Game Preview: Chicago Bulls (6-4) vs Portland Trail Blazers (10-2)

The Portland Trail Blazers are a bit of a sore spot for me. Yes, I have a massive, unabashed man crush on Ben Gordon, but my love of LaMarcus Aldridge is up there with anyone in the league. You might even recall that the Bulls once drafted LaMarcus Aldridge and traded him for *drum roll* TYRUS THOMAS.

The only positive from that trade was that Thomas was so horrible that the Bulls weren't any good, so David Stern fixed the draft happened to pull the lottery ball for the Bulls to win the first overall pick in the draft, and thus Derrick Rose.

Think of Aldridge as a really, really good Carlos Boozer: he can bang down low with a variety of post moves, and he can hit the 20 footer with ease. The entire NBA (including Aldridge) knows that he would be a perfect fit for the Bulls, and trade rumors persist. GarPax won't do a deal for him, nor would the Trail Blazers wan the older Boozer, so I doubt a trade ever gets done. He's the best thing in Portland this side of Portlandia.



Damian Lillard

On top of Aldridge, the Blazers have a wonderful point guard by the name of Damian Lillard. There is almost always an East Coast bias in national sports coverage, so the Lillard doesn't receive as much attention as he deserves, but he is a wonderful compliment to Aldridge in the Blazers' offense. Lillard is taking 7 3's per game (wow), but managing to connect on 39% of them. Lillard is also quite quick, and he can get to the rack on occasion in spite of his small stature.

Three Point Shooting

The Blazers are a team tailor-made to 21st century basketball sabermetrics. Three point shooting is incredibly valuable, so in addition to Lillard, the Blazers have Wesley Matthews and Nic Batum drilling three pointers at will. About 50% of both players' shot attempts are three pointers, and the Blazers have trigger happy Mo Williams coming off the bench to pour in even more points. The Blazers are second in the NBA in scoring at 110.7 PPG, and their offense could really thrive with Jimmy Butler sitting out and Lillard penetrating.

I'm really worried about this game. I thought the Bulls would show-up for last night's game (and they did-- for a half). This is another long trip from Denver to Portland, and I think it's safe to say the Bulls will not be adjusted for this late night affair.

For the first time this year, I am expecting the Bulls to lose, in spite of a valiant effort from Kirk Hinrich. The Blazers fire power, and the lack of Butler and

Final Score: Blazers 105 Bulls 92

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Talking Knicks and Linsanity, victory over the Heat

There was a great article in the New York Times about the end of Linsanity, and talked a bit with a friend/reader about the Melo- D'antoni feud. As much as I loathe the Knicks, this is a great story, with a bevy of opinions.

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I've never been a buyer of Jeremy Lin. I watched him play pretty well, lighting up mediocre point guards, and taking more shots than Allen Iverson. The flaws in his game were clear as day: he can't go left, he can't really handle the ball, and he makes a lot of unforced turnovers.

Yet, there's no doubt he can play. Is he a top 5 point guard as many speculated? Not by a long shot..

1. Derrick Rose
2. Deron Williams
3. Chris Paul
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Steve Nash
6. Rajon Rondo
7. Kyrie Irving (I'm going to regret putting him behind Rondo)
8. Tony Parker
9. Ricky Rubio (can't shoot, but neither can Rondo)
10. Kyle Lawry

And you can argue that CJ Watson, Eric Bledsoe, Darren Collison, Andre Miller, Brandon Knight, Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, Jeff Teague and John Wall are on another level above Lin. So, yeah, he's basically a league average guard playing in New York.

So if Linsanity is over, I wouldn't worry about it. There are at least 15-20 better point guards in the league (and a few are back-ups!).

When did Linsanity die for me? Not surprisingly, against Los Bulls, earlier this week. In the 4th quarter we saw Carmelo Anthony, one of the best half-court scorers in the NBA, calling for the ball against a combination of ROOKIE Jimmy Butler and Ronnie Brewer. Now, both are excellent defenders, but still, Carmelo is one of the best scorers in the game. He should be getting the ball in the 4th quarter.

Nope, Lin waves him off. Possession after possession, Lin seems to give the ball to anyone but Carmelo, until he demands the rock within the last 2 minutes (and puts up a few moments of epic chucking).

Frankly, I don't give a damn how good Lin thinks he is. He's still a 2nd year player refusing to defer to one of the best scorers in the game. And D'Antoni didn't care.

This begs the question, who's more important: Carmelo Anthony or Jeremy Lin?

In my eyes, that's a no brainer...it's probably the guy you traded several starters for. Probably one of the best scorers in the game, a guy who is considered the 3rd best small forward in the NBA.

And since D'Antoni has tried to force his run n' gun, open court style of basketball on a team built around a dominant isolation player, we've seen Carmelo go into hiding. New York fans seem to forget that Melo is awesome. He's a fantastic, top 10 NBA player who should be celebrated a  lot more than a league-average point guard. Maybe this is crazy, but I think this team is better without D'Antoni and without a Lin/Melo feud.


Talking Wednesday's game against the Heat...


John Lucas III is one of my favorite players, mainly because he might even be a little shorter than me and posts hilarious shit on Twitter. He came to play, scoring efficiently, lighting up LeBron and not really turning the ball over. I'm so impressed...to the point where I might end up ordering my Lucas jersey.

Of course, Deng is clearly more hurt than he's let on. He played alright, but a healthy Deng doesn't let LeBron score at will.

Boozer looked ineffective, as is the norm for him against the Heat. He had TWO points. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll give him a pass since he's looked like Utah Boozer the last few weeks. We might actually need him in the Eastern Conference Finals, though. So Carlos, come to play.

As for the enemy... I will admit, I still love LeBron. He's one of my favorite players, and as a former headcase athlete, I genuinely feel sorry for him. He's usually the best player on the court, but once that 4th quarter comes, or something throws him off, he's not what he should be. I'd love to beat the Heat with a beasting LeBron, but that might not happen.

Dwyane Wade on the other hand went nuts in the 4th quarter. He almost single-handedly won the game and looked like an MVP out there. Let's rejoice in victory and not think about what could have happened.

And now...

BEAT THE BLA (uh, what the hell did they do at the deadline?)... I guess this is the Blazers!