BULLS POSTGAME: Bulls BLOW 19-Point Lead in Loss to Cavs | CHGO Bulls Podcast

BULLS POSTGAME: Bulls BLOW 19-Point Lead in Loss to Cavs | CHGO Bulls Podcast

What up, Bulls Nation? We’ve got live CSO Bulls postgame coming up right around the corner. The Bulls fall to the Cavs tonight. 128122 is the final. Tough way to go out when you could have gotten a split against two quality division opponents in this backto back. We will break down what happened in the loss next. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] What’s going on, Bulls Nation? Welcome in to CHO Bulls Postgame. Coming to you live from our studios here in Westl downtown Chicago. CHO Bulls Post Game is presented by Michelob Ultra and Bet 365. The delicious taste of victory deserves something equally superior. Cheer on your team with Michelob Ultra. And download the bet365 app. Use promo code CHO365 when you sign up. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary with bat 365. I’m bet I’m packables peek. That’s big day. Bam. Bam. Bwl sports back in the saddle. Will go perfectly. Will go and rock with us tonight. Let’s see if I break the TV. Sean Anderson out of control. I’m getting my bearings. Was that a Was that applause for yourself? No. I was more just I clicked the first thing. I didn’t want I don’t like silence. I see. And you know, I already forgot the intro video, so you know, I kind of feel like I have two strikes. Sean’s crushing it. Yeah, man. Uh, thank you for hanging out with us on a Saturday night, Bulls Nation. Unfortunately, not talking about a dub tonight. Uh, Bulls fall 128122. They fall to 6 and3 on the year. Their first uh, back-to-back losses of the year, and it’s just really uh, unfortunate. Uh, Anthony in the chat just said choke job. Thanks for hanging out in the chat. Hit the like button if you haven’t done it yet. Uh, back to reality, he says. Whoops. Oh, we miss again, says Easy Land. Look, um I’m I’m not going to overreact to this loss, although I I would say it’s a more frustrating loss than last night. Yeah. Like Yeah. Yeah. Giannis just proved that he’s playing at his MVP caliber level last night and the Bulls couldn’t really stop it. Tonight, it’s like you had a 19-point lead. Yeah, you should be able to close a game when you have a 19-point lead. We saw the opposite. that the Bulls pulled off the miracle 24-point comeback against the Sixers earlier this week. Kind of feels like a lifetime ago now. Yeah. But I mean, they built that lead by getting to the free throw line and shooting the lights out from behind the ark while the Cavs were struggling to shoot, you know, anything in the first half. Mhm. But execution down the stretch. Execution down the stretch. The Bulls were relying on their bench heavily tonight and credit to them. We can talk about that in more detail a little bit later on, but the Cavs made like their possessions count down the stretch and the Bulls just came up a little short. You know, if if that really strong drive that Giddy had late, if he makes that layup instead of missing it, Trey Jones had a couple of looks that didn’t quite go down, maybe we’re talking about a different outcome tonight. But man, Donovan Mitchell was a killer. DeAndre Hunter was a killer. Evan Moley was a killer. This is a good Cavs team. The Bulls just let go of the rope. Yeah. Uh, I think what sums it up is all your starters were were in the minus and all everybody on your bench was in the plus. Uh, cuz the bench played their asses off. Like they did a great job tonight. They the reason the Bulls had that lead and got in that game. Um, but I I I wish I could feel, you know, I’m I’m not happy with the loss. It’s not that I’m overjoyed uh with the loss. No, I don’t want to lose ever. But I don’t feel like, oh, this is, you know, back to reality. Oh man, this we’re the worst again. Oh jeez. They’re still six and three. Six and three, bro. Like I’m like six and three and I lost to the Cavs. Um but you’re right. It’s a game they they had a game they had right there in their hands and it kind of slipped through their hands and it would definitely eat at them for sure. And listen, they they had it going from all the ways from the myriad of ways you’re supposed to win a basketball game. Like I saying, your bench was playing well. Your three-point shooting was awesome. your free throw shooting was the attempts were spectacular uh from three from the free throw line for the Chicago Bulls. So, you had all that going for you. They even got into the bonus very early in that fourth quarter. I believe with like nine minutes since change left, they were in the bonus, man. Like, it was very early in the fourth that they got into that, but they they just couldn’t make it stick. And you knew Cleveland was going to make a run. As soon as they came out in the third, I knew Donovan Mitchell was about to go Donovan Mitchell. That’s what he does. like he scores. He averages the most points of any opposing player against the Chicago Bulls. It’s Donovan Mitchell, man. Y’all remember the 73 points. Um, it’s what he does. Like, he’s excellent at basketball. I don’t know if y’all know that, but he’s really good at basketball. And I wasn’t really just like, “Oh man, Donovan’s not going to come out here and do his thing.” What’s what surprised me the most was probably DeAndre Hunter and the way that he played cuz he was on it from the beginning. like as soon as the game kicked off, he scored about five of their first seven and he just did not stop after that. Like it was smooth, it was silky, it was on point for them and they needed all of his his points uh to to be in this game. But Donovan Mitchell did what Donovan Mitchell does, what stars do for that team. They go and they close the game, they go and they win the basketball game. But the Bulls had that opportunity and I think that’s what just stings so much uh with Bulls fans and I definitely feel you on that. So many players in double figures. Was that one, two, three, four, five, six, seven players in uh double figures for the Bulls. Trey Jones with 17. You got Giddy with 15. Auroro leads you with 19. Um and you have four off the bench in double figures. Yes. Correct. And and that’s why I was going Jaylen Smith man with the 1811. We’ll get I want to get into him a little bit uh later, but and even Lee Lee Lee was scoring early, you know what I mean? And then Patrick showed up in the fourth quarter and I was like dang. But I sumu again proving just his value, you know, to the team. Uh I had a friend of mine text me and said this was the first game where he felt Kobe not being there was really really felt. And I said, “Was that me?” Because I also felt like Oh, you felt like that? Well, he’s a basketball guy, so that that could be why. But he’s like, “This is the game. I felt it.” He was like, “I really felt that co Kobe not being there uh definitely impacted what we saw.” And it came down and if you noticed in that fourth quarter go and I remember saying to you there was no one who can create their own shot. There’s no one who can create their own shot and you just saw the ball getting passed around but Cleveland defending it. So when that happens and it breaks down who’s going to be the guy? This is stuff I was asking after game one you know what I mean at game two like who’s going to be that guy to get those shots and we definitely found a way to get those or the Bulls found a way to get those victories. It’s not going to always work out like that. Some games is going to look like this, man. But you definitely miss Kobe tonight because the Bulls definitely had an opportunity to close it, but didn’t really have that kind of closer, especially with Giddy hurting his ankle. Yeah, I agree that they had an opportunity to win this game. I don’t think they played particularly well at pretty much at all. I mean, they had one really good quarter second quarter was great. Basically carried, you look at their scoring throughout the game, 29 in the first, they lost by three points that quarter. Uh 26 in the third, they lost by 14. and 24 in the fourth, they lose it by eight. Really, it was the fourth quarter where they won by 43 to 24, 19 margin. Um, and that was where everything was clicking for them. They were making all their shots. They were getting to the free throw line. They didn’t turn it over. Um, I think it was 13 to 14 at the line, six of 10 on threes or six of eight maybe on threes and one turnover. Like that was the point in the game where everything was flowing and playing their way. The rest of it, like I felt like especially in the second half, they were just kind of playing like prevent defense almost. Um, and that’s not to say that they weren’t like trying to get back to their style. It just didn’t feel like they were actually there. That’s more of a a reaction to the result as opposed to the process. But, um, yeah, I mean, you look at the the some of the scoring by half. Like Donovan Mitchell one of 10 in the first half. Coro did a really nice job on him. He just exploded in the second half. Um, but yeah, you shoot 10 of 14 on threes in the first half and the Cavs shoot seven of 25 and then in the second half that completely flips. You go three of 15, they go 10 of 21. Yeah. And I don’t want to make it so simple that it’s just like the three-point battle because obviously there’s more to it. But I think that’s emblematic of the problem with the Bulls offense today, which was that I don’t really feel like they had any paint penetration outside of that second quarter. And when you aren’t getting to the rim, when you aren’t breaking down the defense, and it’s really tough against a Cavs team that plays two elite shot blocking bigs, it’s just really tough to score. You just can’t get into your own offense. and those shot blocking bigs. I mean, I mentioned um at the top the way that the Cavs just made winning possessions down the stretch and the Bulls didn’t. You know that the Cavs are going to make a comeback, not just from down 19, but you know, going into that fourth quarter, the Bulls were clinging to a two-point lead and it was back and forth. A pair of Trey Jones free throws and credit to the Bulls for getting into the bonus as early as they did in that fourth quarter because that would help. And they shot and made a zillion free throws tonight. Another thing that they did as well as just dominating the second quarter specifically to give themselves a chance, but Trey Jones pair of free throws gives them a 122 to 116 lead with under two minutes to play. And then the ensuing possessions, Donovan Mitchell cashes a three off a screen. Giddy misses a contested driving layup. Donovan Mitchell driving layup converts. Aoro missed three. Donovan Mitchell converts an and one layup. And then Trey Jones misses a contested 7 foot running floater thing. Like Giddy and Trey Jones had contested shots where they were trying to get to the rim and couldn’t and couldn’t convert. And on the other end, Donovan Mitchell cash. Donovan Mitchell cash. Donovan Mitchell cash. Yeah, that that was the game. The Bulls were up six with under two to go. And like what? Erase everything else that happened before that. You’re up six with two under two to go. You should win that game. Yeah, you should. And I think that was a great point you just mentioned because we talked about you just talked about the penetration and the lack thereof. And the guy you mentioned is Trey Jones is the one that’s trying to penetrate and get to the bucket in the land of the bigs when you’ve got Jared Allen and you’ve got Moy out over there, you know, to deter you and you’ve got Hunter out there to deter you and he’s trying to get inside to score because nobody else again can create their own shot to get inside to score. I felt that was uh something that was really missed and I felt that was something that was missing from a guy like Modis Mousellis tonight who did not uh play well for the Bulls tonight. And I mean just a really tough game for him, man. And I felt his kind of skill set is needed in this kind of instance when you need that paint penetration and getting to the line and getting those things going because we talked about it on the last game. that what we wanted to see from him in this game was get to the free throw line was attack and get to the free throw line. We saw him attack one good time in this game and we both you and I were about it and then after that that it was like okay see you see you next game and it just he just did not have that tonight. I mean 18 minutes with the four points and four rebounds I mean no man that no absolutely not 0 of three from the three-point line, one of six from the field. But I mean, he really struggled even and I mean, of course, some of it goes to the defense of the Cleveland Cavaliers for sure because he went up like I told you on on the last show, man. I really like that uh lefty layup, that sweeping lefty layup he tries to do. Got it. Went up with that one. Wow. They were like, “No, sir. Not today, young fella. What else you got?” And he was like, “Oh, I might not have anything else tonight for you.” But yeah, he really struggled, man. And it can’t be like that because he was absolutely needed. I mean, it was to the point I’m watching Giddy yell at him because he missed his assignment of guarding uh getting out there and stopping Gerald I mean Jared Allen at the top of the key cuz Giddy was uh in the paint, you know, with his man. He’s not supposed to be the one to come off of his man in the paint and guard. It was supposed to be modest over there. And you see Giddy was over there like Craigy, what are you doing over here, bro? Handle your business, sir. And I like that. I really like that he got on him about that, man. But and then Billy after that was like, “No, you just don’t have it tonight. Uh you got to go have a seat.” But yeah, just a tough game uh from Modis. And I felt like the skill set that he has is really needed in these kind of situations, especially when you’re missing Kobe White, you need somebody who can kind of create with their handles and get to the lane. Yeah. Even throwing out like the makes and misses, which last night we talked about like he’s not going to be evaluated on how loud he has of a scoring performance, right? Um obviously did not really score four points tonight. one of six shooting, um, four rebounds, but that was it in terms of counting stats. He did have three turnovers and four fouls. That was to me the impact that Mod has had on this game was you could see him turning the ball over a couple times in the first half. You saw him getting a couple of touch fouls here and there and then a couple of bad fouls and Bill just had to take him out. Um, that’s going to happen with a young player. Like it doesn’t it’s unfortunate because he had an better game last night and you want to see him build on that. Um, but I but I think that’s just part of the the learning process and obviously like without I I because I want to get back to the um like the clutch stuff because uh again it just didn’t really feel like they had any scoring there and you want Modis to be able to contribute in those moments. You want him to be out there and you want him to be one of the guys that you can put the ball in his hands but he just didn’t have it tonight. Um but I mean as a group the Bulls last field goal was 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Like they had a couple of trips to the line but they just like couldn’t score. They pulled half a Philly special. Exactly. Um and I feel like it’s just weird because obviously, you know, you you miss guys like Kobe on a night like tonight who are able to create their own shot, who are able to settle you down and like get a good look if you’re not able to get into your offense. But we’ve also seen this team really score well in those clutch in those clutch moments. You look back at that Philly game where they were just like turning on the afterburners and running them off the court and making this huge comeback late. So, what was the difference between that game where you had the same personnel and this game where you didn’t? Um, and to me it was it was probably Giddy just not looking quite like himself after that ankle sprain. That looked really painful. That really hurt. You like to see the fact that, you know, immediate uhoh, how bad is this? You see him going to the locker room and so you immediately start to worry, but then he’s quickly back in the locker room and sitting on the bench and then later that same quarter he’s back out on the floor. Oh, okay. But maybe there was some level of him not fully trusting that ankle for the rest of the game. And it’s, you know, like I just like he couldn’t cut. He couldn’t like sprint. It just didn’t look like he was playing like him out there. From this set of eyes, it’s hard to tell the difference. And that I’m like I’m I’m only being half sarcastic when I say that. But bro, you can for real tell there was a different dude out there after that ankle injury, man. That’s why Trey Jones was trying to be the one to go to the paint because Giddy wasn’t going to be the one to be able to do it. I think that’s right. Uh there are two themes I’m seeing a lot of in the chat. Billy Donovan and the refs. The refs we can dismiss right now because the Bulls shot 36 free throws to the Cavs 26. The Bulls were whistled for 25 fouls. The Cavs were whistled for 27. Stop it. When the Bulls are the road team, I’m not blaming the refs tonight. But Billy Billy and the refs. Billy and the refs. There you go, Sean. I do want to dive into some of the Billy questions in the chat about who was on the floor late in that game that the Bulls coughed up. So, let us knock out our first ad break and then we will circle back to that point, pick it up where we left off. 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We’re back. see as Joe Bulls postgame rolling along on Saturday night. Thanks for hanging out with us, Bulls Nation. Hit that like button if you didn’t do it during the ad break. Uh as we continue to break this one down, um seen a lot of people in the chat talking about Billy Donovan and his decision of who was on the floor late in that game. Uh we were talking before the break about maybe Giddy not looking entirely himself after that rolled ankle. Uh and I saw some people in the chat asking about, hey, IO had a pretty solid active game off the bench. He was getting downhill at times. IO has already proven in games this season to be a clutch as hell player in the fourth quarter knocking down big shots. Why wasn’t he out there? I’ve also seen people talking about Jaylen Smith and the strong game he had maybe some younger fresher legs. Why wasn’t he out there to try to perhaps deter Donovan Mitchell? He was also knocking his shots down tonight. Um as opposed to, you know, Aoro missing a three late, herder missing a three late, maybe Jaylen Smith is out there and knocks down a three. I get that Bulls fans will forever and for the rest of time as long as he’s here question Billy Donovan’s rotation decisions. Sure. Especially in a loss after a loss. Sure. When some of those questions come to the forefront of your mind, I don’t know how to put this more plainly. Okay, put it. Billy ain’t Benin Vuch late in a tight game. I’m sorry. Did we all forget what happened on Tuesday? Who hit them their game-winning three? Mhm. who’s hit tons of clutch shots for this team late in games who before hitting that game-winning three against Philly made some incredible defensive plays for all we rag on him. Yes, Jaylen was having a great game off the bench. Maybe his best game as a bull. It was his high point total I believe as a bull with 11 rebound spanning his like not just this season, his career high as a bull. Yeah, I get that question. He’s not benching Vu in a one or two possession game in the late in the fourth quarter. I mean, go am I crazy and thinking it’s that simple of an answer? It’s not happening unless he’s going to go double big and put Jaylen Smith out there along with Vu. Yeah, I think that would probably have to be it. I I agree. Um and I was just looking at the fourth quarter box score. Um to circle back to the Giddy comment, he after I I don’t know what it he was scoreless after he came back. Um 0 for four in the fourth quarter. I don’t know exactly what it was if you include the last three minutes of the third quarter that he played, but 0 for four in the fourth with a rebound and an assist and two turnovers. So, he just like I just don’t think the Bulls are a good team if Giddy’s not playing his best. Like what has made the Bulls competitive in these first nine games is his giddy is his ability to get to the rim, his ability to put pressure on teams. No doubt. Um and I think if you just don’t have that, it’s like taking the engine out of the car. Yeah. You’ve got some nice pieces there, but you just don’t have the guy who’s driving. Yeah. Um, for as far as Jaylen Smith goes, like he had a nice game. I think he did most of his damage in the second quarter. And frankly, he was like a big reason why they were doing that damage in the second quarter. He was hitting his shots. He was scoreless in the fourth quarter as well. He played about three minutes. Uh, two rebounds. Um, but I agree with you, Matt, like he’s just not V is going to be out there. He’s too steady. He’s too experienced. And, um, you know, I think Jaylen, as well as he played, like it was a it was allowed however many points it was, 18 and 11, I think you said. Yeah. um where he’s hitting shots, he’s making plays. He had that offensive rebound that I don’t know why it got overturned, but he could have had another two. Yeah. On that one. Yeah. Um terrible call by the ref. But I think just in terms of like the possession possession, are you are you where you’re supposed to be? Are you executing the defense? Are you doing all these little things? Like I think Billy can just rely on Vouch there more because he’s way more experienced. And um I don’t think Vouch played a great game. Like No, he didn’t. I don’t think anybody did, frankly. um except for maybe Aoro and Joey Smith, but uh I just don’t think you’re gonna like I I there’s a there’s a certain degree to which Billy is going to play the hot hand in these games because that’s what his formula is this year just with who is on this roster. I don’t know if I would include like Vu and Giddy in and probably Kobe whenever he gets back into that category. I think Billy has no problem with playing the hot hand if the hot hand is a player that he trusts. Yeah. So when I dumu, we saw it early on in the year against Orlando when I was cooking and Giddy was like, “No, you go ahead and you can leave him in because he’s cooking.” The reason Billy doesn’t, you know, question that is cuz he has trusted Io from day one to be Io Dumu. So it’s going to be all right. He has no problem doing that. Kevin Herder, honestly, he has that feeling about him as well. He’s got that trust. Jaylen Smith, I just don’t feel like he has that level of trust in him to where even though he the man didn’t miss a shot, even though he didn’t do that, even though he hit the had the 11 rebounds, he’s like what Matt said in that fourth quarter, Vu has shown that he’s got that ice water in his veins. And if they need a big bucket, he has hit countless big buckets for the Bulls. Even when he first got here and he was struggling, he was hitting big buckets for the Bulls. Hell, I remember the first game of that, you know, the first time they went 4-0. Uh, in Zack Lavine’s career, the first game of the year was a terrible game for Vu, but Vu hit the three-pointer that put them up, you know, in that game in that fourth quarter. It was the biggest shot of the game. So, he’s going to have that trust in him. I don’t think he has that. I’m not saying he doesn’t trust Jaylen Smith. I’m saying he doesn’t have that full trust where he’s like, “No, V.” You know what I’m saying? Like, you go ahead and you sit this one out. I’m going to roll with him. I think it’s a better uh scenario that he might go with playing both bigs knowing that Moy and Jared Allen are going to be out there. I wouldn’t have had a problem with him putting Jaylen Smith and Vu out there in that instance. One because of the size, but two because again, the dude didn’t miss a shot. So, I can understand why people upset about that. But Matt is correct and God is correct. in that fourth quarter if he’s going to have to choose if if between a 9 and4 rebound game from Vu or 18 and 11 ain’t miss nothing Jaylen Smith he’s going to go with Voo on those things and just one more thing I would add to that is think about what the Bulls like to go to in the fourth quarter when like the game is slowing down when they aren’t able to get out in transition when they do have to settle into the half court the first four games of the year that they won it was Trey Jones and Vu pick and roll because that’s the steady play that they can go to where they know they can get a Trey’s either going to get downhill, get to the rim, B is going to get a ball in the pocket and he’s going to make a play whether it’s for himself or moving the ball to the other side of the court. Like he’s just too important to like the core identity of what this team is. And it was great that Jaylen played a good game, but I I don’t think that you like replace him with Vu just because Vu is playing a bad game when Vu is still sort of very much a pillar of how they’re trying to play. And honestly, probably if V came to him and was like, “Hey man, he cooking, you know, leave him in.” then it might have been something different. I think he might have went with that like Giddy did with IO down the stretch of that win earlier this season. But yeah, but I’m not I’m not I don’t look at it and and be s and super mad about it like oh why didn’t you leave him in? But yeah, I do feel like he should have had some more time in there at least playing them both together in that first and like you know it wasn’t a gamewinner epic corner three like it was on Tuesday. But Vu, you know, the final two of his nine points tonight was a really clutch little, you know, flip uh flip shot in the lane after a nice dump off pass from I think Trey Jones that pushed the Bulls lead back up to four late in this game where it was like we’re up one possession, we’re up two position. He hit a big bucket late on a night where he wasn’t having a great offensive night. We’ve seen that repeatedly from Vu. And I’m not saying I necessarily agree concretely with Billy being this dedicated to Dave, your whole thing about Billy trusts who he trusts and he doesn’t trust who he doesn’t trust. I’m like I think it’s just a correct observation by you and the explanation for why we saw who we saw on the floor late in this tight game. Regardless of how great of a game Jaylen Smith had, one of these guys is the trusted veteran on one of the younger, if not youngest teams in the league, who is a two-time all-star who has been huge for them in their hot start. Yeah. And somebody in the chat said, “It doesn’t matter, you know, what BCH did in the last game. You know, you coach the game that you’re in.” Something along those lines. That’s a fair point. Uh Leavon N12, don’t live on last game or past games. Coach the game you’re currently in. Fair point. very fair. Maybe a a more, you know, adventurous coach um would have said, “All right, I’m gonna I’m gonna sit vouch for the final few minutes of this tight game and trust Jaylen Smith out there.” Somebody else in the chat mentioned, “We’ve also seen Jaylen Smith make some pretty headshaking, poor choice plays.” Sure. In his Bulls tenure. Sure. It’s it’s a it’s a hindsight kind of situation. Yeah. We don’t know what happens in that game if Jaylen Smith is on the floor instead of u for the final three or four minutes. Yeah. And and for me, Matt, hey, Julia. And for me, it was more so the things that I’m talking about was guys who couldn’t create their own shot, you know, and getting to the bucket and those kind of things. So, I didn’t even honestly like, oh man, if Jaylen Smith was out there, he probably would have carried us to a victory. I didn’t feel that way. It was like, no, I needed another guy out there. And I if I was out there, that’s what I wanted. I wanted I Duma to be out there, but he was on his minutes limit minutes uh restriction, so he couldn’t be out there uh to finish the game. I believe he played uh 23 minutes tonight, but he was outstanding. He was outstanding out there on the floor, man. And I wanted him to be out there because they needed a shot creator more than anything because even at that point in time, you saw how Cleveland was defending the Bulls. It they were shutting down, you know, the passing, you know, everybody touching the basketball rhythm thing. They were like, “No, find the one person who’s going to dribble and get to get you some points. That’s the person. That’s what we’re going to make you do out here.” Jaylen Smith, it I don’t think that would have made a huge or big difference. But I agree. I would have still put him out there, but I would have put him out there with Vu because what was I losing at the four? You could probably explain that to me a little bit better cuz I don’t know what they were losing at the four with Patrick Williams being out there or with Modis being out there cuz neither one of them in the fourth quarter. I was like, you know, I could replace one of those with Jaylen. I I thought that was an interesting question. Um and they I feel like they may have actually it might have been a good idea to close that way. They had Trey Giddy. Um Herder was out there. Herder. Yeah. And then um Trey Giddy Herder, who am I missing was closing the game? Aoro and Vu. Yes. Um, Aoro, like you just need that defense on Donovan Mitchell. Like he was you can’t really take him out. Can’t take him out. Um, you can’t really take out Trey, especially with the way that Giddy was not looking like himself. Maybe Giddy would have been the guy to take out. But, um, I also felt like Kevin Hurder had a really good game. His shooting, his, uh, playmaking was really good and he was starting to hit his threes a little bit. AOR also had a strong shooting night. He did. So, I just like you’re taking out one of those guys. it tonight. Maybe it would have it should have been Giddy just because he wasn’t he clearly was not himself. He was not. Um but if Giddy had looked himself, I just don’t know. Like you gonna take out your better floor spacer, you going to take out your second attack uh paint attack guy and Trey Jones? It just like there’s not a clean option for me. I think tonight probably the answer is is Giddy just because of how he didn’t look right. Yeah, but then then you got to deal with Oh, dear God, they took out Giddy. Oh, dear God. Well, I think there was a pretty good reason tonight at least. I I agree. Yeah. And and and it’s not like we haven’t seen it before. We’ve seen him being take out the game because of that. This would have been a valid reason like, “Oh yeah, you’re you’re hurt. Your ankle’s not feeling well. Come have a seat next to me.” But he couldn’t put IO in, man. And I think that was a big big reason. The minutes limit thing was I think that was a big So yeah, if I weren’t on that 24-minute limit tonight, so um he played a backtoback coming off of missing a few games with a quad injury. That’s non-trivial. He played 23 and change. Yeah. So, like he hit that limit and then was off the floor. Maybe it’s a different situation. Uh and then the other the only other discrepancy is Jaylen versus Foo. And like I saw somebody say, “I can’t believe you’re justifying Billy’s rotations.” Again, not justifying, just saying, “Tell me what it is.” These are the reasons why we think Billy rode with who he rode with down the stretch, right? Um if it was if it was me, I would have gone with probably the lineup that he closed with, except for maybe Giddy, but I just Yeah, that’s a tough one. I would have had Jaylen and Vouch. I know me. I would have had both of them in there. You would have had both of them out there. Yeah, man. All right. Uh on that note, let’s knock out our second half break. We’ll come up back on the other side. More of y’all’s thoughts on tonight’s loss. Let us know how you’re feeling. Throw us a super chat if you feel like it. We got a couple others. We’ll get to those. Plus a little teaser of our chat with Tim Leer. Little nibble that we had yesterday and his stock buying. Yeah. In this bull strong start. Next. Hit the like. 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That’s I E on the ball. B A L L.Net. Find your coach and take your game to the next level. We back. CS Bulls postgame rolling along. Thanks for being here, hanging out in that chat. Hit the like button if you didn’t do it during the ad break. Make sure you’re subscribed to that CO Sports YouTube channel. Um we got some some super chats to shout out. Uh uh Andreas with a $5 super chat. Appreciate you saying Billy lost us this. playing Giddy and not IO down the stretch. Giddy was shaken up because he knows the heinous memes of his ankles are waiting for and let’s let’s not laugh about that. Uh look, I I mean Stacy was getting all uppety on the broadcast thinking that the Cavs bench was like celebrating Giddy’s ankles getting broken. See, you missed it cuz you you went to the bathroom. So, you missed this part, but he was right because they showed footage of after the during the timeout of Cavs players literally laying down on the floor imitating Josh Giddy. I I did not see that part. You missed that part. And so, when I saw that, I thought it was just him saying that about them like amping up their their guy DeAndre Hunter for an incredible crossover and Dunk M1. Everybody would also feature Giddy writhing in the background. I feel like two things can be true, right? Like a team can like celebrate when they their player makes or that’s like one of the things that you like most aspired to do as a basketball pickup game’s end because at the same at the same point he like actually injured it badly. Yeah. And I believe to answer one of the super chat questions he it was the same ankle. Yeah. Xander Steel with a super chat asked, “Was it the same ankle that uh gave all of us a heart attack at media day last season when it was like here’s this weird sequence of words, the name of an injury that we are just now finding out that Josh Giddy has on his ankle.” That was crazy. I remember that. So, it is that same ankle, the right ankle. Yeah. Yeah. And we’re waiting for an update from him, Billy, somebody postgame to talk about the severity. My hope and guess would be not too bad cuz he came back and did play on it. But a lot of times like guys just like tighten up their ankle brace and like tighten up their shoe or retape it or whatever and they go back out there and then when they get off of it and they untie their shoe and they’re like it exactly it swells up and so you want to be careful about that. The NBA though, like these guys have like the most insane machines that will like help swelling and like I I don’t think it’s going to be that bad. The fact that he was back out there is pretty crazy. At the same point, it would not as somebody who has like suffered terrible ankle injuries before, like I would probably be out for like three months with that. You know what I’m saying? No flex. But I I you know, he could miss a game or two. He could also come right back. I’m not sure yet. We’ll we’ll see what Billy says. But he certainly did not look himself. And frankly, like that was a bit surprising to me that Billy leaves him out there because he always mentions, you know, I pulled him out after that collision because it just didn’t look like he was himself or he twisted his ankle, he went to the locker room and he came back and then I just yanked him because he wasn’t really impacting the game that he normally does. That’s something that Billy says a lot and so I was a little bit surprised that we did see Giddy out there that much. But like again, he’s just been the entire source of their offense. So I don’t blame him for wanting to see if he can’t give it a go because that’s really how they’re scoring. Yeah. And I think he also like you said like if he stops playing he didn’t want that swelling to kind of occur and things like that. But but yeah I mean it’s a tough situation to be in when you know you know the guy you want to put in you know when that situation happens but he’s on a men’s restrict so you can’t put him in. So you you kind of bite the bullet on that one and hope for the best with Josh Giddy who’s who’s going to play. And I mean for me it showed a lot about his toughness uh again tonight like to to do that and to still be out like go said go like dude I’m please absolutely not but Giddy was just like hey man tighten that up and we about to go do our thing. So yeah man I appreciate that aspect of Giddy definitely showed that leadership that that you need on a on a young team like that. Like I told you even yelling at Modest. I love that part. Like those little small things can still be helpful to a team even when you’re hurt and you can’t be at your 100% best. So, I’m hoping for the best for him. I hope he’s back against the Spurs, man. Uh but yeah, it it didn’t look good and he definitely looked like it it hurt. Uh yeah, I mean, you just said you hope he’s back for the Spurs game. Bulls are off tomorrow. They got the Spurs on Monday. That’s their back home game, but then they go back on the road Wednesday, Pistons. Then they got a few days off, but then they have a stretch starting a week from tomorrow, next Sunday, where they play five games in seven nights. That is a brutal amount of games in one week and a lot on the road. Most of it on the road. Yeah. So, you’re you’re talking about, you know, your offensive engine. Mhm. And maybe playing on an ankle that’s not 100%. Mhm. How many minutes and how many games of those five games and seven nights can you rely on him and that ankle? I mean, you just got to cross your fingers as a Bulls fan right now and hope for the best because playing on playing with a a gimpy ankle, you know, strap it up, tape it up, do whatever, give it treatment, have like you can do all those things with NBA’s uh you know, teams uh medical staffs these days, but that’s a lot of basketball to play on to play on a bad ankle. And I and also it’s this is why it’s good to get off to a start like the Bulls have gotten off to also banking those wins allows you to take your time and heal up a little more. So if he does sit out of game it becomes understandable rather than an immediacy. You know what I’m saying? Like yeah it’s all right and and and again just this is just an if not well now we have to deal with this if this Josh Giddy angle they’re going to be careful maybe give him a night or two off. It sounded like tonight was it as far as limiting IO’s minutes coming off of that quad contusion. We also know that IO has proven over the last several years of his NBA career that he can start. He can come off the bench. Don’t matter. Correct. Tell me what you need for me tonight, coach. I will do it. I got you. So like even without awaiting the return of Kobe White, which again, knock on wood, might happen sometime on that three-game trip out west next week. you you might have just like, okay, well, now we’re going to play Iowa more minutes tonight. Uh, you know, the offense will obviously look a lot different and might have some some struggles without Josh out there, but you know, you cross every bridge and every game when you come to it. I was just going to say, so it’s um off tomorrow, Spurs home Monday, off Tuesday, Pistons away Wednesday. Then it’s off Thursday, off Friday, off Saturday, and then you start the five and seven. You’ve got at Jazz at Nuggets off on Tuesday at Blazers off home vers Heat home vers Wizards. Um Kobe is supposed to if all goes well start ramping up in that period of time between the Pistons and the Jazz. So he could be back by then. Again, we don’t even know if Giddy’s going to miss anytime, right? Um so who knows? But like to me, yes, IO can can fill in and step up as a starter for sure. Same Trey, same most of these guys. Mhm. But the concern I would have there is your whole thing is you don’t have the star power to compete with these teams, but you have depth. But if you’re missing your starting back court and your backup guards are having to slide in, who is backing them up? Where is that depth coming from now? And if you don’t have the stars and you don’t have the depth, like I do think that could be a big area for concern, but let’s not go there yet. Let’s just see what happens with all these guys. I mean, we don’t know how’s responding to his return to play. We don’t know where Kobe’s at. And we don’t even know if this giddy situation is going to last more time. So, we’ll see. But, uh, the NBA schedule is not very forgiving. It just goes and you’ve got to find ways to it’s going to happen to you regardless, right? And the Bulls have actually been on the short end of number of games played out of the gate compared to most of the league. You know, like the Bulls have played five, a lot of teams have played seven. Now, tonight the Bulls have played nine, a lot of teams have played 10 or 11. So, they’re going to catch up with that five games in seven nights. Yeah. At least that at least the the fifth in that five and seven stretch is the Zards. That’s it. Like, okay, we made it to the finish line. They’re kind of frisky. Uh Zars are frisky. They are frisky. George and Alex Sar playing crazy. Jordan, he’s having he’s having a great game. I mean, a great season. Excuse me. Before we get to uh legs, uh I did also want to touch on Modis. Uh Mike Elm 1K in the chat just said Mod is struggling again is concerning. I think there was also a super chat about Modis. Sean um [ __ ] saying channeling his inner madness didn’t work. Looo could be referencing modest looking pissed after the loss to the Bucks last night. Dave, you and I talked about it postgame last night and how much we love seeing him that mad about a regular season loss, especially after a game in which he played pretty well, but tonight was another rough one for Modis. I I would now calculate that as three rough games out of the last four, giving him credit for playing pretty well last night. But the dude prior to that and tonight, foul trouble, turnovers, and didn’t shoot the ball well. I I I will forgive Modis or any other player for having a bad shooting night. Um it happens. Um he was one of six and missed all three of his three-point attempts. Only got to the line one time. don’t love that. But I mean, just fouls, turnovers, and just not being in the right place at the right time, finishes with just four points, four boards, and 18 minutes. Like to me the 18 minutes thing is the part that matters the most because Billy whether it be foul trouble or just not trusting a young player was like you know what Modis I I wanted to and I think you know you were talking about this earlier wanted to but did not believe that we would see a lot of Modest in that fourth quarter of a game the Bulls were trying to hold on to a lead against a tough opponent on the road. he wasn’t earning it. Like he didn’t play well. And I feel like it started almost at the beginning of the game. He had that run out and he was like in a foot race with Evan Mobley and he could have like just tried to put it down and like dunk it, but he kind of tried to get fancy and got his I don’t remember if he missed a layup or it got blocked, but it’s just like those are the ones that you want to just see him make a statement and like get himself off on the right foot. And you know, Billy has said this, Mis has said this, like he’s not the type of guy that is going to like dwell on a mistake. he moves on from that stuff quickly, but it did feel like to me that play kind of set up his night where then he tried to get loose off the dribble when he turned it over and then he did it again and then he had the foul and it was just like a couple of bad things happening in a row and he wasn’t really able to break out of that. I don’t know if he’ll get to a point in his career I I would imagine he does where he like is forced to play through that where Billy just has to leave him leave him out there because he’s that good. Um, but I want to see more of those games where like he starts poorly and then he he snaps out of it because we know, okay, he hits his first three, he hits his second three or he gets a steal and a layup and now he’s in a rhythm and now he’s playing well. It’s like you can’t just rely on whether the ball goes in being the compass for how well you play that night and like tonight he just didn’t impact the game in any way positively. I didn’t think and that’s why I’m going with this go. It’s not the points, it’s not the scoring and I’ve said this in offseason like that that stuff will come. He’ll have those games. What you control though is that effort on rebounding and blocking those shots. He had zero steals and zero blocks. No, he had four rebounds. Absolutely not. That’s not acceptable stuff to me. Getting to the line once. No, that was the one time he was decisive and aggressive physically. Exactly. He attacked the rim and he got to the foul line. They’re waiting to blow the whistle for you because they see the height and size and the way you play. They’re going to blow the whistle. So that’s what’s more for me was not even concerning, just upsetting. I’m not concerned about it cuz I know it’s in him. It’s just upsetting because I wasn’t seeing it when I thought I was going to see it tonight. But no, four rebounds and that’s it. Never for Mod Bales. All right. And only four. Never. All right. That should never occur for for a Modest Buzz. I understand the one of six shooting. You know, I understand the turnovers. I understand those things. But man, that other stuff, Matt, you just won’t get me on board. You know what I’m saying? With that, bro. I’m gonna need some blocks. I’m gonna need some deterred shots. I’m gonna need eight rebounds, man. And that’s being nice saying eight rebounds. I’m gonna need those things from him, man. And that stuff has to be consistent, consistent, consistent. I didn’t feel him on the floor tonight, right? I don’t want to say that after games. I didn’t feel him on the floor, bro. I felt Lee on the floor more than I felt Madison. Should never say that, but that’s what it was. I felt him more, bro. And I think that’s why Billy Billy understood that too. And I credit Billy for understanding and kind of having his pulse on what’s going on when Modis has it and when he doesn’t and when he knows to have him in the game when he doesn’t know or or when he shouldn’t be in the game cuz tonight he it was one of those examples like no bro come have a seat because if this is the effort you going to give me tonight nope you going to come sit over here. All right. And I’m not even mad that he did that to him but Mis should be and I hope he take all this stuff personally. I mean just just to play devil’s advocate play M has had four rebounds in 18 minutes. Pat had one rebound in 23. Fair. Did you feel who did you feel more? I felt Pat more cuz he was smashed aggressive and actually knocked down his shots. Like okay the Browns just feel a sweat. Um I you know I I I didn’t think that Pat had a particularly strong game. You know if you put up double figures off the bench solid. Good for you. But more so I agree with your point that I did not feel modest making himself felt out there on the court tonight which is you know the part that’s frustrating. dreads. Uh, shout out to our pal saying in the chat, “Please don’t get in Billy’s dogghouse.” Mod is uh and to me like so you’re right. Like that is what I am not super worried about tonight, but after this stretch of what I would call three dud games out of the last four is a little bit of worry creeping in the back of my head as somebody who is still hanging all the hopes on this Bulls team actually being a real team. maybe next year, maybe the year after that on MAD is turning into a star in this league of like do we have to revert? Do we do we have to move backwards as far as MAD and earning minutes in year two? Yeah, he earned a starting spot down the stretch of his rookie year. He did. You did. Yeah. I do not want to go backwards from that. And like I get Billy giving him quick hooks that he has done recently. Learning, making mistakes. We are going to hammer this in. You even saw his teammate Josh Giddy chewing him out after he failed uh to come help from the weak side on a drive at some point in that game. I’m I’m all for that, but to me I think with how much Modis’ growth means to this franchise, it has to be a like enduring growing pains thing. I just feel like you look at the way the Bulls have played on the whole over the last however many games and it’s probably going to match up pretty closely with the games that Modis has not been quite as productive. where they just aren’t playing to the identity that they played to during their first four games when everything was going swimmingly, right? That’s just not I I think a lot of it has to do with how the team is playing and Mod is feeding off of that. I do think he’s going to show the ability to score on his own. Yeah. During this season, he’s already done that. Yeah. I think that you’ll see more and more of that as his career progresses. I don’t think he’s in a place right now where you can just give him the ball and say, “Go get us 20 25 points a night.” Correct. I I just don’t think that’s realistic or feasible or smart for who he is right now. Can he score 25 in a game? For sure. Like a lot of it though, I think is going to happen in transition. But my point with this is that I just don’t think the Bulls as a whole have been playing their best basketball over these last four games. They had a really bad first half against the 76ers. They didn’t play great against the Knicks in that second game. They did not play great for three out of the four quarters tonight, I would say. Um and they they I mean I I thought the Bucks game was like okay. just wasn’t like it was like a B minus game for me in terms of like how well they played. Um, but I just feel like are we already starting to see the like are we hanging on too much to the first four wins and not looking enough at the last five game sample of who this team is? And I think look, we’re going to see Kobe come back hopefully soon. Um, it’s going to be up ups and downs. Like I don’t want to gauge everything off of the most recent five games, but it did make me wonder just kind of like where this team is now relative to the rest of the East as they have lost two in a row here and are now in fifth place as opposed to first, which they were heading into the weekend. Sean, just to your point about if you don’t have Giddy and Kobe, how different does this team look? And then even with Modest not playing up to his highest abilities, uh this is from Ki’s article after today’s game. Billy Donovan saying it’s just the way we’re built on the differences between the teams the Bulls have played in the last two games. We’ve got to do it collectively as a group. That’s just the way it’s got to be. So, just kind of, you know, emphasizing that if you know they’re all not playing at 100% on a team that your lead executive and coach are preaching n or 10 deep and Billy has been playing 9 or 10 deep. Uh Julian Phillips only four minutes tonight. So, kind of like a nine and a half rotation, but honestly, Julian Phillips was on the floor for a part of that dominant fourth quarter. He was um or I’m sorry, second quarter. Uh but it it has to be them all playing collectively. Yeah. And greater than the sum of their parts because the other thing about this this, you know, the last four games compared to the first four games or however you want to, you know, dice it up or nine games now, we wanted to give Bulls credit and deservedly so. Mhm. Hey, Pistons were a playoff team last year. Mhm. Dub. Orlando playoff team last year. Dub. Knicks playoff team last year. The Knicks. Dub. There is also, I think, some truth in the fact that these last three teams that they’ve played, Philly, miracle comeback, but you were down big. And, you know, we all knew that they tanked last year, but that’s a team that has a legitimate MVP candidate in Tyresese Maxi. Joel Embiid was out there for at least a half looking like his former self. Correct. That’s a team. Mhm. Cavs good. Bucks good. Mhm. If the Bulls don’t play miracle 9 to 10 players, scrappy David Ver Goliath at the height of their collective capability, it is going to be hard to beat these teams that are better than them, have more talent than them. Yeah. So, it’s hard to be that guy. It’s G. I mean, I don’t think that’s breaking news that it’s going to be hard to beat teams that are number one, two, and three in the East. Like, yeah, it’s gonna be hard to beat the Cavs. It’s gonna be hard to beat the Bucks. It’s going to be hard to beat Detroit. Like, Detroit, look at Detroit what they’re doing now. Like, they won like five straight. You know what I mean? Like, they’re at the top right now. Like, yeah, it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be difficult to beat them. I think I’m watching it a little differently. And I know who you’re talking to, but I’m watching it a little bit differently because for me, those these wins are amazing, but I I look at the losses. I really do. I’ve watched the losses and how they lose. This for me was like the first loss where I was like, “Okay, damn.” You know what I mean? That was that was damn the Bucks, dude. Giannis is a is a monster. Like for that reason, though, it’s like they’re just a better they got a better player and they’re a better team. I’m I’m just saying when I say damn, I’m saying like you had that opportunity. Yeah. To close it and you, you know, couldn’t close it against a really good team who showed you why they’re a really good basketball team. So that’s what I’m saying when I say damn. But the listen, the Knicks lost, I was like, “Okay, yeah, but look how they played. Look what the Knicks had to do to they had to play miracle ball to beat the Bulls because that three-point shooting was out of this world when they beat the Chicago Bulls. The Bugs, it’s Giannis. Yes, Giannis is going to destroy you.” like that is exactly how he rolls, man. But this one right here, I was like, “Yeah, they’re better. They’re absolutely better. You had a shot at it, but they’re better.” But you’re six and three. You continue on and and you continue to test yourselves against these really good teams, which is what I like is they get to test themselves against these really good teams. And the position they’re in is still a really solid position. And it’s like, dude, we knew coming in this is a tough backto-back. Yeah. Two good teams. You’re playing on their court for both of them and last night’s game was closer than the final score indicated. They were in that. They were until very late. Giannis too much to handle. Why is he 8 ft tall? Tonight they have a big lead for a few different reasons. They’re they’re hot in the first half from three. They get to the line a lot. They cough up a lead. They still have a chance to win it. They don’t make enough plays down the stretch. The Cavs do. Highlight headline. Donovan Mitchell. You lost to the Bucks and their MVP caliber player. You lost to the Cavs and they’re maybe not quite MVP caliber player, but when he wants to be. Yeah. One of the most deadly closers in the NBA in the second half. Absolute monster. Like it happens. It happens, man. And it’s tough that you have to take those L’s back to back on the chin like that. But at at at the same time as a Bulls fan, here’s an optimist half for you. You got to be encouraged by the fact that they were in both of these games. They really should have won one of them. Yeah. which is crazy, but that’s what it is. It’s a different story than a year ago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh with our remaining time or before you go, I just real quick shout out to my boy Anin who’s in the chat, man. He’s never in the chat. He don’t come out like that. So, he’s in there, man. Big shout out to you, bro. Man, that’s my dog right there. Known him for years. That’s my guy. But go ahead, please. Uh yeah, I just wanted to share a little snippet of our chat with Tim Leggler yesterday. Uh busy man. Yeah, he’s been doing awesome stuff. uh in that uh that a team for NBA on ESPN so far. They’ve called some great games hanging out with uh Goats BFF Mike Breen. Um so the whole thing we dropped as a mini pod earlier today. You can go watch the whole thing after we finish up with postgame, but just wanted to play a little snippet for you tonight. Uh and also for those of you who listening in on the pod and then encourage you to go find it on YouTube. Uh I think it we’ll also put it in the pod feed as well. But here’s here’s a nice little silver lining to wrap up a tough postgame and a tough L tonight cuz it’s Tim Leggler talking about how much he’s buying stock in this Bull’s hot start. Sean, take it away. I’m curious as somebody who is a former sharpshooter in the NBA of your era. There are a lot of questions that people had about Giddy, but I think chief among them was, can he be a floor spacer when he’s playing off the ball? Is the three-point shot real? It’s mostly been unguarded up to now, but he shot above 40% after the All-Star break last year. He’s shooting above 40% to start this season. How big of a sample size as a sharpshooter yourself do you want to see before you start buying into a guy turning that into a legitimate part of his offense, especially a guy like Giddy whose shot form is so unorthodox? I’ve seen enough already to know. And here’s here’s why. You’re right. The mechanics are not going to be something I’m gonna go with him and make a shooting instructional video for the young players, right? I feel you on that. It’s not picture perfect. But what’s happened is his confidence level in the shot and his all-around game and the impact he’s having as an offensive player or given is giving him a little bit more space and he’s a little bit more selective the ones he takes. But most importantly, he’s expecting it to go in at a better rate. Now, you think about this. Josh Giddy basically shot himself off the floor in Oklahoma City. I mean, that’s that’s what happened to him there. They they were loading up um and just leaving him in the corners and he couldn’t make one. Didn’t really want to take it. He goes to Chicago last year. Very respectable 37%. If he shoot if he shot 37% the rest of his career, I think everybody in Chicago would take it. But now here you look at him, he’s up over 40. Will he end up over 40? Remains to be seen. Not enough of a sample size to to know that because that’s when you start to get into like like the top upper crush shooters in the league. You get a north of 40. Um, I don’t know if it’ll stay above 40, but if that thing stays above 38% and he’s and he’s taken a volume, four, five, six of those in a game, um, that’s going to tell me that this is how it’s going to be for the rest of his career now because he’s broken through something mentally. And more importantly, he’s doing so many things on the floor offensively that are making you guard him differently that he can be more selective when he gets those. We don’t pay, we’re not scrutinizing every miss anymore the way that they did in Oklahoma City when he first got to Chicago. That’s all you wanted to see, man. Can this guy shoot? Like, I don’t know if he can shoot. Well, whatever happened in Chicago to put that stuff behind him has happened and now I think he’s pretty much good to go probably for the rest of his career in the upper 30s and maybe that occasional season where he gets to 40%. Tim, I’m staying right there because you had a quote on the AllNBA uh podcast when you said, “Since his three-point shooting has been better, it has made him a better passer.” Yeah. Yeah. Can you expound on that right there? Yeah. Because you think about when when when you’re a great passer, which he is, he’s a great ball mover. He’s got incredible anticipation for where the ball’s supposed to go next. The most thing I love about him the most as a passer, incredibly decisive. If that ball, you know, comes to him and and the next guy’s open one more pass, it’s practically a touch pass to that spot. There’s no wasted motion. But when he’s handling the ball and seeing the floor or handling in transition, the fact that he can now shoot the ball like that in half court means he has to be guarded closer. When you’re guarded closer, the windows for you to make passes are actually larger because it’s easy to throw the ball up and over around ball pressure. As an NBA player, it’s a lot harder. If that defender is five, six feet off of you and he’s halfway, you know, blocking the passing lane of where you saw a window. that makes it difficult and then a lot of times you don’t even throw the pass because it’s just not there. It’s going to get tipped. The the angle for it isn’t good enough. When when you got guys closing out at you harder, it’s going to make passing windows better. It’s also going to allow you to beat guys off the dribble a little bit easier, which then clearly is going to make your passing options more open and available. And so I that’s why I think for any player, you become a better passer when you have to be guarded differently on the perimeter. it just more more windows are open for you to make plays that you couldn’t have normally. So, that was uh part of our chat with uh Tim Leggler yesterday. Really good stuff. Uh awesome stuff. I mean, Legs is great. Um Sean just shared the link to the full interview we did with Leggler uh as this week’s mini pod. So, go give that uh a watch and or listen after we wrap up postgame tonight. But just like really, I think interesting and insightful answers. He told me I’m buying Giddy and it’s mostly because he looks confident when he’s taking it and that’s what matters most for NBA guys knocking down their shots. I I think I like the fact he’s like he’s very into the Bulls and he said it’s one of my teams that I watch. Like he he said he’s going out of his way to watch. Picking the Bulls on a night when he’s not calling a game but has a lot of options for which games he’s watching. He’s picking the Bulls. Legs is picking the Bulls and that says a lot right there because they’re a fun team to watch. They’re playing the way that they want to play. I just feel like tonight they didn’t get there quite enough. Sure. Second quarter was awesome, but they got to do that more consistently. Yeah, got to do it in the fourth, too. Uh we also talked to him about the landscape of the East out of the gate, you know, um where he sees the Bulls in that picture because he, you know, turned some heads before the season even started. I don’t know if we were playing preseason games yet, but he was on the AllNBA pod with our guy Adam Mars and saying like the Bulls with as open as the East looks, I I wouldn’t be shocked if they snag that, you know, six seed, it’s possible. Mhm. Um, we talked about modest as well. We did also talk about modest, too. So, yeah, we got into all that stuff. Great stuff. And, uh, that’ll be a regular occurrence with like throughout the season. Chat with him every other week, few times a month. Um, busy man, but uh, awesome that he shares some of his time and beautiful NBA knowledge with us. Uh, go check it out. With that, we’ll wrap up for tonight. Uh, let’s everybody get some sleep because we got a noon Bears kickoff tomorrow. Bears um CS Bears pregame and CS Bears tailgate cuz they’re back at home. Good luck in that weather. They’re going to represent Bear fans, baby. Bless the hearts of any Bears fans who brave that tailgate andor that game tomorrow. Uh let’s hope for the best weatherwise. Let’s go. Let’s win, too. Tune in CSO Sports YouTube channel. CSO Bears pregame, CS Bears postgame, the whole shebang will be here. Um, we are off tomorrow and then we’ll be back Monday for Bulls Spurs back home to face WBY. Yikes. Uh, until then, read goats stuff all jo.com. Become a diehard so you can read all of it. The very best of it. Instant reactions already up right now on the site and free for all to read, but you want to be a die hard so you can read all the goat stuff. Following will_ly big day bow bs. I’m bold_pec. We are cho_bull. Shout out to our guy Sean Anderson on the controls. Postgame number two, zero broken TVs. At least Well, at least we got one W tonight. We got it in there. Thanks for the love and the likes and the chat, Bulls Nation. Appreciate you. We’ll try again on Monday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. See you. Be good. Love y’all, man. [Applause] [Music]

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The CHGO Bulls crew break down the Chicago Bulls 128-122 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night. The Bulls built a 19-point lead in the second quarter behind hot shooting and frequent trips to the line. But the Cavs fought their way back into it, and Donovan Mitchell played the familiar role of “Bulls Villain” in the final minutes. Peck, Big Dave and Will Gottlieb discuss what went wrong in the second half. Silver lining: the bench had another strong night, highlighted by great minutes from Jalen Smith. Plus, Tim Legler joined the guys for a chat about the Bulls’ strong start to the season, and Josh Giddey leading the charge.

Full Legler interview: https://youtu.be/pOkFGfkRWPg

0:00 Show start
1:20 Bulls blow 19 point lead
17:00 Did Billy have wrong 5 out at end of game?
32:00 Superchats
41:00 Matas struggled tonight
53:00 Legler snippet

An ALLCITY Network Production

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