The Bernstein Brief: Bulls Aren't Paying Attention
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) It's called a scouting report. It used to be written on a chalkboard for NBA teams each game before it was printed out and placed in lockers or then emailed or delivered to a team-issued tablet via an encrypted app.
Players are supposed to read it.
On Wednesday night, the Bulls doing so might have prevented big man Joakim Noah from deciding to leave his man alone in the paint to go double the relatively harmless Evan Turner in the corner, a move that led to an easy fourth-quarter Celtics basket and another round of confused looks from one Bull to another.
And when Nikola Mirotic ends up switched onto cat-quick point guard Isaiah Thomas, somebody near him should be aware enough to go help right away, at least flashing over to make the ball move elsewhere long enough to enable recovery. Derrick Rose was standing right there, but cameras showed him not even looking at what was happening in front of him, let alone reacting to it in time before Thomas knifed in to score easily.
It wasn't long after that the Celtics finished off a 105-100 win, the Bulls' third loss in a row.
These are Chicago veterans who should know better, too. This is bad.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.
