Bulls vs. Lakers - A Shot in the Dark

 

Bulls vs. Lakers

11/15/21

The 9-4 Bulls played the 8-6 Lakers in the late game Monday night.  The game began at 10:30pm ET.  Some might say that that is a very late game.  Maybe even too late for East Coast folk... especially for East Coast folk who are sick and have jobs.  Especially for East Coast folk who have a subscription to League Pass that doesn't allow you to watch the NBA TV game until 3 hours after it is archived.  

In other words, I'll have the postgame analysis for you tomorrow night.  For now, I'll just take my best guess at what happened.  You can tell me in the comments if I'm close.

Post-Game Analysis

Despite being on the back end of a back-to-back on a long road trip against stiff competition, the Bulls once again came out with energy, attacking on both sides of the ball.  DeRozan and Lavine provided the offense in the initial period, while Caruso and Ball wreaked havoc on defense.  But when Coby entered the game halfway into the first quarter, the crowd erupted into shouts of "Coby! Coby! Coby!" and "MVP! MVP!" presumably out of force of habit and a lack of attention to detail.  There followed a brief period of awkward silence, but the tension was broken after Coby made his first shot over the outstretched arms of his defender.  The crowd looked at one another, and in unison, they shrugged, and then began to cheer wildly.  He went on to set a Staples Center record of 82 points in his 11:38 of action.  

One of the highlights of the game came when Tony Bradley got raked across the face on a drive to the hoop.  He held his face for several moments before pulling back his skin to reveal that he was, indeed, Nikola Vucevic all along.  He finished the game 3-11.  

The most surprising moment of the game, however, came at the start when the Chicago Bulls players took to the floor without any shoes on.  "Our shoes really put us at a disadvantage in yesterday's game," Coach Donovan said, referencing the 3 Bulls players who came out of their shoes against the Clippers.  "We reviewed the tape, bought some of those socks with the sticky bottoms, and the guys looked a lot more comfortable out there tonight."  

Zach Lavine had to exit in the 4th quarter after Anthony Davis came down on his shoeless big toe.  Davis is expected to miss 2-4 weeks following the collision because he is Anthony Davis and he plays for this year's Lakers.  After the game, Lavine said, "As long as the doctors say I'm good to go, I'm gonna play through it."  From across the room, the team doctor gave him the thumbs up.  Unfortunately, when Zach Lavine attempted to reciprocate with a thumbs up of his own, he tore a ligament that will require surgery and a 6-8 week recovery time.

Next up for the Bulls?  No one.  The other teams have canceled their respective games, possibly out of fear of Coby White's onslaught, but mostly because of the whole thing with Tony Bradley and his affiliation with the Faceless Men.  Scary stuff.