If you watch closely every night in the NBA you can learn a little something. We know you are busy and can’t keep up with every game, so we’re here to help with those lessons from another night in the Association. Here’s what you missed while knitting sweaters for penguins....
1) The Bulls can put together an impressive game. Sporadically. Before the season — heck, even now — you look at the Bulls on paper, and you think that should be the best team in the East. But over the course of the season we have seen only flashes of that Bulls team — we saw it again on Thursday night as the Bulls handled the hot Cavaliers. Derrick Rose was attacking and put up 30 points, putting pressure on the improved Cavaliers defense the whole time. Pau Gasol had his 14th straight double-double. Most importantly, the Bulls defended like we expect them to (something that has not happened much this season). In no way was this a playoff preview; there was no Jimmy Butler, no Kevin Love, and by mid-April both of these teams will be different anyway. But if you’re a Bulls fan, you can see a statement win and a reason for hope in this.
2) Tony Snell is becoming a thing. That’s how our man Sean Highkin described it to me — he was at the game writing the dispatch for PBT. And he’s right. Snell put up 22 against the Cavaliers on 9-of-11 shooting, more importantly he played good defense on LeBron James all night (LeBron had eight turnovers on the night). Snell stepped up in the absence of Jimmy Butler, but it’s becoming a regular occurrence. He had 24 points against the Kings Tuesday night, last weekend he had 19 against New Orleans. If Snell can become a consistent force for the Bulls, they get that much better. But consistency has been the key with all things Bulls this season.
3) George Karl will try to bring stability to Kings organization. In his five years with the Sacramento Kings, DeMarcus Cousins has now had five coaches. While there were reports he and his agent were trying to block the hiring of Karl, in reality they wanted to express concern about how this franchise has seemed to shift plans every couple years. Part of that was the mess that the Maloof family ownership was its last few years. However, Vivek Ranadive hired Mike Malone to provide that structure and bring some professionalism to the organization, then once Malone didRanadive either decided or allowed (depending on what source you want to believe) the coach to be canned so they could become more of a running team. Karl is the kind of coach with the gravitas to change this pattern, and more than anything else he does that needs to be the ultimate goal. Pick a style, and then stick with it long enough for it to take root.
