The team fell victim to exactly what happened against the Jazz. They prepared all week, excepting Birdman & Haslem to be the big rotation (Whiteside did not play in our previous matchup) & Whiteside is used instead of Haslem. The Bulls have struggled with athletic, long bigs this season & yesterday was perfect example of it. I am disappointed in Thibs not adjusting his plan of attack in the 2nd half, despite the team scoring better. Taj was struggling & I felt Mirotic & Brooks should have been used more. Hell he should've thrown Nazr out there to lay some wood on Whiteside since he was showing up the team all game. For the most part the defense played was good but Wade & Bosh were hitting everything under the sun. I thought Rose played excellent D on Wade but he was just in the zone & there was no stopping him. Another thing I noticed was that the refs were allowing A LOT of contact below the waste on Whiteside's blocks. There were several that should have been foul calls for body contact but were not. I think the refs were in awe of him as well, for some reason.
Overall, it wasn't a pretty game but I don't think it was as horrible as some of you are making it out to be. Thibs failied in his adjustements on this one & the players didn't make the proper effort that first half which got us in the hole we could never get out of.
And guys, please stop screaming for McDermott. The guy is coming back from knee surgery, didn't play well before the surgery, & Snell has fully solidified his place ahead of him on the depth chart, with good reason. He'll get some time but one thing that Thibs & the coaches aren't going to do is rush him back into the rotation when 1) he hasn't earned his time, & 2) his conditioning is likely nowhere close to where it needs to be right now.
