Fresh off a beating at the hands of the Knicks, the Bulls travel to Thibs's old stomping ground.

The Bulls look like they're built to hang with a team like the Celtics, but our backcourt is really hurting us right now. Yeah, Rose is giving impressive offensive performances, but the backcourt is regularly being torched by the other teams' guards, and we're getting no production from our SG position. Ray Allen and "The enemy" could well be a combo the Bulls simply can't slow down.

The Bulls are really making it sound like they are looking for trades as we speak.

Unless trading JJ means us getting Captain Jack then I there isn't anything that Charlotte has that I want. Hope to hell it's not for Gerald Henderson.. If Thibideau would just stinkin work with this kid he could be a good player! It's been 4 games and I'm already starting to wonder if this guy will ever be a great head coach. He doesn't play JJ unless he is forced to because of fouls, his rotations are a sick joke, he plays Scalabrine way way too much, and we play worse defense under him than we did under Vinny Del Negro. Not playing the starters down the stretch was totally inexcusable and if that happened to VDN he would have been fired last night. 5:00 is an eternity in the NBA and they were only down 9, Rose was destroying the Knicks and Luol was hot from 3 point land. I was about to say the 96 Bulls couldn't have beat the Knicks last night with the way they were shooting until I saw us get back in the game with 5 minutes to go. Who knows what would have happened if we put DRose, Luol, and Joakim back in the game. I am beginning to see why Thibs has not gotten a coaching job in 20 some years. I was actually beginning to wonder if he tried to throw the game on purpose when he left that 2nd unit in the game almost the entire 2nd quarter. That unit consisted of 5 players who had no business scoring the ball. That's when we dug ourselves into the hole and Thibs continued to leave them in there, and not only that but put Scalabrine on AMARE! Are you kidding me?! This guy needs to grow a brain like TODAY or this is going to be a long season with some of the horrendous substitutions he's been making.

Harsh post on Thibs. While I agree he has a lot to prove as the Bulls HC, it's too early to say he needs to grow a brain. He has clearly been feeling his team out the first four games, which I have LOVED about his approach. He's taken a look at everyone in different situations.

As far as putting Rose/Noah back into the game in the last 4 minutes when they were down 9- I agree with Thibs' decision. It was the current group on the floor that brought it back to a 9 point game before pulling Noah/Rose while they were down 19 getting lit up. Thibs decided at that point down 19 in the 4th that the starters would rest up for Boston tonight. What does Thibs say to the Watson, Korver and the rest of the group if he yanks them out of the game at that point? Thibs believes in the group of players he has....and I believe the feeling is reciprocated.

Yeah...it's early for Thibs. I'm not down on him at all. The lack of D is a little alarming...but wtf ya gonna do when they pull out almost 70% of 24 3's. They'll NEVER hit that many again. But still...you need to defend.

I had no problem with Rose and Noah sitting at the end...nor the message it sent.

I don't mind the refs letting Boston be physical and really rough up people on the defensive end. They're as good as it gets on defense and I'm glad they're allowed to play...but don't whistle the Bulls on the other end for the small stuff. This game has been really frustrating to watch. It may be worth Thibs getting a T and letting the refs know how BS the game was going in the 2nd quarter.

Out of 5 games this year, 3 of them have been totally one sided as far as officiating goes. It's getting to the point where I can't even watch. It's blatantly obvious the Bulls have been hosed by the referees. Case in point tonight, Rondo reaches in not once, but twice on DRose late in the game. The refs allow it and it goes to overtime, if they call it that's two FT's and a win for the Bulls. Then on the other end Rose moves his arm a tad and gets called for an offensive foul. 10 bucks says if that was Dwyane Wade or Lebron James that would have been a foul on Garnett 10/10 without hesitation. When is Derrick Rose ever going to get respect from the officials? This is without a doubt the worst I have ever seen officiating in general. So many foul calls, they are ruining the game. What ever happened to letting them play a little bit? Anyways.. I thought the Bulls out performed the Celtics tonight, without the BS calls the Bulls win this game. Kind of funny how that phantom T on Noah was the difference in the game..

It is ruining the game for sure...complete horseshit if you ask me...but the friggin Celtics always get their asses sucked at home. And not a news flash or anything...Kevin Garnett is the biggest punk ass douche fuckin' nozzle in the NBA...period. I don't wish injury on people...but him...I'll make an exception.

We've gotten use to that being the NBA, but that 2nd quarter was as bad as it gets IMO. I also agree on KG- it's like announcers and sports writers are afraid to call KG for what he is. I believe Charlie V 100% and believe KG 0%.

Props to Noah last night on being the best player on the floor. The TO to end the game was disappointing, but I really wasn't upset at him. He wanted that game more than anyone else (what's new?) and he left everything he had out there. I just hope he doesn't get too down on himself because he was brilliant last night.

I was happy with the Bulls last night, but we have to figure out a way not to be down by 15 or 16 in the 2nd or 3rd quarters....that has been the case 3 of the last 4 games. My suggestion would be to start Asik and bring Gibson off the bench and run the 2nd string through him. OR...bring Lou off the bench and do the same. I would have no problem with the 2nd unit being small (Gibson at the 5, JJ 4, Korver 3, Brewer 2, Watson 1) and just push the tempo as much as we can. It is extremely difficult for Thibs because things will change in a few weeks when Booz gets back, but we need to figure out a way for our 2nd unit to be more productive early in the game for the immediacy of the situation.

Oh and that was a foul on Rondo on the last play of regulation. Rose had him beat to Rondo's right, so Rondo just decided to cross-body check him and act like he was going for the steal and knocked the ball loose. Thibs yelled at the refs and he had every right. I hated seeing regulation end like that. I don't care how late in the game it was- that call has to be made at ANY point, every single time.

hate to disagree, but I have to disagree. I didn't really think the refs were nearly as bad last night as they were in the OKC game or the Portland game. Yeah, you can pick a key play to have an issue with there, but the Celts could say the same thing on that play; after the ball came loose, the Bulls fouled the Celts too.

If you want to understand why the Bulls lost, there's 3 places to focus.

1. The Bulls bench can't score in the first half. I don't know why. The same guys play in the 2nd half as in the 2nd quarter, but the bulls can't score when the first bench rotation comes in. That's when the Celts established their first lead.
2. Sloppy play down the stretch. Complain about the refs if you want...those 2 turnovers on the inbounds passes hurt a lot more. There were a lot of missed assignments, a lot of dropped balls, etc., going down the stretch. Compared to the Celtics, teh bulls absolutely looked sloppy.
3. Awful backcourt defense. I'll defend rose a lot, he looks vastly better as a facilitator this year on offense, but he is constantly out of position on defense and he's the one opening up the 3 ball and the passing lanes for the other team on offense. This is my early candidate for issue to watch this year to evaluate the coach. Our system and scheme and coaching are clearly better than last year all around. Rose however is becoming even more exposed, since the frontcourt defense is performing a lot better.

#2 and #3 were as much on Lou as anyone. He couldn't inbound the ball on the first inbounds turnover and should have burned a timeout. The second inbounds turnover he threw a bullet off of Korver's hand...announcers said Korver should have had it, but I disagreed.

The backcourt defense was exposed in the 4th, but Deng wouldn't show and stop the ball off of those screens. Deng ran away from Rondo as soon as he could. It seemed as if Rose was in between on switching or just fading towards the perimeter.

Not that I disagree with any of your points, but I will disagree with the last play on Rondo. He cross body-check Rose on that play to create the loose ball. What happened after that loose ball should be irrelevant IMO because it turned into a street fight due to the refs allowing it.

I gotta disagree with you here. I could have caught that pass from Lu. It was right where it should have been, shoulder height to a shooter on the outside, put in a place where no defender could get to it, not incredibly hard.

I hope that day actually comes.