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[$8loodyarcher]

http://articles.chic...rman-bulls-fans


By the time Taj Gibson mixed it up with Elton Brand in the second quarter of Tuesday night's 77-69 slugfest over the 76ers, it was clear the Bulls came committed to show the fight for which coach Tom Thibodeau practically begged.
A fight the Bulls failed to choreograph in this series until facing elimination in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.


About time.
"Playoff basketball,'' Gibson explained. "We just laid it on the line. Nobody wants to get eliminated at home.''
Nobody did because the prideful Bulls came prepared to resemble the Bulls again and rely on heart and character as much as shooting and defense. To remind fans what had been missing with an impassioned performance that, unless the Bulls find a way to force Game 7, also potentially meant for the United Center crowd a goodbye to some dear friends — or at least so long to the status quo.
By now we know them by first names or nicknames: Taj, Rip, Lu, Booze, C.J., Omer, Kyle, Brew and even Scal. We know, as well as they do, that every one of them plays in Chicago based on their ability to complement a team built around Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. We know their strengths and weaknesses, their respective values to the Bulls according to the salary cap and stat sheet.
We know them better than fans know supporting casts in most NBA cities because, with the exception of Richard Hamilton, all the key guys just completed their second season in our midst and our living rooms.
The Bulls made a conscious decision to bring essentially the same group back because familiarity represented the safest, smartest way to achieve the only goal that mattered: Beat the Heat. The goal of getting to the NBA Finals drove every Bulls personnel and payroll decision the last several offseasons.
Obviously that's not going to happen, regardless of Tuesday's outcome. Now we only know one thing for sure about the roster with which Bulls fans have become so comfortable.
Uncomfortably, change is coming.
The Bulls hold contract options on Game 5 spark Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver and C.J. Watson but their inevitable transformation goes beyond the likely exits of Brewer and Korver. The Bulls cannot use old blueprints to build a new contender. The foundation cracked.
Because of salary-cap realities that changed when Rose signed a $95 million contract, financially the Bulls cannot keep the gang together. Because of a snap of Rose's ACL, they cannot work under the same assumptions. They only can count on starting over, philosophically, after Rose's injury gave team officials John Paxson and Gar Forman no choice but to pay attention to a score more significant than one tracking any game or series: NBA Reality 2, Team Chemistry 0.
Since the Bulls lost out on signing the Big Three in the summer of 2010, since they hired the consummate team-oriented coach in Thibodeau, the Bulls have gone against the NBA grain. They have emphasized closeness we saw on display Tuesday and clung to the old-fashioned notion they could win by surrounding Rose with guys who tried hard, played defense and shared the ball.



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Nothing endorsed that plan more than finishing two straight regular seasons with the league's best record. Nothing exposed its limitations more than the last two playoffs, especially this year when calamity struck in Game 1.
Suddenly, the offseason calls for Paxson and Forman to find creative ways to add another bona fide All-Star. It calls for an open mind to trading anyone under contract whose name isn't Rose to transform the Bulls so they can make a legitimate title run in two or three seasons.
Not having Rose at top form until perhaps the 2013-14 season needs to mean no more grand basketball experimentation. No Rose forces the Bulls to stop trying to deny what annual contenders make obvious. In the playoffs, teams with stars go further. Plural.
The Bulls have one star, and he awaits knee surgery that will make next season a local study in patience.
That realization about the future compounded the Bulls' grief over losing Rose. They fell into such a deep funk because everybody sensed a championship window had closed and, when it reopens, another group will try to wedge through.
They mourned the loss of an opportunity nobody knows will come again, as much as the loss of their best player.
"It's not over,'' Thibodeau said.
Technically, the series isn't. Realistically, the first phase of the Derrick Rose Era is.

[$8loodyarcher]

"Technically the series isn't over. Realistically the first phase of the Derrick Rose Era is."

[Ryan``]

dont even know what that is but u seem happy? oh well.

+1

[$8loodyarcher]

Ryan, on 09 May 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

dont even know what that is but u seem happy? oh well.

+1

The complete opposite actually.

[$Eric]

tl;dr

[$Ipunchb4bys]

lol eric XD

[$Desley]

Holland

[$Furl]

Ballin on these niggas like im derrick rose

[Siik]

lol you gonna be a sport reporter when you grow up. lol 76ers got the series Though

[$Merk]

lets go sixerssss