I actually thought we looked pretty lousy in the 1st half until we closed it strong. We can play better than this...Gordon was hot and cold and Kirk had an absolutely horrific game.

Wade will get better and Shaq won't always be in foul trouble, but Walker also doesn't usually hit that many 3s, or all of his FTs.

I thought the refs were pretty nice to us today, but not "are we paying them?" nice by any stretch. We got the borderline calls a lot, and we WON'T get them in Miami, but that's the nice thing about being at home with a loud crowd as much as anything.


----------



## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

Touche ViciousFlogging  You make good points


----------



## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

The Good:
No 3 guard lineup!!!!!!!!!!! Haha.


----------



## eymang (Dec 15, 2006)

:clap: :clap: :clap: 

Luol and Thabo are my players of the game. A really good team effort except for tough luck for Kirk. Just showcasing how Thabo should easily be played over Duhon, if this was done in the regular season, we would be the 2 seed right now. I'm not an anti Skiles type of guy (except for Duhon stuff), so I applaud him today. I also enjoyed him being more fiery on the sidelines, when he seemed more subdued in past playoff series (esp Washington)


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

I have to say this though - Gordon played a pretty good floor game despite not quite being dialed in offensively. He took over for Kirk at the point and did great, and I thought his defense was generally very good.


----------



## Mateo (Sep 23, 2006)

Deng's coming out party. Better lock him up in the offseason.


----------



## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

Anyone have that pic with Wade and Gordon in it and Wades head was down?


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Mateo said:


> Deng's coming out party. Better lock him up in the offseason.


I think we will. Pax and Skiles (heart) Mr. Deng something fierce. :yay:


----------



## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

Man, did that Tyrus sequence (2 blocks and alley oop) get the andrenaline going even more. I didn't think that'd be possible.


----------



## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

If Wade and Shaq score more than 20 a piece in the rest of the games, I think we're done. We didn't play that great. Sloppy turnovers, leaving guys wide open on defense. The key for me is:

We can count on Hinrich to have more than 4 pts the rest of the series.
They can't count on 'Toine to drop 21 the rest of the series. 

Game 1 is huge. As I said before, Shaq's teams are 26-0 when they win Game 1.


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

_CHICAGO -- The Miami Heat endured a difficult regular season. Defending their championship won't be easy, either.

Luol Deng scored 33 points, and Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni each hit two free throws in the final 19 seconds as the Chicago Bulls held off the Heat 96-91 Saturday in Game 1 of their opening-round rematch.

The Heat trailed 92-91 after Dwyane Wade found Udonis Haslem for a layup with 38 seconds left, but Gordon hit two foul shots with 18 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Wade missed a 3-pointer and Nocioni hit two more free throws with 9.8 seconds left for the final score.

The Heat beat the Bulls in six emotional games last year on the way to the championship, but injuries limited them to 44 wins during the regular season. Still, this looked like a difficult matchup for a Bulls team that dropped from the second seed to No. 5 when it lost the finale to New Jersey.

Wade scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, and Shaquille O'Neal finished with 19 points before fouling out.

Deng, who enjoyed a breakout season but had struggled against the Heat, made it look easy this time, hitting 14 of 22 shots. Gordon chipped in with 24 points and a career-high 11 assists. _


----------



## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

skiles postgame on espn news right now.

praise for the rooks!


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Glad we won but we frankly need to play MUCH better if we wanna win another game in this series.


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Good for the Bulls to win this one with Gordon and Hinrich going 0-9 from 3pt. Not going to happen again.


----------



## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Today was definitely the loudest the UC's been post-MJ. We've had some great crowds in the playoffs the last 2 postseasons but doesn't compare to what I saw today. Even the announcers were speechless at times.


----------



## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

Anyone have a clip of that dunk by Tyrus? 

I'd like to see him play more, unfortunately (or fortunately) Nocioni is just too good and experienced.


----------



## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

rwj333 said:


> Anyone have a clip of that dunk by Tyrus?
> 
> I'd like to see him play more, unfortunately (or fortunately) Nocioni is just too good and experienced.


I feel the same way. Miami's not a great matchup for Tyrus - we need to stretch their defense and Tyrus doesn't really have the bulk to neutralize Miami's frontcourt on defense or the glass - although he'd be good as a guy to close out on Walker's 3s. But Noc is generally a good scrambling defender too, and we know how much Noc loves the playoffs.

I think Skiles will continue to try and get him out there as a spark, but I don't think he'll get heavy minutes unless there's foul trouble to the guys ahead of him.


----------



## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

ViciousFlogging said:


> I feel the same way. Miami's not a great matchup for Tyrus - we need to stretch their defense and Tyrus doesn't really have the bulk to neutralize Miami's frontcourt on defense or the glass - although he'd be good as a guy to close out on Walker's 3s. But Noc is generally a good scrambling defender too, and we know how much Noc loves the playoffs.
> 
> I think Skiles will continue to try and get him out there as a spark, but I don't think he'll get heavy minutes unless there's foul trouble to the guys ahead of him.


The Bulls are going to win by getting easy baskets in transition. Tyrus is good at that. Plus, it's good to have him out there protecting the basket when Wallace sits.


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## RSP83 (Nov 24, 2002)

ViciousFlogging said:


> I have to say this though - Gordon played a pretty good floor game despite not quite being dialed in offensively. He took over for Kirk at the point and did great, and I thought his defense was generally very good.


Really excited about the win! Nothing better than winning a hard fought game against the defending champion.

Actually, about Ben Gordon playing PG, I'm not a fan of it. He made a lot of frustrating turnovers. He threw some bad passes and looked confused when he has to make a quick decision. But I think it's ok if he has to be the PG for like 35 percent of the game. More than that, I'm a bit worried. But, I think he did a great job today considering he tried to play two roles: the usual scorer and the PG.

Luol Deng was unbelievable.

I'm taking my words back about Ben Wallace, the guy knows what he's doing. I saw a different Ben Wallace today than the one I saw during the regular season.

Nocioni picked up exactly where he left off from last season's playoff.

Thabo's contribution was huge. I was so pumped watching his play when he split two defenders and then took it to the hole pushing O'Neal to the floor for blocking foul. Can't wait to see him develop further.

Tyrus Thomas Final Four performance with LSU wasn't a fluke. He's a big game player who can make big plays whether it's regular season or playoff. He only made one big play today, but did you see how the whole arena reacted? I screamed loudly seeing that series of play he pulled. Both rookies were great tonight, they didn't look out of place at all.

Game 2 bring it on!!


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## eymang (Dec 15, 2006)

LMAO at Shaq. Crying about flopping. He says 'normally I like to outwork or play people to beat them, but I guess this is the only way they can stop Shaq', yeah, when 'outwork' translates to preferential treatment. It's only been a few days since this series started and he's been a hypocrite about 20 times. A 350 pound ***** [edit - the censor is there for a reason  -vf]


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

eymang said:


> LMAO at Shaq. Crying about flopping. He says 'normally I like to outwork or play people to beat them, but I guess this is the only way they can stop Shaq', yeah, when 'outwork' translates to preferential treatment. It's only been a few days since this series started and he's been a hypocrite about 20 times. A 350 pound *****


Shaq says this every time he gets into foul trouble in the playoffs. I thought at least 2 of the calls on him were borderline at best, anyway. I'm not surprised at all he's annoyed. Just hopefully the refs won't react too much to it.


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## Mateo (Sep 23, 2006)

That's hilarious because 2 of Shaq's fouls were flops.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

TripleDouble said:


> The Bulls are going to win by getting easy baskets in transition. Tyrus is good at that. Plus, it's good to have him out there protecting the basket when Wallace sits.


That's true. Hopefully Skiles will find spots for TT to succeed in.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

eymang said:


> LMAO at Shaq. Crying about flopping. He says 'normally I like to outwork or play people to beat them, but I guess this is the only way they can stop Shaq', yeah, when 'outwork' translates to preferential treatment. It's only been a few days since this series started and he's been a hypocrite about 20 times. A 350 pound ***** [edit - the censor is there for a reason  -vf]


Shaq is a hypocrite. He played on a team with several all-time floppers in Rick Fox and Horry.


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

Mateo said:


> That's hilarious because 2 of Shaq's fouls were flops.


Haha true. Since when does Shaq try to draw charges? Who does he think he's kidding? :lol:


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## ViciousFlogging (Sep 3, 2003)

RSP83 said:


> Actually, about Ben Gordon playing PG, I'm not a fan of it. He made a lot of frustrating turnovers. He threw some bad passes and looked confused when he has to make a quick decision. But I think it's ok if he has to be the PG for like 35 percent of the game. More than that, I'm a bit worried. But, I think he did a great job today considering he tried to play two roles: the usual scorer and the PG.


you mentioned the reasons why I've generally been uneasy about Gordon being a full-time PG, and there were definitely several times when he got stuck in traffic and made bad decisions, but he also had a career-high 11 assists and kept his head in the game when his shots weren't falling. I think the good outweighed the bad, considering he was thrust into that role for most of the game.

Hopefully Kirk will stay on the floor and be productive from now on - he has usually stepped it up in the playoffs, so I think he'll be ready for Game 2.


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## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

RSP83 said:


> Actually, about Ben Gordon playing PG, I'm not a fan of it. He made a lot of frustrating turnovers. He threw some bad passes and looked confused when he has to make a quick decision. But I think it's ok if he has to be the PG for like 35 percent of the game. More than that, I'm a bit worried. But, I think he did a great job today considering he tried to play two roles: the usual scorer and the PG.
> 
> I'm taking my words back about Ben Wallace, the guy knows what he's doing. I saw a different Ben Wallace today than the one I saw during the regular season.


I thought Ben wasn't that great, too. He had 11 assists, but I think assists in this offense are mostly a product of the system -- the PG gets doubled and throws to a wide open PJ or Noc. Ben's not a selfish player in that he won't demand or hog the ball when someone else is playing PG but he did have trouble going into pass-first mode. There were also a few times where he shot when he should have passed and passed when he should have shot. Despite all that, he's still the guy you want with the ball in the last 6 minutes of the 4th quarter. The Heat is (are?) trying to double and trap him every time he gets the ball on a pick and roll. While that led to open looks for the rest of the team, I'd like to see an iso at least once. 

Big props to Ben Wallace. I don't like the *way* he stopped Shaq (flopping and drawing offensive fouls) but he still stopped Shaq, and that was most likely the difference between a win and a loss today.


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## TomBoerwinkle#1 (Jul 31, 2002)

Throughout his career, the Shaq/getting fouled argument has always made me shake my head.

Yes. It is hard to defend Shaq straight up without fouling him.

Because he is big? Yes.

Because he is strong? Yes.

Because he is quick for a big? Yes.

Because he initiates contact and commits an (uncalled) offensive foul nearly every time he has touched the ball from the time he entered LSU up to and including today? HELL yes.

The man is the walking, talking embodiment of the term Offensive Foul.

And yet he and his coaches (most especially PJax and Riley) cry and cry and cry that Shaq just can't play his game without big ol' meanies touchy-touching him.

Horse puckeys.


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## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

ViciousFlogging said:


> you mentioned the reasons why I've generally been uneasy about Gordon being a full-time PG, and there were definitely several times when he got stuck in traffic and made bad decisions, but he also had a career-high 11 assists and kept his head in the game when his shots weren't falling. I think the good outweighed the bad, considering he was thrust into that role for most of the game.
> 
> Hopefully Kirk will stay on the floor and be productive from now on - he has usually stepped it up in the playoffs, so I think he'll be ready for Game 2.


I'm a bit worried about Kirk actually. He's gotten a lot more confident lately, and you can see that by the way he argues for calls and gets technicals more frequently. Some Heat fans feel he should have been thrown out for throwing his mouthpiece. Anyway, his increased confidence has also led to him trying to take a bigger role in the offense. Instead of looking to create or set others up, he's looking for his shot a lot more and it doesn't work out too well. I'm not sure if anybody agrees with me, but that's what I've noticed.


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## MikeDC (Jul 16, 2002)

Wish I could say I saw most of the game, but, um... I was at a two year old's birthday party. 

But in any case, it looks like the loss to the nets didn't crush our spirits, and that's something.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

Alright. I would normally read through the entire game thread but this one is particularly long for obvious reasons and I'm particularly busy. I apologize if I'm repeating or disregarding comments that others have already made. 

- Tyrus' sequence was the most exciting part of the game. I'd like to see him play a bit more but I'm not unhappy with the way Skiles used him today. Noc has been our playoffs MVP the past couple seaons and he came up big today so he deserves plenty of minutes. At the same time, I'm somewhat struck by what Mike DC said in another thread: think about how well the Bulls played down the stretch without Noc. There were sometimes in the first half where I thought he was overdribbling and perhaps limiting our ball movement. However, in all fairness, with the double teams off of screens no one on the team seemed to be able to move the ball well in the first half.

- If the link hasn't been posted already, there's a fascinating "discussion" feature over at ESPN. Unsurprisingly, the Heat fans are moaning about the officiating and a lot of folks (many who don't seem to be Bulls fans) are calling them hypocrites. Frankly, I don't have a problem with people complaining about officiating. I just think they need to back up their claims. Perhaps there were some questionable calls against the Heat today but I can think of several against the Bulls (Kirk's 4th foul, the no-call on Ben with about 40 seconds left, and the body "foul" DWade drew against Thabo in the third (fourth?) quarter). A lot of Heat fans are accusing the Bulls of flopping but I didn't see anything abnormal there. If you're able to sell it (and the opposing player plays a big role here), you get the call and if you can't, you don't get the call. That's basketball.

http://myespn.go.com/conversation/story?id=2845135&section=nba

- Great game by Thabo and I'm even more impressed/surprised that Skiles was willing to rely on him so much in the playoffs.

- I think the "let Shaq beat us" strategy worked beautifully.

- It's only one game but so far I feel vindicated in my claim that people jumped the gun when assuming that Wade is at full strength.

- We can put a lot of pressure on the Heat if we win game 2. My favorite thing going forward is that we were able to win today despite shooting terribly from behind the arc.


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## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

Nice post, Jeremy. 

From that link: 


John Hollinger said:


> Interesting to see how Chicago frontcourt minutes will shake out. Thomas only played 10 minute tonight, Brown 14 and Nocioni 30. Ben and Deng played 91 of a possible 96 minutes, so that cut into the pie for everyone else, but I stll don't see P.J. getting any burn in 2nd and 4th quarters in this series. I wonder if/when Skiles will just use him as a backup C and start Noce/Thomas, since they've been a lot more productive.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

rwj333 said:


> Nice post, Jeremy.
> 
> From that link:


Thanks. 

I was both amused and impressed that Hollinger is throwing in his thoughts along with the masses. I've felt the same way he feels about our frontcourt for weeks or maybe even months now but Skiles doesn't seem interested in making a change. I'm actually more receptive to playing time for P.J. right now that I've been just about all season because I'm starting to come around to the idea that he might be our best defensive option against Shaq, though Ben did well in the second half.


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## VincentVega (Oct 12, 2003)

rwj333 said:


> Anyway, his increased confidence has also led to him trying to take a bigger role in the offense. Instead of looking to create or set others up, he's looking for his shot a lot more and it doesn't work out too well. I'm not sure if anybody agrees with me, but that's what I've noticed.


While taking more shots and scoring more points, Kirk shot 46% FG and 46% 3PT in both March and April (when the team went 16-6). In the last two postesasons, when he looked for his shot more often and generally became more aggressive, he shot the ball at a much better clip than he did in the regular season.


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## Wishbone (Jun 10, 2002)

wow. great win today! (as if everyone else didn't notice)

and a lot of great posts today on this thread. some good insights. love the level of excitement and intensity I'm reading here today...

Both Ben's played good games today... Perhaps Gordon wasn't playing his typical game, but the number of assists he got and some pretty important shots he hit were awsome.

I think that Luol and Noc were basically the heroes for the day though. Deng was just consistently money with the jumper and going inside all day. he was absolutely huge on a day when the Bulls needed someone to step up and be a #1 scoring option.
and Nocioni was just doing what he does best. Play a tough, frenetic game and got some serious baskets by driving fearlessly at both Shaq and Zo all throughout. Love this guy. Love his game. you really forget how much of a keeper he is even when the Bulls were playing great down the stretch without him.

Tyrus certainly brought the excitement -- as has been noted several times his two-block alley-oop sequence was friggin awsome. definitel had me whooping it up the most of any part in the whole game. (though Noc's drive on Shaq down the stretch drawing Shaq's 6 foul might have been the highnote!)

and my final thought - how impressive was Thabo in extended minutes today? His shooting - while not always taking the smartest shot, was efficient enough, and his defense on Wade throughout the 3rd quarter was phenomonal. Could not have won this game if Skiles only had Griffin or Duhon available to put on Wade with Hinrich saddled to the bench during that stretch. Yes Wade did take advantage of Thabo near the end, drawing some contact and hitting a typically Wade ridiculous shot high off the backboard -- but somehow that guy is going to do that, and do it multiple times a game on anyone. so, you can't say Thabo was chumping it up out there.
This game should not have been as close as it was though. Middle of the 4th quarter, the Bulls had a 9 point lead, when Wade and Shaq were on the bench... during this stretch the Bulls blew it on almost every single offensive possesion - a time when they could have padded the lead to 14 or 15 points. instead, Shaq and Wade re-enter the game with a few minutes to go only down by three. A few calls and bounces go the other way, Bulls might not have walked away with this one, despite there being an oppourtunity to completely blow the Heat out of the water...


my thoughts for the rest of the series:
can't possibly expect Shaq to foul out again or even be in deep foul trouble at any other point in the series. Ditto Wade.
but I also expect that Kirk will rebound with some really solid games. 
The refs called todays game mostly even, a couple questionable calls both wasy -- but really the Bulls got the benefit of the doubt more often. don't think we'll see the same thing in Miami or even neccessarily at any more of the games at home.
Still a long way to go, and I can't even begin to predict what's going to happen the rest of the way.

but for now, I'm a happy happy man

Go Bulls!!


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## yodurk (Sep 4, 2002)

Only comments I have...

a) GREAT to see Nocioni back in top form so quickly. His scoring boost was a life-saver with Hinrich being a non-factor.

b) I love Sefolosha. The Heat were completely caught off guard by his defense and small scoring burst.

c) Tyrus once again...despite not playing much, those 2 blocks & dunk had a HUGE impact on closing out the 3rd quarter. For that matter, the Bulls really finished all 4 quarters about as well as possible.

d) Ben Wallace justified his paycheck today as far as I'm concerned. He dominated the boards and played great defense on Shaq overall (1st quarter scoring burst aside).

e) Bulls were super sharp with the ball movement even if shots weren't falling. We will absolutely win this series if we bring this kind of effort every game.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

Wishbone said:


> can't possibly expect Shaq to foul out again or even be in deep foul trouble at any other point in the series.


I'm not so sure I agree. Wasn't Shaq in foul trouble in multiple games last year? One of my favorite parts about the "make Shaq beat us" strategy is that the more shots he attempts the more likely he is to draw offensive fouls.


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## Frankensteiner (Dec 29, 2004)

rwj333 said:


> Anyway, his increased confidence has also led to him trying to take a bigger role in the offense. Instead of looking to create or set others up, he's looking for his shot a lot more and it doesn't work out too well. I'm not sure if anybody agrees with me, but that's what I've noticed.


I don't understand this at all. He's been very efficient, for the most part. He's arguably been our best player the last two months of the season.


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## mizenkay (Dec 29, 2003)

Hinrich: _WHat the *&^%*#*[email protected]&!?!?!_

Wade: _Is the ref lookin'? Is he lookin'? Yeah? Does he see me? I'm lying on the floor!! Foul? Offensive on Hinrich? OK, good, now I can get up._








:angel:


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## darlets (Jul 31, 2002)

JeremyB0001 said:


> I'm not so sure I agree. Wasn't Shaq in foul trouble in multiple games last year? One of my favorite parts about the "make Shaq beat us" strategy is that the more shots he attempts the more likely he is to draw offensive fouls.


That's a good point. Doubling Shaq makes it more likely he'll get fouled and less likely the refs will see any offensive foul. That's just human nature. You double someone the refs start looking for contact. 


Positive stats nobody really mentioned
46/33 rebounding edge. 
27 of our 35 shots made were assisted.

Ben Gordon with 7 rebounds.

The boxscore listed Griffen as inactive???? Is he injuried? It would seem odd that we'd take Viktor into the game over Griff.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

darlets said:


> The boxscore listed Griffen as inactive???? Is he injuried? It would seem odd that we'd take Viktor into the game over Griff.


Yeah. For a while the team had insisted he'd be healthy by the playoffs but as of the last day or two Skiles referred to him as questionable/doubtful with his back spasms.


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## bre9 (Jan 8, 2006)

Gordon,Deng,Nocioni, Thabo, Wallace all played great hope they can keep it up and pull the second game on tues.


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## Aurelino (Jul 25, 2003)

Shaq crying like a little girl after fouling out. Like always, they'll try to work the refs. Pay a $ 20,000 fine for better treatment in the next game.


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Aurelino said:


> Shaq crying like a little girl after fouling out. Like always, they'll try to work the refs. Pay a 20,000 fine for better treatment in the next game.


Shaquille acts like a vagin.


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## Headfake98 (Dec 10, 2006)

We really should have pummeled the Heat. There was a stretch in the 4th where J. Williams and co were hitting threes in transition and we would just run down the other end and let Gordon chuck one of his crazy midrange running jumpers up or throw it out with like 20 seconds on the shot clock to Hinrich who would just shoot the three. When they are closing the lead like that I don't see why we wouldn't at least try for an open 10 ft jumper or so for Noc or someone, the lead was scarily going away and we needed high percentage shots.

But we won, and that's all that matters.


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## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

I wish I could post more but I have an exam soon. Lots of great posts on this thread, and I agree with most of the points. Regarding the officating, which we knew would be a big deal heading into the series, Is it that Chicago got the benefit of the calls, or is it that Miami was officiated more tightly than usual for them?

I feel that the Bulls getting the slightly better calls is what happened early last year too. You can expect that to chanage, at least in Miami. It will only get tougher for us, but we need to keep focus and keep making adjustments. Solid effort from everyone. As much as I want to see Tyrus, our best line up is Ben-Noce-Deng-Ben-Kirk. PJ should backup Big Ben, and Tyrus should get minutes here and there. Thabo, if he can continue today's success should be the first guard off the bench.

Btw, is there a clip of Tyrus that I could d/l?


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## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

mizenkay said:


> skiles postgame on espn news right now.
> 
> praise for the rooks!


What'd he say ?

Thanks Miz

Bulls Fever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## rwj333 (Aug 10, 2002)

Frankensteiner said:


> I don't understand this at all. He's been very efficient, for the most part. He's arguably been our best player the last two months of the season.


I agree he's been incredibly efficient. It's not a knock on him. 

It's not something that shows up in stats, too. I've just noticed that he's a lot more willing and eager to try and take over games or take big shots in crucial moments. Like he hit that game-winning shot against Philadelphia, and I think that's the first of his NBA career. I'm not saying he's shied away from that in the past, but he has been a lot more aggressive lately. I posted about it in other game threads in the past year. 

It's a completely subjective observation, I could be wrong.


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## PowerWoofer (Jan 5, 2006)

1-0!!!!

Anyway, great game. I almost had a heart attack at the end of the game, also when Noce made Shaq foul out, that was a scary moment. I thought it was an offensive foul, and we really needed any extra points we could get. Great to see that things went our way today.

Thabo played great D on Wade today. Completely unexpected, and a good thing to see.
Gordon almost had a triple-double (first?), and Noce, Deng, Wallace played great ball today.
Hinrich sucked, but I guess not EVERYONE can be good on the same night. I expect him to bounce back next game.

Great game. Keep it up!

GO BULLS!!!!!!!


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## JustinC (Jul 10, 2006)

Daaaaaaaa Bulls


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## RoRo (Aug 21, 2002)

there were lots of impressive performances today, but two things surprised me.

one is we shot .176 from the three point line (kirk and bg didn't hit a single 3) and still won the game. 

also we shot the same number of free throws as miami. it felt like we were at the line more often.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

> "Same team," O'Neal said dismissively. "Play fast and they play hard, a lot of flopping and messing around. It's unfortunate some people fall for that. I'm used to outplaying someone. Just playing hard. I guess that's what you've got to do to stop Shaq—flop and whine and jump into him and get him in foul trouble."





> "We still had our chances to win the game," O'Neal added. "They did what they were supposed to do—they won at home. We've got to try to get one Tuesday. They had help."


Chitrib

Shaq is such a clown. Rick Fox and Robert Horry are two of the biggest floppers of all time and if it weren't for the "help" the Lakers got in game 6 against the Kings they probably would not have won that series.


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## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

They can't accept that they loss to another team. They just can't. I can't seem to think of another team in recent history that had "Contender" status or was a champion that complains so much in the media.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

A few more thoughts:

- It's funny that the spin from the Heat's side is that the Heat had an off day, the Bulls caught all the breaks, and were firing on all cylinders so we'll slip up in game 2. I think that severely underestimates how sharp Wade is right now and how successful we've been against him historically. Furthermore, I don't expect Kirk to have another game this bad and I don't expect us to shoot so poorly from three again. If they think today is as well as we can play, they'd better lookout.

- How do the Heat define a flop? I think we probably sold some of the calls but to me a flop is when a player pretends there was contact when in fact there was none. Shaq looked to be making contact with our players, we just may have exagerrated the contact some.


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## nitric (Dec 14, 2006)

Anyone found a video for that sequence with Tyrus blocking Payton and finishing it off with a alley oop. The crowd went crazy!!


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

JeremyB0001 said:


> A few more thoughts:
> 
> - It's funny that the spin from the Heat's side is that the Heat had an off day, the Bulls caught all the breaks, and were firing on all cylinders so we'll slip up in game 2. I think that severely underestimates how sharp Wade is right now and how successful we've been against him historically. Furthermore, I don't expect Kirk to have another game this bad and I don't expect us to shoot so poorly from three again. If they think today is as well as we can play, they'd better lookout.
> 
> - How do the Heat define a flop? I think we probably sold some of the calls but to me a flop is when a player pretends there was contact when in fact there was none. Shaq looked to be making contact with our players, we just may have exagerrated the contact some.


The only blatent flops I can recall are two on Wallace. Otherwise the charges they drew seemed to be legit.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

TripleDouble said:


> The only blatent flops I can recall are two on Wallace. Otherwise the charges they drew seemed to be legit.


I can't remember all of them. The only one I remember well is one (in the second quarter?) where Shaq had his elbow sticking out and then pivoted and took a step towards Ben whose feet were planted, hit him in the chest, and Ben fell to the ground. I don't think the contact actually caused Ben to fall to the ground and it's a bit of a tight foul to call, but I think you can defend that call.


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## King Joseus (May 26, 2003)

Anyone possibly able to find the 4th foul on Hinrich anywhere? I'd like to know how messed up of a call it was if at all possible.

(And for those interested, I was wearing the Hinrich.)


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## RoRo (Aug 21, 2002)

nitric said:


> Anyone found a video for that sequence with Tyrus blocking Payton and finishing it off with a alley oop. The crowd went crazy!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3OtKHGNotY


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## BenDengGo (Feb 1, 2004)

"TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!"


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## kukoc4ever (Nov 20, 2002)

Great game for the Bulls.

I like the Bulls chances in this series.

Wade looks like a shell of the player he was last year @ this time. Let's hope that continues.

Deng and Gordon are becoming two star-level players in the NBA. Deng was the most active guy on the court from the opening tip and played with a remarkable calm and efficiency.

Gordon stepped up and played the role of primary ball handler well enough. I'm coming around on the idea of letting him play the 1 for a season. I'd love to see his experience level increase so the few silly plays be made yesterday are reduced.

Nocioni is a clutch playoff performer. Thabo looked great out there. That sequence by Tyrus was yet another electrifying play from this freakish athlete.

The Heat looked pretty old, gimpy and tired out there... which was a prerequisite to a Bulls victory in this series. The Bulls have a real chance to win this thing.


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## Ron Cey (Dec 27, 2004)

I actually thought Wade and Shaq looked pretty damn good. 'Toine too.


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## garnett (May 13, 2003)

BenDengGo said:


> "TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!"


:rotf:

Nice!


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## BenDengGo (Feb 1, 2004)

i gotta ask someone at west coast remix to do a 300 like wallpaper with this image 

either "tonight we dine in hell!" or "prepare for glory"


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## yodurk (Sep 4, 2002)

The Heat are doing their typical mind-game yapping after the loss. Shaq and Riley complaining about the officials, and underplaying our guy's performances. Man, is this what Phil Jackson used to do? It's really annoying!


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## Good Hope (Nov 27, 2002)

yodurk said:


> The Heat are doing their typical mind-game yapping after the loss. Shaq and Riley complaining about the officials, and underplaying our guy's performances. Man, is this what Phil Jackson used to do? It's really annoying!


Straight from the Phil Jackson school of backhanded compliments. An arrogant SOB, and a winner. 

I really enjoyed watching Luol's and Dwyane's interviews, however. Those guys are just really cool, thoughtful and respectful. 

You know, when I look back at the championship years, what I enjoyed almost as much as watching the games was hearing MJ talk about the game, what he was doing, how he responded, etc. He really made the game poetic both on and off the court. These guys aren't that good, but I like it when the story of the game matches the playing out of the game.

I just have to say I'm really excited about this series. There are going to be a lot of adjustments and a lot of good analysis of what has happened and what needs to happen. Perfect series for a basketball geek. 

And when the Bulls win it, it will serve as a great stepping stone for challenging the Pistons. 

Go Bulls!


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## Sith (Oct 20, 2003)

The game wasn't as close as the score indicated, Wade and J.Will were hitting some crazy shots in the 4th quarter. We should have won the game by 10pts at least.


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## yodurk (Sep 4, 2002)

Sith said:


> The game wasn't as close as the score indicated, Wade and J.Will were hitting some crazy shots in the 4th quarter. We should have won the game by 10pts at least.


I agree. I'm sure if it's a good thing or bad thing for us though. It felt like we were ahead by 10+ points in the 4th if you weren't watching the score.

I think the X-factor for the Heat is Antoine Walker. If he plays like he did yesterday, the Heat will make this a super tough series. But if he plays the way he has all season (i.e. the sub-40% shooter, inconsistent 3-pt threat) we should handle this thing no doubt.

Then again, Jason Williams, Mourning, and Posey are all capable of big impacts too, and they were all pretty silent yesterday. Totally unpredictable what will happen from here on out. Both teams are deep, and there's no telling who will step up each game.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

King Joseus said:


> Anyone possibly able to find the 4th foul on Hinrich anywhere? I'd like to know how messed up of a call it was if at all possible.
> 
> (And for those interested, I was wearing the Hinrich.)


Man I'd love to see it again. I thought it was without a doubt one of the worst foul calls I've ever seen. We were on offense, both players were cutting and then collilded. It's not a charge because Wade was _running_ when they collided so you can't even try to argue his feet were set. It's not an illegal screen because Kirk was cutting, not attempting to set a screen. I didn't see Kirk do anything like push Wade over. I know Wade gets calls from the refs but this was unbelievable...


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## such sweet thunder (May 30, 2002)

I've got to agree. Shaq looks quicker and more healthy than he has in years. Last year, he only put it together for a couple of games in the series. I'm expecting Shaq to play well in every game this year.

It was hardly a confidence boosting game. Bulls are the beneficiaries of some of the most favorable officiating in recent memory, get good games from Deng and Gordon, and have a rookie provide the best game of his career, and almost choke at the end. 

Ug. We'll see.


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## yodurk (Sep 4, 2002)

I really don't think the officiating went our way any more than Miami. Really a well officiated game overall.

PJ Brown had 4 fouls, and 3 of those were VERY debatable calls while playing help defense on Shaq. Hinrich obviously was called very closely. As were Shaq and Wade.

Now that I think about it, there just alot of fouls call in general. The refs were calling the game very close, probably so this series doesn't get out of control like in the past. They know there's some bad blood here.


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## TripleDouble (Jul 26, 2002)

Ron Cey said:


> I actually thought Wade and Shaq looked pretty damn good. 'Toine too.


I thought Wade looked as explosive as ever. The only handicap I could see was finishing with his left hand.


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## transplant (Jul 31, 2002)

Better late than never I suppose.

Great games for Deng, both Bens and Noce. THABO! What a job, kid! Thomas provided a great lift at a key time. Very disappointed in Hinrich. I suspect Skiles is explaining to him that part of being a "heady" guard is keeping your head. Yeah, it looked to me like Kirk was a little bit of a "marked man" out there, but you've gotta adjust to it and stay on the floor.

Read that Shaq is whining about Wallace flopping. I understand his point. The fact is that for much of his career, Shaq has been able to bang away at well-positioned defenders until he gets to where he can't miss. By the rules, his technique is an offensive foul (actually a series of offensive fouls), but the refs don't call it unless the defender falls (simply being knocked a couple feet backwards isn't enough). Prior to yesterday's game, Shaq had expressed admiration for Wallace because Wallace never flopped against him. Of course, last season Shaq dominated while his Heat team knocked the non-flopping Wallace's Pistons team out of the playoffs. It seems that Wallace has learned that, if the refs are going to penalize you (and your team) for playing sound position defense, then you gotta flop.

If Shaq hates defenders flopping against him, he'd go into apoplexy if the refs ever called the game by the rules.


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## JeremyB0001 (Nov 17, 2003)

transplant said:


> Read that Shaq is whining about Wallace flopping. I understand his point. The fact is that for much of his career, Shaq has been able to bang away at well-positioned defenders until he gets to where he can't miss. By the rules, his technique is an offensive foul (actually a series of offensive fouls), but the refs don't call it unless the defender falls (simply being knocked a couple feet backwards isn't enough). Prior to yesterday's game, Shaq had expressed admiration for Wallace because Wallace never flopped against him. Of course, last season Shaq dominated while his Heat team knocked the non-flopping Wallace's Pistons team out of the playoffs. It seems that Wallace has learned that, if the refs are going to penalize you (and your team) for playing sound position defense, then you gotta flop.
> 
> If Shaq hates defenders flopping against him, he'd go into apoplexy if the refs ever called the game by the rules.


Very well put. As I've said, it's a lot harder to sell a flop when the opposing player does not make any contact with your body. If Shaq doesn't want to get whistled for a foul he hits Wallace in the chest with his elbow and Ben "flops" then he shouldn't hit people with his elbow.


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## SALO (Jun 6, 2002)

Shaq's teams are like 26-0 in playoff series where they win Game 1, so I was very concerned about winning this game. 

Last year some people say the Heat finally woke up after we played them tough the first 5 games, but I don't know if they'll be able to flip a switch this time. They were very motivated to win this game, see the whole "Fake motivation, Bulls aren't our rivals, you wanted us here we come" speech from Shaq. Then there was Mourning's "Careful what you wish for" quote. 

It only took one game for Shaq to pull the "play me like a man, you didn't win the game the refs beat us" crap. I fully expect him to get fined by the league for his comments, and subsequently the Heat murder us from the free-throw line in Game 2 because of it.


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## SALO (Jun 6, 2002)

One thing lost on Thabo's play yesterday was his OFFENSE. 

When he rose up for his jumpers, even the ill-advised pull-up 3, I felt like his shots were going to go in. Just the confidence in which he shoots his jumpers is more noticeable. 

He was also splitting double-teams on the pick&roll like Hinrich usually does. He appears more confident in all aspects of his game right now. Thank goodness Skiles gave him more run in the 2nd half, he even brought him in first off the bench ahead of Duhon after Kirk picked up his 4th foul.


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## theanimal23 (Mar 2, 2005)

Maybe the Heat have issues with the officating because for once, they were offiated how most teams normally are officated. 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/marty_burns/04/21/heat.bulls/1.html



> On his third foul, he was moving to his side a bit when he tried to take a charge from Sefalosha. On his fourth, he plowed over Ben Wallace on a spin move to the rim. On his fifth, he bit on a Wallace fake and threw his hip out just enough to make contact. On his sixth, replays showed the back of his heel was inside the no-charge zone when he tried to draw a charge from Andres Nocioni.


The X-factor is simply Miami's 3 point game. We stop that, we got a legit chance to win any game.


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