wake.eat.sleep

I'm not going to lie. On paper, this should have been a very easy game: Andrew Bynum out serving a 4 game suspension. Lamar Odom traded away to the Dallas Mavericks for a 2nd round pick. Kobe trying to play through torn ligaments on his shooting wrist. It should have been an easy game, but it was a very sloppy game.

And the mirage of a 56-49 halftime lead, quickly dissipated after a 16-4 Lakers run, and a horrible 12 point quarter. It quickly turned into the kind of game that the Bulls would lose last season. But then, this happened:

Followed by this:

...and the Bulls escaping Los Angeles with a season opening win!

How'd we get there?

The Lakers played with more energy, and in the 3rd quarter, and for part of the 4th, did an excellent job of out-rebounding the Bulls, and forcing turnovers. In the 3rd quarter, the Lakers outscored the Bulls 20-12, holding the Bulls to 5-23 shooting. The Lakers got solid contributions from key role players such as Josh McRoberts (call me, McBob he says), Troy Murphy and Steve Blake. The Lakers even opened the 4th with a 13-3 run. After a Kobe Byrant layup, the Lakers would lead 82-71, leaving many of us (myself included) thinking that the Bulls didn't do enough to win this game.

But as Rose would mention after the game:

“I never had a doubt,” said Rose. “Doubt never came into my mind. If there’s any time on the clock, unless we’re down 100 points, I’m automatically thinking we can win this game. You’ve got to put your belief in your teammates. My teammates had that belief and thank God we came out and won that game.”

A line up of Rose, Brewer, Deng, Boozer, and Noah would charge a 17-5 run, powered by a great defensive run, some timely clutch shots (and of course helped by four missed Laker free throws). Deng played fantastically down the stretch and finished with 21 pts (7-19 from the field, 6-6 FTs), with 7 rebounds, 4 steals and a block. D Rose didn't have to try to shoot as much, and finished with 22 points on 9-13 FG shooting (4-6 from 3PT range), along with the game winner.

It was a game I wasn't expecting them to win, but they thankfully proved me wrong. I'll always expect them to have a chance to win a game, unless they are losing 103-2.

Here's the game winner:

And the defense collapsing on Kobe:

Richard (I won't call him Rip until he starts ripping the nets with his shooting accuracy) Hamilton, had a foul plagued start to his Bulls career (narrowly scoring more points-six, than fouls-five). No reason to panic just yet, since he's clearly an upgrade to who we had starting at SG last season.

One down, 65 to go!

Popcorn Machine Box Score:
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/boxscore.cgi?date=20111225&game=CHILAL

Popcorn Machine Game Flow:
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20111225&game=CHILAL