The Bulls ended
a seven-game losing streak and notched their first win of the Jim Boylen Era
last night by beating the Thunder, of all teams, 114-112 at the United
Center. Big man Lauri Markkanen scored
the winning basket with 4.9 seconds remaining.
Better yet, injured youngsters Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis are expected
back any day, tonight even against the visiting Celtics.
And now for a
little cold water to snap us all back to reality. It comes in the form of conditioning, or the
lack thereof. New coach Boylen thinks
his team is out of shape, which is strange given that this is a mostly young
group of players who haven’t had a chance to pack on the weight yet (think
Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan even at the end of their careers). And they’re in the business of playing
basketball. How can anyone be out of
shape playing a game based on near-perpetual motion?
Well, Coach Boylen
thinks so, and that’s all that counts. “If
you’re mentally tougher, if you’re in better shape, I think maybe your will [to
win] can last a little longer,” Fred Hoiberg’s replacement was quoted in today’s
Sun-Times. That would pretty much explain
the 2-1/2 hour practices, not to be confused with the 90-minute shootaround.
You have to
wonder, though. What was Hoiberg (not) doing,
and why was the Bulls’ front office letting him (not) do it? I mean, a bunch of out-of-shape
twentysomethings is not the way to win.
Is it?
No comments:
Post a Comment