The moment was watershed. Transactional, as the (cool) kids like to say now.
Not the half-court shot for the “historic” win, but the 16-point deficit, 44-point fourth quarter against a Lebronversation-led Laker team that was not only on the back end of a game-winning classic against the Pacers the night before, but a team that was playing it’s 10th game in 15 days in the middle of a Midwest road trip while in the middle of a Western Conference playoff race where there has been no such thing as “games off” since before the All-Star break.
Usually for the last two years, at this time of year, this space has been reserved for and occupied by 900 words dragging the Bulls. Their inconsequential playoff pushes and even lesser in consequence play-in losses to the Miami Heat. Purposely hurtful column-long takes on a team considered a joke that didn’t even need a punchline.
Not anymore because with one Josh Giddy 46-foot Bulls hit, like Jake and Elwood in the same church with James Brown, we “see the light!” And just when we think the moment really was watershed, they, this team, these (our?) Bulls followed that “amazing” moment up with a one-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks and maybe a worst-of-the-season, “embarrassing to this organization” (as Coby White put it) loss to OKC.
Who are they, besides a team that secured a third consecutive play-in spot with a more legit chance than in the past to secure a playoff series? The team that stood up in the final minutes of that in-the-moment “legendary” Laker win or the team that allowed a 36-13 run in the second quarter to OKC that turned a nine-point game into a 145-117 felony? Then they turn around and put up 70 in the first half against the Toronto Raptors one night later? Finishing that win with 137?
Going 10-4 in their last 14 games (since those back-to-back losses to their division dissenters the Pacers and the Cavs to open March; prior to Friday night’s game versus the Trail Blazers) with an over the course of the season 117.6 ppg average is alluring, seducing. But that 120.0 ppg they’ve been consistent in allowing opponents all season to put up on them is a problem.
A problem too glaring to act like there’s nothing to see there. A problem that through all of this new good juju this team is bringing now that it seems as if they’ve found themselves, is our “snap out of it,” back-to-reality gut check.
So as we continue to choose that “spectacular” Laker win as their (our?) new hope, just remember that OKC, only two games after that watershed moment, led the Bulls at one point by 43 points and shot 53.1% from the field and 53.5% from 3-point range and took it easy on the Bulls in the fourth quarter by “only” scoring 31 points, ending the game with 145 when they could have 160’d ‘em.
Stop. Center self. Find that Andy Puddicombe voice inside of you. Chill.
As Stacey “the King” King tweeted after his epic Fred G. Sanford call on that fated, “Beat LA!” day, “I told y’all this is a totally different team since the trade deadline. Bulls Nation it’s time to believe what you’re seeing, this team is for real!” There, for beyond rightful reasons, is still an out loud luxury of trepidation within us. Hell, we Chicagoans in Chicago. Apprehension mixed with anxiety is how we show love. The almost, close to, slight resemblance of game-to-game schizophrenia of this Bulls team — just in the last week — allows nothing less.
If we’re keeping it close to our Moncler vests and betting apps so that we don’t get too far away from ourselves, this team as it stands right now is pretty much absolutely where they were predicted to be. Their preseason overall BPI (Basketball Power Index) ranking was 21, on ESPN’s current NBA team power ranking leading into the league’s final games, the Bulls are ranked 19 (up from 21 last week). Their preseason projected wins, 38.5; currently they’re at 34 with six games left. Preseason odds to make the playoffs: 43.5%; today while sitting in the 10-spot their chances of getting that elusive eight-seed by (finally?) beating the Heat and/or just winning two-games in the play-in: 23.53%. But what does BetMGM really know about who this team is now?
The bigger question persists, do they? Know themselves? The answer, closer to yes than it’s been in probably the last three or four seasons. If not a full-on “yes” then one where the read in the answer is that they are finding their footing in a way that will lead them to very soon — and simultaneously — discovering self-awareness and self-identification. Which leads to self-worth.
Which turns them into the Orlando Magic or the Detroit Pistons next season. Right?
Stop. Center self. Find that Pharrell voice inside of you. Chill, Scoop.