Up Against the Wall

I haven't done much in the way of NBA posts on here in a while. NCC basketball, football, and the Blackhawks have taken precedence recently. With the playoff run on though, I've been trying to pay some attention to what's been going on.

Last night the Bulls dropped a tough Game 5 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The loss has them facing elimination, but coming back home for Game 6 on Thursday.

This is something of a quick analysis, while also making complaints known. Please note that the following post will probably reek of some fierce homerism.

These last two Bulls losses have been tough. In Game 4, the Bulls led by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter, but blew the lead before LeBron's buzzer beater. But before that... some shady stuff happened.


There should have been a technical foul there. The Cavs were out of timeouts. It's possible none of this changes anything, but the Bulls should have gotten a free throw here. Then there's the whole free timeout from the review fiasco. On top of the free timeout, the officials inexplicably put time back on the clock where no time should have been put back on. LeBron wouldn't have gotten that shot off had the clock not been reset. We'd have gone to overtime, where maybe the Cavs still come away with the win... I don't know.

Then last night... the Bulls made a late charge from down 15 points to make it interesting, but they had to do it without Taj Gibson, who was ejected following this sequence.

I'm sorry, but that's a dirty play by Dellavedova. Taj needs to keep his cool, yes, but Dellavedova wasn't kicked. At least, not in the way the officials saw it. Give him a technical, sure. He was playing very physical on Dellavedova, to the point where a regular foul could have been called too (and I wouldn't argue it). But that is not a Flagrant 2. The Bulls lost an important big man down the stretch, where having him may have made a difference. The fact that Joey Crawford was an official last night... conspiracy theorists are having a field day.

I'm going to take my homer hat off now, because I feel that I've vented enough. These last two games, the officials have been horrible. That said, they aren't the reason the Bulls have lost these last two games.

In Game 4, LeBron got called for multiple offensive fouls as the game went along. While I feel he should be called for it more, that's not the point. He was called for it, and the Bulls couldn't take advantage. He then proceeded to make a fantastic shot at the buzzer to win the game. Last night, the Bulls shot only 31 percent from the floor in the first half to fall behind 54-44 at the break. They put themselves in a hole. LeBron also made sure the Bulls wouldn't finish things off, making a great block on a Rose layup to tie, then defending the inbound pass well and forcing an off-balance Butler three that missed the mark. The Bulls then couldn't get the loose ball on the ensuing possession. That's not on the NBA, or the officials. That's on the Bulls for failing to execute.

If you were able to continue reading through my complaints about the officials, thank you for indulging my whining. The officiating in this series (and really, overall) has been awful. It is not, however, the reason why the Bulls are facing elimination. It's easy to look at those events and blame someone else for the Bulls' shortcoming. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. The Bulls have had chances in both to make a difference at the end. Both times, they failed to do so. Now, they are one loss away from ending their season. If it happens, they shouldn't blame anyone but themselves.