Banedon

I'm not trying to bag on the Pacers, cuz I think they've been very consistently good all season, and really have flown under the radar. But I dunno, I just don't find the team all the compelling. That could be completely unfair, as I haven't watched them much this year at all. But I feel like the Bulls have developed a rivalry with both Boston and Miami over time that just isn't there with Indiana. Yeah, there was the playoffs last year, but as competitive as they were, I don't think there's a "rivalry" to speak of there.

Have to beat the Pacers. All bets are off if the Heat don't win out.

I might be crazy, but I think I'd rather play Boston than Indiana. I know Boston has played well lately, but I think I'd still rather see that series than playing Indiana again. In a vacuum, I'd probably rather play Indiana. But the idea of Boston making things tough for Miami or even bouncing them intrigues me. Did you mean that in a vacuum you'd rather not play Indiana? The but confused me since obviously if you get Indiana, you get the benefit of Boston playing Miami too. That wouldn't be an either/or. Both teams have been playing well down the stretch. Since March 17th, Indiana is 16-4 while Boston is 14-5. Boston obviously has the wealth of playoff experience as a group while Indiana's new guys are the only ones with significant playoff experience (West, Hill, Barbosa, Amundson). I'm trying not to be a homer, but I'll say Chicago would want to avoid Indiana for one big reason. Both Boston and Indiana have roughly equal chances of upsetting Chicago (if push came to shove, I'd say as I did last week that Indiana has a little better chance against Chicago while Boston has a little better of a chance against Miami, but that's irrelevant to this point). But with the Bulls having so many guys already with nagging injuries, having such a bruising series against Indiana would be a huge detriment to the Bulls being healthy going into a potential Miami series. Hopefully not from anything dirty, but those will be highly physical contests between two long, physical type teams. Playing Boston might give just as long of a series, but the wear and tear from those games will likely be less. Honestly, I'm not terribly afraid of losing to either Boston or Indiana if the Bulls are at full strength. Obviously a big "if". For me, we've seen the Bulls vs Indiana series last year, and I didn't find it to be so compelling that I want to see it again.

Well this is just awesome news....

I might be crazy, but I think I'd rather play Boston than Indiana. I know Boston has played well lately, but I think I'd still rather see that series than playing Indiana again.

For all the media talk about how the #1 seed is in danger, the percentages are still greatly in the Bulls favor, though they've slipped a bit.... Team AvgW Play Div HCA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicago 49.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 91.0 9.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Miami 47.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 9.0 91.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Indiana 43.1 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 99.3 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 Atlanta 39.6 100.0 0.0 72.2 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.0 94.2 4.7 0.4 0.0 Boston 38.7 100.0 98.3 25.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 98.3 0.0 0.5 1.2 0.0 Orlando 38.1 100.0 0.0 2.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.1 86.2 8.7 0.0 New York 36.0 100.0 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7 0.0 8.6 87.4 2.3 Philadelphia 33.9 90.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.3 87.7 Milwaukee 31.6 10.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.0 Detroit 24.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Toronto 23.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 New Jersey 22.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Cleveland 19.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Washington 19.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Charlotte 7.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

You think? I'll be shocked if he does. Yeah. Jones is more likely to get a suspension, and I doubt he'll get one either.

Noah did good keeping his cool.

I'm a hockey moron. I don't understand why that fight happened. Both guys knew they eere gonna fight after ghe puck dropped? Hockey is stupid about that [expletive].

Rose officially out. Deng officially in.

It feels like you've been college for at least 8 years.

Blast from the past.

FWIW, Miami was 3-1 vs Indiana during the regular season.

Deng likely to play tonight. Rose likely to sit.

Breaking news: Donovan McNabb would vote for himself for the Hallf of Fame... http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/18/donovan-mcnabb-i-would-vote-for-myself-for-the-hall-of-fame/

Screw that. Base Wars was where it was at. I'm gonna have to back erik on this one.... http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/12424

Hilarious http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1175762

I don't either, but they spent the better part of the 2000's doing just that. Hopefully all the talk is just talk and they actually will make an effort to improve the line through better talent, instead of just coaching. So far, Emery has done some nice things. He's not fixing everything at once, and probably not going "after it" as hard as many fans would want, but he made the Marshall trade and has grabbed some guys that can be decent pieces. But how he deals with the O-line in the draft is gonna tell me a lot about where this is heading moving forward. At this point I'd be much more excited to see him go after both sides of the line early and often than go after a WR. The WR need is real, but after the Marshall trade they can still get one in the middle rounds and try to develop. It's not like first round receivers are great bets or that late rounders/undrafted can't contribute. Yep. Cutler has shown he can be very productive without good WRs. Marshall has shown he can be very productive without good WRs alongside him. If Marshall can do anything to open up Hester like the Bears think, Bennett can continue to be a go-to guy for Cutler, and Knox can play at all the Bears still have the best group of WRs they've had in at least 15 years. I like Floyd, Wright, Hill, Randle, and all the top WRs....but the team still needs help on both lines first and foremost. Agree with the post, but for me, Knox isn't even a factor when I think about the WR core right now.

Hossa is out for Game 4.

Don Banks has them with Jonathan Martin in the first round. Gives Mike Adams as a possible alternative pick. http://www.cnnsi.com/2012/writers/don_banks/04/18/2012.nfl.mock.draft.6/index.html

I don't either, but they spent the better part of the 2000's doing just that. Hopefully all the talk is just talk and they actually will make an effort to improve the line through better talent, instead of just coaching. So far, Emery has done some nice things. He's not fixing everything at once, and probably not going "after it" as hard as many fans would want, but he made the Marshall trade and has grabbed some guys that can be decent pieces. But how he deals with the O-line in the draft is gonna tell me a lot about where this is heading moving forward. At this point I'd be much more excited to see him go after both sides of the line early and often than go after a WR. The WR need is real, but after the Marshall trade they can still get one in the middle rounds and try to develop. It's not like first round receivers are great bets or that late rounders/undrafted can't contribute. Yep. Agree completely. I definitely wanted to go hard after WR pre-Marshall trade, but now it's both lines and defensive depth that interests me more.

I don't either, but they spent the better part of the 2000's doing just that. Hopefully all the talk is just talk and they actually will make an effort to improve the line through better talent, instead of just coaching. So far, Emery has done some nice things. He's not fixing everything at once, and probably not going "after it" as hard as many fans would want, but he made the Marshall trade and has grabbed some guys that can be decent pieces. But how he deals with the O-line in the draft is gonna tell me a lot about where this is heading moving forward.

I don't know how the Bears can go 3 rounds without getting someone on the O-line.

Wade and Bosh are both resting tonight vs the Raptors, but all the big 3 will play vs the Bulls tomorrow. And while the Bulls chances haven't changed in today's playoff percentages, the Celtics took a hit on their chances at HCA in the first round with that loss last night... Team AvgW Play Div HCA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicago 49.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 95.6 4.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Miami 46.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 4.4 95.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Indiana 42.7 100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 97.7 0.1 2.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 Atlanta 39.3 100.0 0.0 60.8 0.0 0.0 1.9 0.0 81.0 15.5 1.6 0.0 Boston 38.4 100.0 98.1 27.4 0.0 0.0 0.1 98.0 0.0 0.0 1.9 0.0 Orlando 38.4 100.0 0.0 11.8 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 16.7 79.3 3.7 0.0 New York 35.7 99.9 1.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.8 0.1 5.2 88.8 4.0 Philadelphia 33.4 59.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 2.3 56.6 Milwaukee 32.7 41.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7 39.4 Detroit 25.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Toronto 23.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 New Jersey 23.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Cleveland 20.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Washington 18.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Charlotte 7.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0