Cliches and Metaphors

What a rollercoaster ride these Bulls are. Blown out at home against the 76ers, then on the road for two wins in Portland and L.A., as in the Lakers. Whee! They may not know it, but LeBron James and Anthony Davis are doing very good Mickey Mantle/Whitey Ford imitations, circa 1965. These Lakers look out of gas and short on talent. The Bulls won in a Sunday matinee at the Staples Center by a score of 118-108. Credit the refs with keeping the score that close. The visitors shot thirteen free throws to the Lakers’ twenty-eight, and, if that wasn’t help enough, center Nikola Vucevic got tossed for swearing—in Serbian, no less—at the end of the first half after being called for a foul on James. Enter Andre Drummond, who dominated to the tune of twelve points and eight rebounds. Ex-Laker Patrick Beverly also had a nice game, with ten points and five assists. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Beverly—or Pat Bev, as he’s sometimes called—compared himself to a piece of flatware. That was a first for me. “If I’m a spoon, [then Bulls’ coach] Billy [Donovan] is using me as a spoon,” he said. “[With] The Lakers, you know, I was a spoon, and they were using me as a fork.” [quoted in today’s Sun-Times] And you should never confuse the two either at the table or on the court, apparently. The Bulls stay in town to play the Clippers tonight. What happens when you put a spoon on a rollercoaster? I guess we’ll find out.