They're not booing, they're just saying "Buuuuuuuuuuuuullls!"

One of Larry's 9 "missed" shots

Wow. This was not what I was expecting when I walked into the UC with my younger cousin an hour before tip off. The Wizards were not only missing Gil Arenas, a career 22 ppg gunner who came close to averaging 30 ppg in 05-06. Not only were they missing Caron Butler a 21 ppg emerging portion of their deadly trio (along with Jamison). The Wizards had just struggled to put up 70 points in a 69-94 loss to Houston. Piece of cake, right?

It certainly played out the way I thought it would in the first half. Bulls ahead 52-34. Nothing to worry about, right?

While Washington reels off 9 straight points (4-5 shooting), the Bulls rack up 3 turnovers and miss 3 shots (one of them blocked), with a timeout in between as well. The offense doesn't seem in rhythm, and the guards don't seem to be in sync, so who should get substituted? One of the guards? Not on this watch! Nocioni and Gooden come in for Noah and Thomas (who never returns).

The Bulls finally score their first point of the quarter with 8:57 to go, but Washington continues push ahead. Their defense and rebounding, non-existent as they rack up 4 more turnovers (one on a questionable offensive foul call) and more missed shots.

Another time out at the 5:03 mark, and my 10 year old cousin asks me? Have they only scored one point this quarter? I look up at the in-stadium stat line, and there it is:

22 to effin' 1.

This time, the timeout seems to take some effect but the Bulls still end the quarter down 3. The fourth quarter begins, and a Hughes turnover leads to a quick Hinrich foul. Duhon is immediately dusted off and thrown into the game.

An energetic UC crowd starts shouting "Duuuuuuuuuu!" for Chris Duhon.

A optimistic UC crowd starts shouting "Buuuuuuuullllllllls!" to motivate the squad.

The disillusioned UC crowd, once sold on a group of hard working players from winning college programs, rained a heavy chorus of displeasure on the poster child of this "new" Bulls era. As you already know, the Bulls lost the game. If the optimist in me was hopeful that the Bulls could salvage some improvement for the remainder of this season, the optimist is me is now convinced that this game will be proof that there will be major changes ahead for the Bulls in the offseason. But that's a discussion for another post.

I have to say though this dunk by Noce was pretty sick: