Read More

Read More

The Bulls looked like a team screaming for help on Sunday.

And help they’re getting.

At about the same time that the Bulls were allowing a nine-win Orlando team to run a lay-up line through their defense and then trash talk them along the way, All-Star guard Zach LaVine and the “yard dawg” himself, Javonte Green, were en route to Oklahoma City to meet the team for Monday’s game against the Thunder.

Much needed bodies, especially after watching the Bulls (28-17) fall to Orlando 114-95, and do so in embarrassing fashion.

Ten total assists compared to 31 for the Magic? Gift-wrap the home team 24 points off 22 turnovers? Get outscored 60-34 in the paint?

That’s not what a conference-leading team does, short-handed or not. That’s also why the Bulls were no longer atop the conference, sitting at third thanks to Miami’s win.

But one game after losing defensive specialist Alex Caruso (right wrist fracture) for six-to-eight weeks in the wake of the Grayson Allen Flagrant 2 foul, LaVine (knee) and Green (groin) were expected to return.

“Getting some of the cavalry back [Monday],” veteran forward DeMar DeRozan said. “It’s definitely helpful. Try and build off that and catch our rhythm.

“[LaVine] is our main player. We get our main player back that changes the whole dynamic of our team. Just having him back, possibly having Javonte back, the energy he brings defensively and the experience he has out there on the court and the chemistry we have, with those guys it speaks volumes and the idea to have them back definitely changes everything.”

It had better.

From tip-off to final buzzer, the Bulls looked lethargic and beaten. Whether it was the loaded number of games they have been playing in this stretch or the emotional toll of now knowing that Allen only received a one-game suspension from the league, Billy Donovan wasn’t hearing any of that.

“They were the aggressor from start to finish,” the coach said. “I can sit there and talk about who is not playing, but for the guys that are playing how well can we manage the things that we can take care of?”

The Magic set the tone in that first half. The eye test showed that, and the box score agreed.

Not only did the Bulls hit the halftime locker room down 16 points, but watched the bench get outscored 31-0, turned the ball over 13 times for 16 points, and went 1-for-9 (11.1%) from three-point range.

A perfect storm of bad.

Enough so that tempers flared.

With five minutes left in the third, Moe Wagner grabbed DeRozan on a breakaway steal, and the veteran obviously took exception to it. There was a bit of shoving before cooler heads prevailed, but Wagner was hit with the clear-path foul, while each player was given a technical

“To me it was just stupid,” DeRozan said of the foul by Wagner.

Considering what happened to Caruso on Friday, no wonder DeRozan was a bit touchy about fouls deemed a bit excessive.

It seemed to spark the Bulls, as a 20-point deficit was cut to seven.

Turnovers and poor defense reared its ugly head again, however, as the Magic came right back with an 8-0 run of their own to bounce the lead back up to 15. A lead they never looked back on, wasting the 41-point performance by DeRozan.

“We’re not coming out aggressive,” DeRozan said. “Teams are coming out and getting into us. We have to play with a sense of urgency out of the gate.”

Read More

Sunday night capped off one of the best Division Rounds that the National Football League has ever had with one of the greatest football games ever played. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Buffalo Bills in overtime by a final score of 42-36. It also reminded us that the Chicago Bears are an incredibly bad franchise.

At the 2017 NFL Draft, there was a lot of anticipation for Chicago fans. It was clear that they were targeting one of the top three quarterback prospects on the board. There was the safe pick in Deshaun Watson who just got done dominating at Clemson.

Read More

Entering Sunday, the Magic had won once in their last 15 games. Moe and Franz Wagner, any two of their cousins and your dear, sweet Aunt Dotty could manage to go 1-14. They might be able to pull off 8-39, which is what the tank-you-very-much Magic were before embarrassing the reeling Bulls 114-95 in Orlando.

By the way, are the Bulls still good? Asking for a few million friends.

They’re shorthanded. They’ve lost six of seven. They’re getting pushed around.

No Alex Caruso, No Lonzo Ball, no Zach LaVine.

No problem? No biggie? No excuses?

Please. Against the Magic, the Bulls gave up. But only after they’d mailed it in.

So now what? Miami passed the Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings with its win on Sunday, dropping them into third at 28-17. Good buddy Grayson Allen and the Bucks are a whisper behind at 30-19. The Cavaliers and 76ers are right there, too.

Home-court advantage in the first round? What home-court advantage in the first round?

The Bulls have to start winning again, and — no matter who’s in the lineup — there isn’t going to be an easier time to do it than right now. Lined up next on the schedule are the bush-league Thunder, the run-of-the-mill Raptors, the unrecognizable Spurs and the Trail Blazers without Damian Lillard. Then come the young, bold, trash-talking, absolutely awful Magic again.

Here’s a wild, wacky idea: Get it together, Bulls. And here’s what’s happening:

MON 24

Bulls at Thunder (7 p.m., NBCSCH)

Think the Bulls have roster problems? The Thunder are so messed up, they’ve been starting guys named Josh Giddey, Darius Bazley and Lu Dort — and that was on purpose.

Blackhawks at Avalanche (8 p.m., NBCSCH+)

Other than a long winning streak, a best-in-the-West record and an aura of invincibility that prevents them from ever losing on their home ice, what do the Avs really have that the Hawks don’t?

TUE 25

Baseball Hall of Fame announcements (5 p.m., MLB)

It’s not looking great for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa in their 10th and final appearances on the ballot, and that’s just the truth. But, hey, since when did these guys care about the truth?

Michigan State at Illinois (6 p.m., ESPN)

MSU is at the top of the Big Ten standings, a half-game in front of Wisconsin and the Illini. With Kofi Cockburn in concussion protocol, it might take two half-games of flawless basketball to beat Sparty.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (9 p.m., HBO)

Leagues, teams and broadcast partners are raking in the sports-gambling-related dollars — while media members openly bet on what they cover — but regular Joes are becoming addicted. Who could’ve seen that coming?

WED 26

Blackhawks at Red Wings (6:30 p.m., TNT)

Hawks-Wings is the “Franklin & Bash” of NHL rivalries — effectively canceled for nearly a decade.

Suns at Jazz (9 p.m., ESPN)

Is Jazz star Donovan Mitchell out of concussion protocol and back on the court? And is John Stockton in the crowd now that Gonzaga won’t let him hang around anymore?

THU 27

NBA All-Stars starters revealed (6 p.m., TNT)

This is where “DeMar DeRozan, All-Star starter from the Chicago Bulls,” officially becomes a thing. We could get used to it.

FRI 28

USMNT at Canada (2 p.m., Paramount+, Telemundo)

The surging Canadians have been one of the biggest stories of World Cup qualifying. Time to teach those canuckleheads a thing or two about a thing or two.

Bulls at Spurs (7:30 p.m., NBCSCH+)

Find someone who looks at you as longingly as struggling Spur Thaddeus Young is looking at his former team.

SAT 29

Australian Open women’s final (2:30 a.m., 7 a.m., ESPN)

No pressure or anything, Ashleigh Barty, it’s just that the entire Land Down Under is counting on you to become its first champion of this tournament since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

Illinois at Northwestern (3:30 p.m., BTN)

Can the Wildcats end a six-game losing streak to the Illini and improve their record in this series to a much more respectable 44-139?

Nets at Warriors (7:30 p.m., Ch. 7)

Kevin Durant is out with a bum knee, increasing the burden on Kyrie Irving to deliver on those special occasions when he plays professional basketball for a living.

SUN 30

Australian Open men’s final (2:30 a.m., 8 a.m., ESPN)

It’s been a who’s-who of “who?” without Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the field. For the first time since 2009, someone else raises the trophy.

Loyola at Drake (1 p.m., ESPN2)

The sultry stench of revenge is wafting throughout the Knapp Center after these teams battled all last season for Missouri Valley supremacy, with the Ramblers coming out on top.

AFC Championship Game: Bengals at Bills/Chiefs (2:05 p.m., Ch. 2)

Joe Burrow and the boys aren’t messing around. Who dey? Not the “Bungles” anymore.

Trail Blazers at Bulls (2:30 p.m., NBCSCH)

It sure is strange to see the Blazers without Damian Lillard, who’s recovering from abdominal surgery. Losing to this Dame-less team isn’t an option, is it?

NFC Championship Game: 49ers at Rams (5:40 p.m., Fox-32)

Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady can watch from home like the rest of us. Just like we all predicted they would.

Read More

It’s difficult to tell which direction the Bears’ rambling, concurrent searches for a general manager and coach are headed two weeks after GM Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy were fired. But it at least appears to be forward.

Both searches will pick up steam this week, with the conclusion of initial interviews and the beginning of second interviews for both jobs.

The Bears are scheduled to interview Colts college scouting director Morocco Brown and Steelers vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan on Monday for the GM opening, according to NFL Network. Ryan Poles, the Chiefs’ executive director of player personnel, is scheduled for a second interview Tuesday.

On the coaching-opening front, the Bears are expected to interview Saints defensive coordinator and former Raiders head coach Dennis Allen on Tuesday. Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is expected to get a second interview Wednesday.

Why the Bears’ search committee that includes Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian, chairman George McCaskey and president Ted Phillips is conducting second interviews with coaching candidates before hiring a general manager is anybody’s guess.

McCaskey said the new GM “will be responsible for the entire football operation” at the press conference announcing the firing of Pace and Nagy. To give the new GM that authority without allowing him or her to conduct his or her own search for a coach would seem to be contradictory. But the Bears have operated in unorthodox ways under McCaskey family leadership, so perhaps it’s not quite as big of an oddity as it appears.

When the Bears hired Jerry Angelo in 2001 as the Bears’ first general manager since 1987, they did it so late in the offseason — June 12 — that Angelo was not in position to hire his own coach and he inherited Dick Jauron.

That worked out in 2001 when the Bears, coming off a 5-11 season, surprisingly went 13-3 and won the NFC Central title under Jauron — which compelled Angelo into signing Jauron to a three-year contract. But the Bears faltered in 2002 and 2003 and Angelo fired Jauron and finally hired his own coach — Lovie Smith — in 2004.

A similar scenario ensued when Phil Emery was hired in 2013 to replace Angelo. The GM search was conducted with the directive that Smith would be the Bears’ coach in 2013. The Bears went 10-6 but failed to make the playoffs and Emery fired Smith and hired Marc Trestman. The Bears went 27-53 in the next five seasons and Emery and by the time of the Bears’ next winning season — 12-4 in 2018 — both Emery and Trestman were long gone.

Both searches have been thorough, with many popular and intriguing candidates. The Bears have interviewed 11 candidates for the GM job, with Brown and Khan on deck. They have interviewed 10 candidates for the coaching job, with Allen on deck.

It’s been two weeks since the Bears fired Pace. For waht what it’s worth, Emery was hired 26 days after Angelo was fired. Pace was hired 10 days after Emery was hired. They right in between this time. Maybe that’s the sweet spot.

The pace will accelerate this week, with perhaps a GM in place by Friday. Unless they hire the coach first. With the Bears, anything can happen.

Read More

Email
print

The NBA on Sunday suspended the Milwaukee Bucks‘ Grayson Allen for one game for his flagrant 2 foul on Alex Caruso that caused a fractured wrist for the Chicago Bulls guard.

The league punished Allen, who was ejected from the Bucks’ 94-90 victory over the Bulls on Friday night after receiving the flagrant 2 foul, for what it deemed was “unnecessary and excessive contact,” according to a news release. Allen will serve his suspension during the Bucks’ next game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

The Bucks said in a statement that they “disagree” with the suspension.

“We disagree with the suspension. We support Grayson and look forward to him rejoining our team for Friday’s game vs. New York,” the team said.

Caruso is scheduled to have wrist surgery Monday that will sideline him for six to eight weeks.

1d

1dKevin Pelton

1 Related

“Nothing is changing from what happened the other night to where we are now, and the best thing we can do as a team is just move on,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said during a video conference before Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic. “That’s really the only thing we have control over. I feel bad for Alex that he’s going to be out this long more so than anything else.”

Friday marked the first time this season Allen, who is in his first season with the Bucks, has been called for a flagrant foul and only the second time in his NBA career. In 2019, he was ejected from a Summer League game for picking up two flagrant fouls within seconds of each other.

The suspension will cost Allen a $27,963 game check, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Although the Bulls are poised to be without Caruso and Lonzo Ball, who is scheduled to undergo knee surgery this week, they could be getting some reinforcements back from injuries soon. Zach LaVine (knee) and Javonte Green (groin) are both expected to meet the team on Monday in Oklahoma City. Donovan said there is “a chance” both players are available to play.

“Provided everything goes well,” Donovan said. “We’ll see where they’re at physically.”

Read More

Email
print

The NBA on Sunday suspended the Milwaukee Bucks‘ Grayson Allen for one game for his flagrant 2 foul on Alex Caruso that caused a fractured wrist for the Chicago Bulls guard.

The league punished Allen, who was ejected from the Bucks’ 94-90 victory over the Bulls on Friday night after receiving the flagrant 2 foul, for what it deemed was “unnecessary and excessive contact,” according to a news release. Allen will serve his suspension during the Bucks’ next game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

The Bucks said in a statement that they “disagree” with the suspension.

“We disagree with the suspension. We support Grayson and look forward to him rejoining our team for Friday’s game vs. New York,” the team said.

Caruso is scheduled to have wrist surgery Monday that will sideline him for six to eight weeks.

1d

1dKevin Pelton

1 Related

“Nothing is changing from what happened the other night to where we are now, and the best thing we can do as a team is just move on,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said during a video conference before Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic. “That’s really the only thing we have control over. I feel bad for Alex that he’s going to be out this long more so than anything else.”

Friday marked the first time this season Allen, who is in his first season with the Bucks, has been called for a flagrant foul and only the second time in his NBA career. In 2019, he was ejected from a Summer League game for picking up two flagrant fouls within seconds of each other.

The suspension will cost Allen a $27,963 game check, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Although the Bulls are poised to be without Caruso and Lonzo Ball, who is scheduled to undergo knee surgery this week, they could be getting some reinforcements back from injuries soon. Zach LaVine (knee) and Javonte Green (groin) are both expected to meet the team on Monday in Oklahoma City. Donovan said there is “a chance” both players are available to play.

“Provided everything goes well,” Donovan said. “We’ll see where they’re at physically.”

Read More

Bears fans celebrated the Packers’ playoff loss Saturday night as though their hometown team had actually won the game. That joy continued into Sunday: new-to-Twitter Dick Butkus joked about quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Wiener’s Circle offered free all-you can eat french fries topped, of course, with cheese.

When your favorite team hasn’t won a playoff game in 11 years, schadenfreude qualifies as the most fun you can have this time of year. The Packers’ surprise 13-10 loss to the 49ers at Lambeau Field — secured by old friend Robbie Gould’s 45-yard field goal — only matters, though, if it hastens Rodgers’ departure from Green Bay.

It sounded Saturday night like it might.

That’s a dramatic turn from the rest of the Packers’ once-magical season. They boasted the NFC’s best record at 13-4 and earned a first-round playoff bye. Rodgers, by any measurement, is the league MVP.

The fact that the Packers lost Saturday — and the way it happened — could trigger a series of events that makes the NFC North decidedly less miserable for the Bears.

Rodgers, forever grumpy that the team drafted quarterback Jordan Love in the first round rather than giving him help on offense, might look at the team — and the fact it is headed for salary cap hell next year — and decide to go elsewhere. He might eye the league’s worst special teams unit and wonder if GM Brian Gutekunst lacks the ability to build a well-rounded team.

The frustration he felt a year ago may only multiply. For all he’s done — Rodgers is headed for his fourth MVP award and has been voted to 10 Pro Bowls — he has as many Super Bowl starts as Rex Grossman.

Rodgers was asked Saturday night whether the way the season ended would influence how he looked at the future.

“Of course it does,” he replied. “But you know there are a lot of decisions to be made, a lot of players whose futures are up in the air. Definitely will be interesting to see which way some of those decisions go. But I’ll have conversations with Brian in the next week or so and get a little bit more clarity. And think about my own future and how much longer I want to keep doing this.”

Davante Adams, the best receiver on the planet, becomes a free agent in March. Rodgers has one year left on his deal and would likely need a contract extension to stay. One small problem: the Packers are currently slated to be $40 million over the salary cap in 2022.

“I don’t want to be part of a rebuild if I’m going to keep playing,” he said. “So a lot of decisions in the next couple of months.”

For Rodgers — and for the Packers. And, potentially, the rest of the NFL.

Days before losing in the NFC title game last year, Rodgers referred to his future as a “beautiful mystery.” It quickly descended into farce, though. He skipped mandatory minicamp in June. A month later, with the franchise wondering if he planned to attend training camp, he played a nationally televised golf match alongside Bryson DeChambeau against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. He auditioned to host “Jeopardy!”

In August, he said he was “immunized” against the coronavirus. In November, he tested positive, revealing to the world what the team already knew — he was unvaccinated. He said he was “in the crosshairs of the woke mob” and that he conferred with comic Joe Rogan about how to handle the virus. Later that month, after saying he had “COVID toe,” he held his foot up to reporters in a Zoom press conference to show it was a mere fracture.

As recently as Thursday, he told ESPN that the “fake White House set saying that this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated, that’s not helping the conversation.”

If Rodgers decides he wants to play elsewhere, he’ll take that baggage with him.

Bears fans would happily help him pack.

Read More

There was a lot Billy Donovan had no problem doubling down on Sunday afternoon.

After all, while the Bulls coach had time to sit back and reflect on the Flagrant 2 foul by Milwaukee’s Grayson Allen that has now sidelined the heart and soul of his defense in Alex Caruso (fractured right wrist) for the next six-to-eight weeks, Donovan also found out the punishment handed down by the league.

The NBA announced that Allen would be suspended one game because of the injury to come out of what was deemed an excessive non-basketball play.

“I still stand by what I said, it was a really dangerous play,” Donovan said of what took place in the Friday night loss to Milwaukee. “Obviously it proved to be that with [Caruso] having to have surgery, so it is what it is. I was worried about that after the game, just based on talking to [Caruso]. There was some talk on the bench about him not playing the rest of the game by the medical guys, and Alex was pretty adamant that he could play … we put him back in there and he finished the game, but talking to him after the game and then speaking to him the next morning, I could tell that there was something wrong. That’s when we found out he had a break and would need surgery.”

Surgery that would take place on Monday, as the Bulls have to move on without their best defensive player in Caruso.

And that’s what Donovan was stressing to his players – moving on.

Whether they agreed that Allen’s third-quarter mid-air tackle of Caruso was worth one game or should have been much more, he didn’t want to dwell on something they no longer had a say in.

Donovan spoke to the league and said his peace leading up to the punishment being handed out, and so did his front office.

“Maybe people think, ‘You know what he should be out for as long as Alex is out.’ All those things they’re out of my control, they’re not my decisions,” Donovan said. “Nothing is changing from what happened the other night to where we are now, and the best thing we can do is move on.”

Donovan was aware that Milwaukee players had rallied around Allen the 24 hours after the incident, with Jrue Holiday the latest, saying, “Grayson, we know Grayson. He’s not that type of player … Grayson didn’t do it purpose.”

Donovan expected nothing less from the Bucks.

“I totally get and understand teammates supporting another player,” Donovan said. “I mean that’s the right thing to do and they should do that. But my question would be if the roles were reversed and it was Alex Caruso that took down Giannis [Antetokounmpo] or took down [Khris] Middleton or took down Jrue Holiday in the same way, it sounds like those comments would be that they would basically be saying that’s OK, it wasn’t really a malicious act. So I think you have to look at it if it happened to those guys would that actually be the same response or would there be a different response?”

The one stance Donovan did back down on a bit was his Friday comments about Allen’s history of dirty plays, going back to his college days at Duke.

“When I made the comment that there’s been a history there, I don’t think anybody should necessarily be evaluated on their past,” Donovan said. “I was just making a point that it was not a first time that something like that happened. Certainly his time college, and every incident, everything that happens is totally different, so I don’t want to just totally say that he should be evaluated on what took place in college.”

Read More