Saying goodbye to Thibs was tough back in the day… If you’ve read over the years, this is one dead horse that I continue to beat; not all Bulls fans feel the same way though. Some blame Thibs for Rose’s injury; I don’t. Some say he ruined other players of ours, like Noah and Deng; I don’t. Has Thibs changed his minute management for his starters over the years? Seemingly a bit, but still leans pretty heavily on the starting five. Because of the increase minutes played, this puts players in a more vulnerable position to get hurt? Well, the more time you’re on the court, the more chances you have to be injured… there is that logic. So, load management SHOULD be a thing? I don’t think so, certainly not to the degree it is today. Hell, now Lebron wants a month off before the playoffs; this guy… Yeah, Thibs may be a throwback to the old school, where guys played hurt all the time, where guys played every game, played HARD every game. Players were making less money and playing harder than today; make it make sense. Anyways, for this reason, I loved Thibs, and the players that played for him, if they weren’t soft as charmin, loved him too. This was the main reason I was rooting for the Knicks in the ECF; it was disappointing to see them lose, to say “bye Thibs” again.
The Pacers were the better team, point blank. And now, they are getting ultimately disrespected again as the Finals matchup is set; they are HUGE underdogs to the Thunder. Hey, at the end of the day, I think the Thunder will prevail, but… I don’t think it’ll be a landslide like some think. I do think the Pacers defense is a bit underrated… certainly not as good as the Thunder, they’re the best, but can certainly hold their own. Look how hard they made Brunson work… It wasn’t quite Dort shutting down Ant, but they made Jalen work very hard for his; I think it did impact the series in the long run, although Brunson did get more rest than I thought he would throughout the games. And, the Pacers are deeper, which is one reason why I think they’ll hold their own vs the Thunder, potentially the deepest team in the league. We will see some good battles between the bench guys on both sides; maybe look to bet on some props for those coming off the bench?
What with the Knicks now? Brunson stood up for his coach at the end of the day; nice job. There were rumblings about KAT’s commitment to defense… and now trade rumors… KD for KAT? KAT played with Booker at Kentucky. But… does KD play defense? The Knicks are the latest NBA playoff casualty; it was a little disappointing. Glad they didn’t lay down in Game 5 at home, like the Wolves did on the road, but the Pacers were just too much in Game 6. Speaking about defense… they couldn’t stop anybody. Now we turn our attention to the NBA Finals…
Leave a Reply