Hooped Up

Chicago Bulls win 109-108 to crawl into playoff tie
At this rate, the Nets might think their new arena in Brooklyn is completed and fail to show for Friday night’s game in East Rutherford, N.J., handing the Bulls a forfeit victory.

After widespread injuries that contributed mightily to a 10-game losing streak in March, the Bulls’ luck is starting to even out. And Thursday night, the Bulls took advantage — barely.

With LeBron James resting in street clothes, the Bulls downed the Cavaliers 109-108 at the United Center to pull into a tie with the Raptors for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with four games remaining.

The teams meet Sunday in Toronto, and the Raptors will be without All-Star forward Chris Bosh, who had surgery to repair facial fractures suffered Tuesday and exited a hospital Thursday.

This one went down to the wild end…
Chicago Tribune


Cavaliers rest their ace
James doesn’t play as Bulls eke out win, control own destiny. The Bulls’ closing kick isn’t reminding anyone of Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes.

But by squeaking out a 109-108 victory Thursday night over the LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers at the United Center, the Bulls moved into a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

With only four games left, the Bulls (38-40) control their own destiny. If they win out, they’re in, regardless of what the Toronto Raptors do down the stretch.

”The basketball gods were with us,” Bulls center Joakim Noah said of the close victory. ”We can’t get too high. A lot of things have gone our way.”

Derrick Rose had a team-high 24 points, Kirk Hinrich had 23 points and Luol Deng had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Noah also had a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds. He contributed a big block in the final seconds and scored what proved to be the winning points. Mo Williams, doing his best LeBron imitation, led the Cavaliers (61-18) with 35 points.

”We definitely needed it,” Hinrich said. ”We’ve been letting a lot of opportunities slip by, and it just feels good to take advantage of one…
Chicago Sun-Times

A win’s a win – Bulls/Cavs recap
And boy did the Bulls need a win.

Playing at the United Center on Tuesday night against a Cleveland Cavaliers team that decided to give it a go without an ostensibly healthy LeBron James, the Bulls overcame some late-game free throw dry-heaving to eke out a 109-108 victory and pull even with Toronto in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

With Chris Bosh likely done for the season, it appears that even without the tiebreaker Chicago has the edge over the Raps. Of course, the Bulls (38-40) absolutely have to beat the RuPaul-of-big-men-free Raptors in Toronto on Sunday. However, with the way the Bulls just played in consecutive games against teams missing their respective best players — Milwaukee minus the injured Andrew Bogut, Cleveland without a resting LeBron — I wouldn’t even consider calling it a gimme. Nor would I say that about their next game, Friday in New Jersey (the Raptors will be in Atlanta). The Nets have already beaten the Bulls once, and have been playing respectably of late, going 4-4 in their last eight games.

Unlike Tuesday’s 79-74 loss to the Bucks, the Bulls played Cleveland (61-18) with a sense of urgency and the appropriate level of intensity.
Blog-A-Bull

Sometimes It’s Just Nice to Know That We Know
Scottie was an aspirational fellow, one who started with nothing, emerged from obscurity, and refused to settle for merely arriving. He won six titles but bristled at being a second fiddle, so he sought out even greater acclaim as a leading man. He got rich but was nonetheless seduced by true wealth, something he learned from Paul Allen. That sort of tale, with all of its nuanced social implications, was incredible, particularly because it played out as I grew up. Scottie’s journey and signature moments were a canvas of sorts, one which symbiotically accommodated the new ideas I would project and play with as I earned my own education about life, society, and basketball…
Straight Bangin’

Scottie Pippen: Power and Grace


Pippen Ain’t Easy