Bulls are accidental Tigers

Between the first and second quarters of the Bulls' Friday night win over the Lakers in the UC, Phil Jackson was interviewed by one of the ESPN reporters.  When asked how he felt about his team's 22-12 lead, Jackson replied, "It should've been a 30-point quarter."  He was referring to what ought to be a result of the terrific defense the Lakers played in the first quarter.  The point of this is to highlight how good a defense the Bulls overcame.  And it wasn't because the Lakers took plays off, or even failed to adapt.  It had a little to do with the Bulls defending the paint better, and a lot to do with the Bulls running an offense that was too dynamic to adapt to.  Or, perhaps falling into that offense accidentally.

Those of you familiar with the Princeton offense might think I'm crazy when I suggest that it was exactly what the Bulls ran from the second quarter on (excepting those plays termed the Derrick Rose Show).  The plays were not slowed down to mitigate the fact that the Lakers are the superior athletic team (they certainly are not, outside Shannon Brown).  The ball was not run through the center in the post to begin every offensive possession.  And there weren't a whole lot of down screens on the block.  Then what, if anything, would make me say that the offense even resembled Princeton?  In one, hyphenated word: back-door.  In two, unhyphenated: kick outs.  In more: read on.

The Princeton offense came to be exactly as you'd expect.  Coach Franklin "Cappy" Cappon realized that the one advantage he had in almost every game was ridiculously smart kids.  He also knew the most cerebral part of basketball defense is switching assignments.  The logical step then is a dump truck full of motion.  Set tons of screens, rely on players to outsmart their defenders to open spots on the floor, whether streaking to the basket, or jumping out towards the perimeter.  It's usually a slow offense because better athletes take longer to break down.  But, this Bulls team is made up mostly of athletic freaks, so it only takes two or three clever moves.  And the Bulls kept making them.  But, it wasn't clear that they were actually running an offense.

What it looked like more often was one of those pickup games where you miraculously end up on a team of complements.  Where you're setting screens and people are using them and looking for you to roll.  Where you run baseline and somebody finds you in the corner.  The point guard isn't holding up a fist telling you what play to run, but you're all just moving so much, and being so unselfish that your team can't really lose.  The best example was a play towards the end of the game, right after Derrick Fisher hit a big three from the corner, and wore that "I expected that" expression that just looks ridiculous on the face of a player with his credentials.  He tried to back up on D like he was really going to lock down Derrick Rose.  But, two Derricks enter, only one leaves.  Joakim Noah set a solid high screen, that Fisher ran into and tried to recover, but Rose had already run screen side, and come back around to pass Fisher running the other way.  Rose drained a wide open jumper.  This might seem like individual achievement, and I don't want to take anything away from Rose's great move or Noah's wall of a screen.  But, watch the play and you'll see how the spot on the floor from which Rose took the shot got open. Luol Deng (an underrated 3-point shooter) kept his defender pinned in the corner, Carlos Boozer kept his stuck on the baseline off the opposite block, and Kyle Korver (the biggest threat from deep) sprinted towards the Boozer-side corner.  Like the T-Rex, the athlete's vision is usually based on movement, meaning every defender started cheating to the side where Korver sprinted and Rose stepped.  End result, wide open game-icer.  These are the types of shots the Princeton offense makes its objective.

So, the question of whether the Bulls should run Princeton is more or less answered by the result against the Lakers.  Whether they can falls to one player: Carlos Boozer.  Princeton requires a strong post player with good vision and decent passing.  It flourishes when that big man is a good shooter to 18 feet and can handle the ball better than his defender can defend.  Boozer has all of these skills, and is a natural fit.  The Bulls have been successful letting Rose just take over when things are getting out of hand, and as slow starters, this happens frequently.  But, if they can start trying to run the offense through Boozer on the elbow, instead of accidentally getting there, they could be a top-three offense.  There was a stretch in this game where the Bulls ran the offense this way, and it resulted in the Bulls taking their first lead.  Pau Gasol is a premier big man with much improved defense and Boozer first stepped him to death.  When help came on his drive, Boozer found a wide open Korver or Rose outside or Noah on the block.

I know the Bulls paid Boozer to establish a post game they were lacking.  But, after watching what can happen on accident, it seems like a good idea to let the Duke graduate run an offense for smart guys with a team of athletes.