This year's introduction to the NBA was a boring ho-hum affair that no one really knew about. It featured two mid-market teams, one significantly better than the other, a promising yet flawed top pick and a team trying to be the first new Eastern Conference Champion in three years.
Did you know the Pacers beat the Magic last night in the first game of the 2013-2014 season? And it started an hour before the defending champs opened the season against their top rival? Do you know why anyone thought that was a good idea?
Either way, the real opener last night began at 8:00 pm Eastern time with Chicago trying to spoil Miami's banner raising ceremony much like the Blackhawks ruined the Kings' last year. If nothing else, it proved that being a Bulls fan for this season is going to be interesting.
Some think they have a legitimate shot at a title. Others rely more heavily on crackpot theories like "history" and "evidence" and "talent."
Here's how last night *should* have worked out.
1) Derrick Rose shoots 60% from the floor with 35 points, adds eight assists, four rebounds and four steals for a remarkable beginning to his comeback season.
2) Either Taj Gibson or Jimmy Butler posterizes Dwyane Wade just as Miami thinks it's about to go on a run.
3) The Bulls, in a Ditka/Thibs-inspired fervor, win by 40.
Instead, stupid reality had to come along and spoil literally1 everyone's fun.
Playing against Miami when its defense rolls on all cylinders as it was is demoralizing, deflating and frustrating. I've played a lot of NBA 2K11 in the months following last year's Finals, and I almost forgot how sloppy basketball really is. In video games, one player has possession at a time, one player corrals a rebound, and I'm either winning by 20 or [error: other option not found]2. In real life, the Bulls struggled to get into even their most basic half court sets and their defense looked lost and disorganized. Miami's impressive quickness and frantic traps made it shocking that Chicago could even muster the 95 points with which they finished. The Heat shot over 50% from the field, and eight players scored in double figures.
Still, it wasn't all bad. Boozer had an impressive evening, tallying 31/7/2/1/1 and at least four "grab-it-Jo!'s." He now leads the league in scoring, by the way. Jimmy Butler added 20 points and five steals despite being plagued by foul trouble. Rookie Tony Snell played seven minutes and didn't get the Stan Podolack treatment. Derrick Rose actually participated in a game of professional basketball and that's always nice.
Miami is obviously a great team, and last night provided a perfect example of what happens when they execute their strategies. The pace was far too quick for the Bulls to handle, they were only -1 in the rebounding margin, and they made over 55% from beyond the arc. That's not going to happen every time, but it's also by no means a rarity.
The Bulls lost to the Heat on the road in a contest where their starting five were all playing at the same time for the first time ever3 in the first of an excruciatingly lengthy 82-game season. Chicago probably won't play this poorly all year based solely on the fact that last year's team won a playoff series when literally4 everyone was injured.
But hey, if they do, at least the Blackhawks beat Ottawa last night.
1. Figuratively ↩
2. As it turns out, the only possible outcome is for me to be winning by double digits because I'm a sore loser who quits and restarts if I'm not winning because the game is unfair and rigged against me. It's also anti-Semitic ↩
3. This is primarily due to the fact that Derrick Rose was out all last year and Jimmy Butler was playing in his first "non-redshirt" season. ↩
4. Again, figuratively ↩
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