I have waited to write this one to let the fire inside smolder a bit, but I am running out of time. I still am a little frustrated but I’m ready to move on to game 2. Before I hit on tomorrow’s game though, let’s reflect on game 1.
As I said in my previous post, I have no expectations for the Bulls to come out of this series victorious. I am still a fan, and still want to see the Bulls succeed though, and when the Bucks performed so poorly on Sunday I felt like Chicago realllyyyy needed to take advantage. Instead, it was a poor performance all around and we couldn’t find a way to close it out in the end. Our big 3 went 21 of 71 from the field, just shy of 30%. When we came into the series, I thought “Man, if our bench and role players can play halfway decent, we might be able to stick with these guys.” I didn’t realize our 3 key pieces were going to shit the bed. From a shooting perspective, Coby White, who has been highly criticized for his inconsistency, shot great – 5/10 from the field. Overall, Vooch had a pretty decent game doing some of the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but when your team is lacking defensively, the offense needs to be the motor of the team and 86 points just isn’t going to get it done. Had you told me we would hold the Bucks to just 93 points in the first game, I would have chalked that up as a W for the good guys.
It’s just so disappointing because it felt like we were right there, they had a chance if even just one of DeMar, Lavine, or Vooch shows up offensively – it was like there was a lid on the basket. Milwaukee is not going to hand us another opportunity like that. DeMar said there’s no way in hell he’s going 6/25 again, but the thing is, there’s no way the Bucks are going to play as poorly as they did either. The Bulls are going to need to put together a perfect series the rest of the way. Just imagine how hyped the United Center would be if we came back to the CHI tied 1-1. It’s still possible.
Alright, let’s move on from game 1. It’s water under the bridge, so what can we expect from game 2. The Bulls did a great job stopping Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton in game 1, the X-Factor really became Brook Lopez. There is absolutely no reason that Vucevic can’t go toe to toe with Lopez. They are very similar players when you break it down. Vooch needs to buckle down and find a way to out-perform Lopez – and really across the board that is what we need. Let’s breakdown how that might look, a game within the game:
Giannis is going to get his. He’s a perennial MVP candidate for a reason. We need our stars to outshine theirs. I think that our 1-2 punch of Lavine and DeRozan can outscore the Bucks duo of Giannis and Middleton. It’s easier to shut down Middleton than it is to slow down Giannis. We’ve already covered that Vucevic needs to out-perform Lopez. This is going to be key to the Bulls success.
From there, we need what all of Chicago-Land has been waiting for, Patrick Williams to take that leap. He needs to match Jrue Holiday on both ends of the court. We need the defensive prowess that we saw early on when P-Will was healthy, and we need him to score like he did in the season finale and summer league. He has the opportunity to really be the X-Factor for the Bulls, and if Chicago has any chance of making it out of this series alive, The Paw is going to need to make his impact on the game.
That really only leaves Pat Connaughton, Bobby Portis, and Greyson Allen for them, and Javonte Green, Alex Caruso, Coby White and Ayo Donsumu for us and I have to say, I like our chances with those guys.
Can Lavine and DeRozan combing for 60 while holding Giannis and Middleton to 50?
Can Vooch give us 15-20 points and 15 boards and make Lopez work for his shots?
Lastly, can Patrick Williams show us why he was the #4 pick – be our lock down defender and blossom offensively right before the nations eyes?
If the Bulls can win the smaller battles offensively, and get back to wreaking havoc on the defensive side of the ball like early in the season (yes I know we are missing Lonzo) then I think Chicago could come back home with an even record and a fighting chance to take the lead in the series and shock the world.
Let me know your thoughts, I’m ready to run through a wall for this team despite trying to simmer my expectations. You can reach me on Twitter @GreNBA_ and as always, thanks for reading, this is All Net!
Jacob Grenemeier
April 19th, 2022
Chicago Hoop Heads 