"Even When I Was Close to Defeat..."

I know you've seen it, but it's important to remember the moment.

Remember? The Bulls were cruising toward an easy victory in Game 1 against Philly. The stage was set for another five-game first round series (maybe even four if Rose played this well), a few contrite comments from Doug Collins, and the determined march to the rematch with Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Bulls fans were dreaming of it. This was the year we had the pieces in place. A strong team without Rose would be unstoppable with him, even at 90 percent.

Then, the weight of a city's expectations became too much to bear for Derrick Rose's left knee, and it bucked under the pressure. The air went out of the United Center with a discernible gasp. Expressions of exuberance turned somber in an instant. The future that had been so bright only seconds before was inexplicably cloudy.

What had just happened?

As it turns out, the Bulls had been struck by the worst sports luck of the year. Two games later, Joakim Noah went down with a sprained left ankle, and the Sixers put their foot on the Bulls' throat. 

Only ten days ago, the Chicago-Miami matchup was a hot topic of discussion even for the most hardened of sportswriter. Now, it's Game 5 with the Bulls on the brink of elimination.

History repeats

The Bulls are not unique in this respect. There have been many teams who had their superstar go down with a bad injury and subsequently saw their season go down the drain. The 1973-74 Milwaukee Bucks lost Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to a broken hand in the preseason; the Patriots had Tom Brady tear his ACL in their first game of the 2008; Michael Jordan broke his foot early in the 1985-86 season and didn't return until right before the playoffs (although he did score 112 points in his first two playoff games against what Bill Simmons calls the greatest NBA team of all time).

For me, Derrick Rose's injury harshly reminds me of 2008. The Chicago White Sox were 77-59 and firmly in control of the AL Central with one month to go in the regular season. The ChiSox had the surprising Gavin Floyd and the steady Mark Buerhle leading the way, but the real motor for the Sox' success was MVP candidate Carlos Quentin. The super-intense Quentin had been crushing baseballs all season alongside stalwart Jim Thome and was leading the way in the American League.

Then, on September 1, Quentin smacked his bat after missing a pitch against Cleveland's Cliff Lee (who was on fire that season). The next day, reports surfaced that Quentin had broken a bone in his wrist and would be out for the remainder of the season. 

The Sox nearly collapsed down the stretch, surviving to make one of the most remarkable playoff entrances in league history as they won three straight elimination games at the end of the season. That would be all for the "Fighting Sox", as they lost in the first round to the Tampa Bay Rays.

It was left for the entire South Side fan base to wonder what if CQ had been healthy and available to play, especially since he never came close to his 2008 production again.

A wounded bull is more dangerous

Bulls fans weren't too worried about Rose's injury; after all, he had been out for almost half the season with various maladies and the Bulls had compiled a .667 winning percentage without him. The first half of Game 2 seemed to prove that, as Kyle Korver and John Lucas III led the Bulls to a 55-47 margin. Then, the Sixers took over and stunned the Bulls in a blowout win.

The series returns to Chicago tonight, and everyone has counted the Bulls out after two efforts in Philly fell short. The Sixers are poised to be the fourth eighth-seeded team to defeat a top seed in the NBA playoffs, albeit the first to do it after two significant injuries to the top-seeded team. Joakim Noah is day-to-day, Luol Deng has been unable to get going, and with Noah out, Spencer Hawes has come up big.

The outcome is bleak and the long offseason looms with stomach-turning nightmares of what might have been. So the question must be raised: is this really it?

The Bulls have a chance to win Game 5. They are at home and backed into a corner. The Sixers have not been in this position to close out a team on the road in the playoffs since the Iverson days, and they still don't have a finisher. The Bulls know the situation and have the crowd behind them.

The mood of Bulls fans has been despondent after the lost weekend, and they've come face-to-face with the realization that it may be Miami's championship season. That doesn't mean they should lose hope.

The Bulls beat Miami without Rose. They beat Boston without Rose. They beat the Pacers without Rose. They have the tools, they have the will. It's time to make one final pull on the rope.

To paraphrase Dr. Dre, we're close to defeat, so we must rise to our feet. If all else fails, the White Mamba is waiting.

See you in the cheap seats.

JS

The 10 Best NBA Celebrations, Part 2

Click the link for Part 1.

It's tough to pick ten celebrations in the NBA these days. It may not have a ready-made initialization like the "No Fun League", but with refs able to call technical fouls almost at whim and the best coaches being as crazy as a group of mathletes (Poppovich, Thibodeau, Carlisle), there's just not a lot of whimsy left in the Association. Never mind that all the crazy in the league is now solely in the form of Metta World Artest, there just aren't a lot of dramatic ballplayers.

Still, there are guys who can rock out with the best of them after a good play. Here's the top five of them in the NBA.

5. The Three Goggles/"German Three" (Dirk Nowitzki, Rudy Fernandez, Wesley Matthews, Patrick Mills)

I'd have put Brad Miller in this, but the recently retired former Bulls big man is now going to focus on hunting shows. So it's down to the men who make sharpshooting look that much cooler. 

(Note: Remember the scene from "Inglourious Basterds", when the Nazi officer makes the British spy because of the way he signals "three"? I wasn't sold on that...until I saw Dirk do the German three. The NBA: where learning happens.)

4. The "Where's the And-One?" (Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose)

This is somewhat sarcastic, considering Wade is kind of a crybaby when it comes to fouls. But he makes some incredible shots, and D-Rose's fadeaway two on the Lakers gained legendary status during his MVP season, thanks in no small part to Stacey King ("He didn't pull a Jordan, did he? He didn't pull an MJ?")

3. The "You Can't See Me" (DeShawn Stevenson)

Come on, don't get upset. DeShawn Stevenson had to be in the top 10 of something.

2. The "Be Quiet, This is a Library"/Crowd Shush (Kris Humphries)

I'm giving this one solely to Kris Humphries because he deserves it. This is a move reserved for away games when you're in a hostile crowd, and every arena's been hostile to K-Hump after his divorce from Ms. Kardashian. America, get over it. You be happy that Kimmy's back on the market. As for Kris, he's playing good ball for the Nets and should be extra happy at the four-spot next year, after Jay-Z gets Dwight to Brooklyn. Oops, spoiler!

1. The Gunslinger (Joakim Noah)

You thought I wasn't going to be a homer? You thought I wasn't going to pick this after the lead photo in part 1? You thought Joakim Noah wasn't going to make the list? To quote Barney Frank, "On what planet do you spend most of your time?"

Joakim said it best: "No one is going to out-celebrate me. Roy Hibbert is not going to out-celebrate me."

A quick lesson before I go, cheap seaters: life is meant to be enjoyed. Whatever you do in life, make sure you have fun. So if you beat your uncle at a game of checkers, get the last parking space in front of the post office, or receive a bigger tax refund than you expected, make sure you drop off a little celebration, no matter who's around.

That reminds me, I've got to do my taxes. See you in the cheap seats.

JS