14-Jan-2012 - NBA’s Bulls Survive Five Games in Six Nights

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Somehow, the Bulls survived, perhaps because they were playing the hapless Washington Wizards. But it was ugly, with Chicago shooting just 36.7 percent from the floor, making just over half its free throws (9 of 16) and having to do without its best player, guard Derrick Rose, who sat out with an injured big toe, the inevitable casualty in the Bulls’ nearly weeklong endurance test. Afterward, forward Luol Deng sat at his locker with one ice bag on his left knee, another on his right shin and both ankles plunged deep into a light blue plastic tub of ice. He looked spent, having played 45 of the game’s 48 minutes, after playing 42 and 33 minutes the previous two nights. He is 26, but looked ready for retirement. “You really feel it after the game,” said Deng, who grabbed 15 rebounds against the Wizards but was 5 for 21 in field-goal attempts, a likely reflection of how weary he was. Across the room, point guard John Lucas III, who played nearly Blue studio limited edition headphone 46 minutes in his first N.B.A. start as Rose’s replacement, sat slumped in a chair after taking a heavy load of shots (28) to produce 25 points. When Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau was asked before the game who would back up Lucas — the veteran Mike James, signed earlier in the day from the N.B.A. Development League, did not arrive until five minutes before the national anthem — Thibodeau deadpanned: “Lucas.” He wasn’t lying. Lucas played the entire first half and most of the third quarter before his first, brief rest. Then James relieved him for the final 40 seconds. By then, Lucas had taken one for the team. “I have a newfound respect for the guys who play 45, 48 minutes a night,” Lucas said. Or those beats by dre pro white/grey headphone who play three games in three nights, or five in six. But such is life in the lockout-compressed 2011-12 season, where every team is playing, on average, two more games a month, where every team will have to play at least one back-to-back-to-back set and 11 teams will have to do it twice, and where, 29 times over the course of the season, teams will have to play five games in six nights. The last time clubs had been required to do either was back in 1999, when the N.B.A. played 50 games in 90 days as a result of a similar lockout. In the case of the Bulls, it had been almost 20 years since they played five games with just one day off. It last happened in April 1983, two years before they drafted Michael Jordan. In that instance, the Bulls lost four out of five; this time, they won four, including the three games played in a row, something only one other team — Oklahoma City — has done in this already quirky season. The Bulls came out of all this with a 10-2 record, the best in the N.B.A. and a testament to their depth as much as their talent. On Wednesday, the Bulls held Washington to 27 points in the second half even with Thibodeau turning to his bench at crunch time for the second consecutive night. Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Ronnie Brewer sat the entire fourth quarter while Omer Asik, Taj Gibson and Kyle Korver combined for 12 points and 12 rebounds. “We’re in the midst of a lot of games in a short amount of time,” Thibodeau said. “You have to go with the guys who have some energy.” The Bulls’ six-day ordeal folds into an even longer one — nine games in 12 days. It won’t end until the Bulls, after an off day Thursday, play the Celtics in Boston on Friday and then come back home on Saturday to face Toronto. “Guys are really tired right now,” Brewer monster beats black/white headphone said. “But I don’t think anybody in the league is going to feel sorry for us.” For Brewer and his teammates, the intense stretch of games began last Friday night in Orlando, where the Bulls won easily, 97-83, with double-doubles from Rose (21 points, 10 assists) and Boozer (20 points, 13 rebounds). A night later, the Bulls lost to the Hawks in Atlanta, 109-94, with Rose, the league’s reigning most valuable player, dropping off to a season-low 8 points.

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