Flagrant Loss

I really thought the Bulls would go up 3-2 last night, but it was the other way around. It was another exciting OT game too. The Bulls played good defense for the entire game. I didn't feel the offense was there in the first half, except for Hinrich who kept them in the game. The Bulls actually had a lead by the end of the 3rd, which made me nervous because I'm more confident in them when they enter the 4th quarter behind by a few. Gordon was amazing in the 4th quarter again. He was a buzzer beating 3-pointer away from being the next Michael Jordan. Had his final 4th quarter shot went in, the Bulls would've had the 3-2 lead, but I guess he had to miss sometime. He did finish with a solid 26 and 6 assists... not bad for someone who was playing on one leg. Overtime went back and forth just like the other OTs in this series. Pierce was hot and just nailed everything. The Bulls had the final play though. Miller was open for an easy layup for dunk, but was clotheslined by Rondo and no flagrant foul was called. The replay was obvious. At normal speed, even I thought it was just a hard 4th quarter foul that usually doesn't get called. But the replay clearly shows Rondo going for Miller's head. Miller who was shaken up and stitched up missed the first shot. He also missed the second on purpose, but failed to hit the rim. A game like that shouldn't end on a bad call. I wanted to see a clean shot attempt and maybe another OT. The Bulls were robbed.

Still, the close game could have been avoided. Del Negro chose to keep Salmons on Pierce who kept shooting jumper after jumper over him. He should have had Hinrich on Pierce. He's smaller, but still a better defender. On the other side of things, Boston could've avoided overtime if they let Marbury shoot more. He was open several times, but passed up on the open jumper.