Postgame: Cool's keys for the win.

[Ralphb07]

This was no moral loss. The Knicks will get hot game to game and we ran into them shooting lights out but still played smart enough to get the win which good teams do. Does Boston call the Bobcats win last week a moral loss? I don't think they would. This is the NBA and you won't blow every team out.

 

[??? ??????]

I think K.C. Johnson described the notion of there being no moral losses in a playoff race pretty well in his article for today's tribune.

The Bulls' 110-103 victory over the Knicks never will be confused with any Hall of Fame material—or possibly even an instructional basketball video.

But at this point, survival counts more than style points.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-08-bulls-knicks-chicago-apr08,0,7141413.story

 

[dougthonus]

I use the term moral loss as a joke to describe a game where we played poorly against a bad team, but got a win anyway.

The opposite of a moral victory where you play well against a good team and still lose.

The Knicks are a bad team, we allowed them to shoot over 50% from the floor while we only shot 43% from the floor. We had terrible end game coaching and execution which almost cost us the game or allowed it to go into OT.

Still, it was a win, and that's all that matters. I don't mean the 'moral loss' as a bad thing, I just think it's a funny phrase.

For one more day at least, we're still alive for the 5th seed :laugh:

 

[miltpalacio]

DASMACKDOWN wrote:

Im glad we won, but give the Knicks some credit. They were shooting lights out. Now Noah and Millers defense was atrocious in the 3rd against Harrington, but everyone else had a hand in their face. Especially with Q and Chandler. They just couldnt miss.

Ive watched the Knicks all year and I was getting worried because this was one of the games that they usually win when they shoot hot.

But Kirk and then Tyrus was HUGE defensively that sealed the game for us.

Kirk definitely carried us offensively tonight.

And Gordon nearly blew the game with that quick shot in the final 30 seconds...WTF was that!

The defense was pathetic on Harrington in the 3rd quarter, but Al reverted back to being the flawed tweener we all know and despise him for. Without Deng, the Bulls are going to match up very poorly against big mobile, but not necessarily swift, SFs.

Q converted some inside shots that don't usually fall for him and Wilson gave his hometown peeps a show. When Chandler is on, the Knicks are a much tougher team to beat because their offense darts at you with a five-pronged attack: Q-Rich, Chandler, Harrington, Lee and Nate. Two guys have 25-foot range, two guys have good mid range games, two guys can finish inside. It's a lot for a bad defense to keep track of.

Gordon's shot at the :30 second mark was one of the most ill-advised shots I've witnessed this year. It wasn't the shot itself, but its timing and relative difficulty that might have percipitated a consummate collapse. Had he made it, the Bulls would have been up by four with the game improperly "iced". This miss threw caution to the Knicks' much maligned wind. Al dropped the ball and we won.

 

[Fred]

cool007 wrote:

Horrible:
Noah/Miller: They were so horrible on Defense especially, I wanted throw all the shoes I had in my closet at them. Miller couldn't even make any layups and was just crying for fouls instead of making simple plays.

I love most of your points Raj, but I couldn't disagree more on Miller/Noah, especially Miller. True, Miller shot the ball horribly. He also had 12 rebounds in 23 minutes. Noah had 9 in 22. Tyrus Thomas, although he had 4 eye-catching blocks, was terrible again with the basic defensive fundamentals of boxing out and help rotation. 6 boards in 35 minutes from you starting 4 ain't gonna cut it. (Gordon had 5 boards, Salmons 6). I can't overstate this enough.

I'm not a big believer in +-, but Miller led the team with +18. The Knicks rarely grabbed an offensive rebound when he was in there. He is also a FANTASTIC help defender. No hesitation whatsoever, he knows exactly where he needed to be.

We have plenty of scoring at the 1,2, and 3 positions. Thomas needs to stop hanging around the perimeter on offense. Next time you watch a Bulls game, key in on Thomas. HE RARELY SPRINTS TO THE BASKET TO GET A PUTBACK OR OFFENSIVE REBOUND IF HE'S OUTSIDE THE PAINT. If he happens to be near the basket, then he'll go for it. But if he's lurking around the perimeter, as he often does because he thinks he's a 2, he's done once a shot goes up. He's watching the game like you and me. And this needs to stop if we're ever going to take that next step with him.

 

[dougthonus]

HE RARELY SPRINTS TO THE BASKET TO GET A PUTBACK OR OFFENSIVE REBOUND IF HE'S OUTSIDE THE PAINT.

This is largely a coaching issue too though. Do you want a guy charging in from the perimeter to go after an offensive rebound and then if he misses it you lost your interior defense and give the opposing team a great chance to score in transition?

Crashing the boards isn't always a good idea as it has large defensive drawbacks, so do you think that Del Negro tells the guys to crash the offensive glass hard or not, and if so do you think he tells both big men to crash the glass or just one of them.

You're blaming Tyrus, in all caps, for something that should be a coaching decision, now maybe Tyrus is being told to crash the glass but doesn't. I don't know.

I agree that Tyrus still needs work on fundamentals, particularly defensive rebounding and boxing out, but I think it's silly to act like he doesn't bring any positives to the table. Complain about his faults. You're right, he has them. However, he still has a lot of big net positive plays too and only playing time and coaching will get him to remove the bad while keeping the good.

 

[Fred]

miltpalacio wrote:

DASMACKDOWN wrote:

Now Noah and Millers defense was atrocious in the 3rd against Harrington, but everyone else had a hand in their face. Especially with Q and Chandler. They just couldnt miss.

But Kirk and then Tyrus was HUGE defensively that sealed the game for us.

And Gordon nearly blew the game with that quick shot in the final 30 seconds...WTF was that

Gordon's shot at the :30 second mark was one of the most ill-advised shots I've witnessed this year. It wasn't the shot itself, but its timing and relative difficulty that might have percipitated a consummate collapse. Had he made it, the Bulls would have been up by four with the game improperly "iced". This miss threw caution to the Knicks' much maligned wind. Al dropped the ball and we won.

#1. It was 72-65 when Tyrus was replaced by Miller. Within about 2 minutes, thanks to Miller's defensive rebounding and Kirk's shooting, it was 72-72. I believe it was just before this period that King finally highlighted how horrible Thomas had been on defensive rotations. He could have done it about 5 times in the first half.

#2. Gordon's shot never would have happened if freaking Vinny didn't take a time-out with the Bulls up by 4 with 39 seconds left. I'm a Ben fan, but you don't put a player in who has been sitting for 8 straight minutes in that situation.

#3. The Bulls were up by 4 when Gordon took the shot you were talking about. Chandler then hit a 3 to cut it to 1. Gordon then hit 2 free throws to put us up by 3. Tyrus then fell for a shot fake at the 3 point line. Richardson just needed to hold his ground and throw up the ball, but he inexplicably took a dribble to the left. He then was hacked on the arm by Tyrus and there was no call.

Can you sense that I wasn't too impressed with Thomas tonight? In fact, I wasn't impressed with this team. There may not be any moral losses, but it's the closest thing to a moral loss in the history of basketball.

 

[Fred]

dougthonus wrote:

HE RARELY SPRINTS TO THE BASKET TO GET A PUTBACK OR OFFENSIVE REBOUND IF HE'S OUTSIDE THE PAINT.

This is largely a coaching issue too though. Do you want a guy charging in from the perimeter to go after an offensive rebound and then if he misses it you lost your interior defense and give the opposing team a great chance to score in transition?

I've never heard of a coach at any level, pro, college, or high school who would tell a power forward to forgo offensive rebounds in order to stop an opposition's transition defense. I can guarantee you, Vinny is not telling Thomas to forget about going after offensive boards. He's not saying, "We need you to sprint to the defense end when a shot goes up to stop the transition." And even if that's what Vinny told him to do, then Thomas doesn't even do that. He just stands there and watches.

I agree that it's a coaching issue to the extent that they need to make him realize what he's doing. He's not hustling when he's not around the ball. There is no excuse for it. You depend on your 4 and 5 for offensive rebounds. Every player is responsible for getting back on defense.

WHAT SKILES SAID STILL HOLDS TRUE:
"The guy gets in the game, dunks a couple balls, everyone gets excited. I do, too, because I agree there are only a handful of guys that can jump like that and block shots like he can.

We ask [Thomas] to sprint the floor. To my knowledge, in his career, he hasn't done it one time -- not one time. You guys, sit and watch the game tonight. If he gets in there, is he jogging or is he sprinting the floor?"

 

[dougthonus]

I've never heard of a coach at any level, pro, college, or high school who would tell a power forward to forgo offensive rebounds in order to stop an opposition's transition defense. I can guarantee you, Vinny is not telling Thomas to forget about going after offensive boards. He's not saying, "We need you to sprint to the defense end when a shot goes up to stop the transition." And even if that's what Vinny told him to do, then Thomas doesn't even do that. He just stands there and watches.

Really? I've always considered how hard you crash the glass to be a big issue as to how good your transition defense is and a conscious decision. Not that I talk to many coaches, but this is a very straight forward decision.

The situation you described was when Tyrus was out on the perimeter that he was not darting into the lane to get a rebound. Not a situation where he was already in the lane fighting with someone else in the lane.

If he's on the perimeter then his man is on the perimeter as well defending him. If he crashes the glass, then he is leaving his man, and if his man releases because the rebound goes in the other direction then he will be running down the court without a big man there to pick him up likely resulting in an easy transition opportunity or a massive size advantage for that player in the post.

I'm surprised you consider this to be a debatable point, I've always thought it was a pretty straight forward that you lose defensive position and ability by crashing the offensive glass hard as you open up holes in your transition defense and give mismatches to your opponent in the early offense.

I agree that rebounding is something Tyrus could do much better. Don't get me wrong, but I don't think it's some ridiculous weakness of his or anything. His fundamentals and decision making are especially suspect, but his athleticism helps make up for it and gives him a fairly average rebound rate overall for his career.

 

[dougthonus]

I'm not sure Tyrus is even an above average player at this point in his career, certainly far from perfect. However, I think he's shown enough ability that you have to consider him a #3 big for most teams with some pretty good ability.

He's only got one more year on his rookie deal, and you couldn't get a FA of his ability level for his contract price. How much his weaknesses deter from his strengths will be based on how much he's being paid and what expectations are.

Expectations may have been high in the past due to his draft position, but if you get back those and just look at him as a guy making 4 million then I think you'd be hard pressed to replace him for that price.

 

[ytsejam]

I have come across the Burger Lab blog.



http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives...-ten-tips-for-better-burgers.html?ref=aht-bb1



I am reading about making real burgers more often rather than the frozen patties I usually get from the store. Mine usually turn out ok. I sprinkle some bacon salt and black pepper on them when they are on the grill. I think some real burgers would be a good idea for a weekend. Otherwise I would be out grilling with a flashlight at 1am. That works fine for the frozen patties though.

Well, back to reading and making myself hungry!

 

[winos5]

I have come across the Burger Lab blog.



http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives...-ten-tips-for-better-burgers.html?ref=aht-bb1



I am reading about making real burgers more often rather than the frozen patties I usually get from the store. Mine usually turn out ok. I sprinkle some bacon salt and black pepper on them when they are on the grill. I think some real burgers would be a good idea for a weekend. Otherwise I would be out grilling with a flashlight at 1am. That works fine for the frozen patties though.

Well, back to reading and making myself hungry!

I never have been one to use the frozen patties. Always go fresh. Tend to use ground sirloin or very lean (95/5) beef which makes them a bit dry, but alot less fat/cholesterol. The 70/30 ground beef makes the best burgers IMO but not as healthy. I like to mix in some dry Lipton onion soup, A-1 steak sauce, and Sason Goya Adobo seasoning mix before patting them out and throwing them on the grill. I forgo the standard burger bun and use whole wheat bread toasted, or sometimes a fresh Kaiser roll. Now I'm hungry, Thanks!

 

[Kerfuffle]

I like the fresh as well but I have to admit I love those frozen Great Grillsby patties in the yellow box. It's one of those things you either love or hate.

 

[bri]

I never have been one to use the frozen patties. Always go fresh. Tend to use ground sirloin or very lean (95/5) beef which makes them a bit dry, but alot less fat/cholesterol. The 70/30 ground beef makes the best burgers IMO but not as healthy. I like to mix in some dry Lipton onion soup, A-1 steak sauce, and Sason Goya Adobo seasoning mix before patting them out and throwing them on the grill. I forgo the standard burger bun and use whole wheat bread toasted, or sometimes a fresh Kaiser roll. Now I'm hungry, Thanks!

Burgers are my favorite food so my mom always found ways to change it up. I too love onion burgers with the soup mix. She would also make taco burgers and put a package of Taco seasoning in the meat. Another favorite is when she mixes some of the real bacon bits in with the meat.

 

[sth]

I also have burgers all the time usually fresh ones. I have them with that Montreal Steak seasoning on them. Another kind I love is at a restaurant here that cooks them over mesquite wood, those are awesome. `

 

[klemmer]

Iusually throw some grated cheddar into the burger mix as well.

 

[winos5]

I also have burgers all the time usually fresh ones. I have them with that Montreal Steak seasoning on them. Another kind I love is at a restaurant here that cooks them over mesquite wood, those are awesome. `

There are perks to living in South Texas. I can harvest some from one of the many mesquite trees in my yard. Great for BBQ. The thorns are unforgiving to bare feet and tractor tires thoug...

 

[Ymono37]

I never have been one to use the frozen patties. Always go fresh. Tend to use ground sirloin or very lean (95/5) beef which makes them a bit dry, but alot less fat/cholesterol. The 70/30 ground beef makes the best burgers IMO but not as healthy. I like to mix in some dry Lipton onion soup, A-1 steak sauce, and Sason Goya Adobo seasoning mix before patting them out and throwing them on the grill. I forgo the standard burger bun and use whole wheat bread toasted, or sometimes a fresh Kaiser roll. Now I'm hungry, Thanks!

I think this a seasoning more that most people don't recognize it's greatness.



While a fresh burger is ALWAYS better than frozen, I did pick up some Bubba Burgers for the fourth - I brought 2 boxes to my buddies house and there were none left over.



With that said - I think it's da Jewels that has the "pub burgers" in their butcher dept... those are really freaking good.

 

[winos5]

I think this a seasoning more that most people don't recognize it's greatness.



While a fresh burger is ALWAYS better than frozen, I did pick up some Bubba Burgers for the fourth - I brought 2 boxes to my buddies house and there were none left over.



With that said - I think it's da Jewels that has the "pub burgers" in their butcher dept... those are really freaking good.

 

[winos5]

I think this a seasoning more that most people don't recognize it's greatness.

While a fresh burger is ALWAYS better than frozen, I did pick up some Bubba Burgers for the fourth - I brought 2 boxes to my buddies house and there were none left over.



With that said - I think it's da Jewels that has the "pub burgers" in their butcher dept... those are really freaking good.

Sason Goya makes some excellent Marinades as well. The Cruillo, Recaito, and Sofruito I use on a regular basis. Yummy stuff.