The NBA game has changed from just a decade ago. Stuck-in-the-tar teams, such as the Bulls, need to notice.

For example, defensive players largely disregard picks these days. ”Fight through it” has become ”Ignore it.” Maybe you notice the way defenders whine in disbelief to refs after getting called for splattering into stationary foes.

Conversely, hooking with an arm — while setting a pick, when rolling, when rebounding, when dribbling to the basket — makes the game look, at times, like a square dance full of swing-your-partners and do-si-dos.

There is the dubious Euro step. There is the head-whipping flop. There is, perhaps above all, the step-back three-pointer.

James Harden and Steph Curry showed everybody that a shuffle back to 24 feet for a three is far more potent than setting up for an 18-foot deuce.

Euro-step expert Luka Doncic can cover 10 feet or so while backing up. And Curry’s multiple tiny baby steps are so swift and smooth that no ref would dare call traveling on the sashaying Warriors star in reverse.

Then, too, Curry and a few others can shoot three-pointers in rhythm from half-court, making old defenses obsolete. Players have figured this out. They start jacking up long shots starting in grade school and don’t stop. Some are gifted, changing the game.

Warriors breakout star Jordan Poole, who averaged only 12 points in his one modest starting season at Michigan, is now a Curry wannabe. He was 5-for-7 on three-pointers — some from way outside — in the Warriors’ playoff victory Saturday against the Nuggets.

Which brings us to the Bulls. Their 7-for-37 stat line on threes Sunday against the Bucks spelled doom.

It took years for the league to figure out that shooting 33.3% on threes was the same as shooting 50% on twos. So teams need super-marksmen on the roster.

Who would that be on the Bulls? The Big Three of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic went 4-for-22 on threes in the loss Sunday. That’s 18.2%.

You don’t get do-overs in the playoffs. Continue to shoot like that, and the Bulls might as well fold and head to the beach.

Another big change in the game: Remember when centers dominated from down low? Nobody cares much about centers these days — unless their names are Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid. And those guys shoot threes (Jokic hit 33.7% this season and Embiid 37.1%).

You might notice that 7-foot Bucks center Brook Lopez now often hangs outside and fires up threes, making a decent amount. Lopez attempted almost no threes in his first eight NBA seasons until a light bulb apparently went off in his noggin heading into the 2016-17 season. He now is closing in on 2,000 regular-season threes launched, making almost 36% this season.

Bulls center Vucevic is a good shooter, but he can’t go 2-for-10 on threes, as he did Sunday, and expect to help his team advance.

He’s clever around the basket, has a nice stroke and takes up a lot of space, but he’s not swift — and that hurts.

The Bulls’ defense was good against the Bucks, fighting through picks and harassing them into turnovers, but it came once the Bucks had roared to a 34-21 lead after the first quarter.

I mentioned the change in the center position. How about 6-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo, a center in height with a 7-3 wingspan and mad hops, who sometimes plays point guard? That’s a crazy development in the game, one that was hinted at when the transcendent Magic Johnson played point for the Lakers years ago.

The Bulls have nobody like Magic or the ”Greek Freak.” Who does? But the Bulls must stop Giannis or die. In truth, they did a good defensive job on him at the end, but it was too late.

I like DeRozan’s offensive game. It is pure, old-school, mid-range beauty. But, sadly, old-school is withering.

DeRozan has no deadly three-point shot, and that’s the way teams get back into games. There are critics who would like to see the three-point arc moved back another 10 inches or more to end the 22-foot corner three — which is a basic bunny — entirely.

Who knows? Maybe it’ll happen. The game evolves. It always has. Survival of the fittest, folks. But have the Bulls evolved with it?

Right now, it doesn’t seem so.

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Keegan Thompson exhaled as he strode across the field to the dugout, his breath a plume in the cold night air at Wrigley Field.

In what would become a 4-2 win for the Cubs, Thompson had just held the Rays scoreless through 3 2/3 innings. After reliever David Robertson threw a scoreless ninth inning, Thompson earned the win for doing the heavy lifting in the middle innings of a close game.

Multi-inning relievers are always valuable. But the unique circumstances of this season have heightened the importance of Thompson’s role.

Coming out of a shortened spring training, most starters weren’t fully built up to start the season. And injuries dealt a further blow to the Cubs’ starting rotation. Right-hander Adbert Alzolay began the season on the 60-day injured list with a right shoulder strain. Lefty Wade Miley (left elbow inflammation) and right-hander Alec Mills (low back strain) are still on the 10-day IL.

“I think I think being able to use a guy when you are in a tight game or have leverage that can go two or three innings is extremely valuable,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “We have other guys out there too that we feel like they can do that. But Keegan’s just proven over and over now that he could handle that moment and that role.”

Thompson had a whirlwind 2021 season. He debuted in May, served primarily as a multi-inning reliever, went back down to Triple-A to stretch out to starter’s innings, battled fatigue coming off the canceled 2020 minor-league season, went on the IL for what the Cubs called right shoulder inflammation, and finished on a high note in St. Louis.

Through all that back-and forth, Thompson recorded a 2.43 ERA as a reliever last year.

“You’re just trying to help the team win in any way you can,” Thompson said this spring. “So no matter what that role is this year, I’m just trying to stay healthy.”

Entering play Monday, Thompson had pitched over two innings in each of his first two outings, finally turning the ball over to the back end of the bullpen in the eighth inning. And he hadn’t allowed a run.

“We still think he can start, there’s a lot of things we think he can do,” Hottovy said last week. “But this role right now as we get into the season has seemed to work out well for him like it did last year.”

On Monday, in his first outing since a two-game suspension for hitting Brewers outfielder Andrew McCutchen last weekend, Thompson maintained his pristine ERA through a third outing.

He replaced starter Kyle Hendricks with one out in the fifth inning. The Rays had just tied the game at two runs apiece. Runners stood on first and third, the tying run 90 feet from home plate.

The first pitch he threw was a cutter at the bottom of the strike zone to Randy Arozarena. And Arozarena pounded it into the ground for an inning-ending double play. Tie preserved.

The next inning, Thompson faced the minimum, with help from catcher Willson Contreras, who threw out Yandy Diaz trying to steal. Thompson’s highlight reel that frame included a strike-three curveball to Ji-Man Choi, that fooled him so thoroughly that he stumbled out of the batter’s box.

He made quick work of the Rays the next two innings, retiring the side in order in the eighth.

Thompson’s final line included one walk, one hit and a season-high five strikeouts.

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The Chicago Bulls played their first playoff game in five seasons on Sunday night against the Milwaukee Bucks opening up the first round with with a loss.

Although they suffered a 93-86 loss, they showed a level of determination that fans haven’t seen in months. Something that quickly jumps out about this game is how poorly Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic shot from the field. These poor shooting percentages can easily be pointed to as the reason for dropping game 1. That should be encouraging for the fans that expected the reason to be a lack of energy and effort.

The Bulls are also going to need more production from Patrick Williams.

His defensive presence is crucial as he is the best option the Bulls have for matching up with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Beyond that, the Bulls need Patrick Williams to become more aggressive offensively to have a chance in this series. In the regular-season finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Williams showed us how offensively skilled he is as he dropped a career-high 35 points. On Sunday night against the Bucks, Williams only recorded 5 points and shot 2-3 from the field.

All too often, Williams passes on open shots. The star players sitting against the Timberwolves was a big reason that he was able to take 21 shots and score 35 points. Three field goal attempts is far too little for someone as skilled as him. It is crucial that the 20-year-old learns quickly and adjusts by becoming more aggressive. Also, his teammates must be able to accommodate him in terms of field goal attempts.

The Bulls proved on Sunday night that Bucks are a beatable team. The Bulls will have to play as close to perfect as possible to have a shot against them. Part of that is making sure that Patrick Williams can impact the game offensively.

Game 2 of this first-round series is Wednesday, April 20th. The Bulls must steal one game on the road before coming home to the United Center for games 4 and 5.

Make sure to check out our Bulls forum for the latest on the team.

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The Chicago Bears are doing their homework on a serious need on offense with a little over a week to go before the 2022 NFL Draft: bolstering their offensive line.

The Bears front office, led by new General Manager Ryan Poles, are busy at work this month interviewing potential prospects and deepening the draft board for his first war room at Halas Hall. On Saturday morning, per multiple reports, the Bears met with one of best offensive lineman in the upcoming draft, Cole Strange of Chattanooga. Considered a Day 2 pick by several analysts, Strange visited the Bears facilities this past weekend.

The beefy 6-foot-6, 301 pound Strange played guard for the Mocs, and is expected to be a long-term starter in the NFL, per CBSSports. Check out NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein’s scouting report on the big lineman detailing what he brings to the table:

“Highly experienced interior lineman who does a nice job of staying on schedule. He shines over the first two phases of the block, which means he gains early positioning and gets into the sustain phase with proper hand usage and footwork. He will lose a tug-of-war battle as a pure man-to-man blocker, but wins with lateral quickness and an understanding of angles as a move blocker. A snappier pass punch is needed to prevent sub-package rushers with hand talent from bypassing him too easily. His frame and play strength are a little below average, but he has done some snapping in practice, so he could land as a future starting center for a zone-happy rush offense.”

The Chattanooga product could be a potential long-term upgrade at guard or center for the Bears who can help give Justin Fields more time in the pocket to throw. With some mocks having him go as early as the third round, we’ll see if Poles has his finger on the trigger to build the trenches with Strange next week.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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CLEVELAND — The White Sox are off to a 6-3 start with series wins in all three they’ve played, each one against teams with postseason aspirations, and they’ve done it without having their closer at his best.

Is anyone worried that Liam Hendriks, the two-time defending Mariano Rivera Relief Pitcher of the Year, owns a 5.40 ERA and has labored through four of his five save opportunities?

Assistant pitching coach Curt Hasler, who spends most of his game time in the Sox bullpen, is not.

“I’ll never say I’m worried about Liam and I’m not now,” Hasler said Monday after the Sox’ game against the Indians that what was supposed to open a seven-game road trip against AL Central teams was postponed due to rain, cold and snow. “He’s very much in tune with what is going on, and he’s very smart about where his body position needs to be. It’s still early.”

Because of the abbreviated three-and-a-half week spring training this year, right now is when pitchers would ordinarily be putting finishing touches on their spring preparations. Hendriks has been far from precise locating his four-seam fastball that has averaged 97.1 mph and a biting slider and occasional curve.

“I’m just not getting the fastball after [a good slider] into the right location,” Hendriks said Saturday. “That seems to be the issue I’m going through right now.”

Hasler and pitching coach Ethan Katz sat with Hendriks in the coaches room at Guaranteed Rate Field over the weekend. And it was Hendriks, a pitch data and video connoisseur who is in tune with his delivery and performance, who more or less ran the meeting.

“The metrics are fine,” Hasler said. “A lot of things point to him being OK — the ball has not been hit as hard as what we maybe think. He’s getting strikeouts. Got some bad counts, pulling the ball he’s not trying to pull. He’s trying to stay behind the ball.”

The discussion was about the height of Hendriks’ release point, his release angle being a shade off from center and other finer points of his delivery.

“He is right on track, he’s right where he needs to be,” Hasler said. “He has a real good grasp of things.”

In five save opportunities, Hendriks blew one on Opening Day in Detroit but converted four straight since. In five innings, he has struck out nine batters and walked one. But has also allowed 11 hits, and needed an unusual 1-5 putout Saturday to save himself from blowing the save.

Throwing out a perfect ninth inning Friday to preserve a 3-2 win over the Rays, Hendriks threw an average of 26.5 pitches to an average of six batters in the other four one-inning stints.

Katz said Hendriks is overthrowing his slider at times, not an uncommon temptation for pitchers to fall prey to. Hasler sees that often.

“He’s human,” Hasler said. “They can all do that at times. Lance Lynn and Michael Kopech will do that. The other day Bennett Sousa tried to get a little more on his breaking ball. That goes with the ultra competitive nature of these guys. They got you in a good count and want to put you away and they want to make it a little better. We call it ‘overcooking’ it. They know it and get mad at themselves for trying to do too much but it doesn’t lead down a good path.”

As for doing too much work wise, it’s hard to keep Hendriks down. His four saves came in a span of five days, and the postponed game gave him two straight welcome days off in a row.

“He loves to pitch, he wants to be the guy, he is the guy,” Hasler said. “He wants to part of this, to help us get to the promised land where we want to be.”

NOTE: Monday’s postponed game will be made up as part of a split doubleheader starting at 12:10 p.m. (CT) on July 12. The Sox are staying in rotation with Dallas Keuchel (Tuesday), Jimmy Lambert (Wednesday) and Dylan Cease (Thursday).

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Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki didn’t know Major League Baseball had a player of the week award until he won it for his performance this past week.

“My motive is to be able to contribute to the team’s win, and I’m glad I’m able to do that,” Suzuki said through interpreter Toy Matsushita on Monday. “Hopefully I can continue this.”

Suzuki was named the National League Player of the week after posting a slash line of .412/.545/1.059 last week. In six games, he logged two doubles, three home runs, five RBI and five walks.

“I’ve been impressed,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “It’s been pretty obvious. [Hitting to] all fields, taking the walks, playing good defense, solid on the bases, he seems to be a real steady player, confident within himself, having good at-bats.”

Suzuki, already a star in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, is quickly etching his name in the Cubs record books.

He hit the 10-RBI mark in 22 plate appearances, the fewest any Cub has needed to record the first 10 RBI of his career since it became an official stat in 1920, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Suzuki is the first Cub in nearly 80 years to hit safely in his first eight career MLB games with an at-bat (last achieved by Andy Pafko, 1943).

Suzuki enters play Monday leading the team in home runs (4), RBI (11), walks (9), on-base percentage (.543) and slugging percentage (.960).

At some point, with more data on Suzuki, pitchers will adjust their approach against him. But Suzuki said when it comes to preparation, he’s more focused on staying healthy.

He’s also already gone through a major adjustment, moving across the world to join MLB, and he’s flourished.

“There were a lot of high expectations, obviously,” Ross said. “That’s why we wanted him. And the fact that he’s come in and produced has been nice. This is the best pitching in the world, and you expect somebody to struggle just a little bit. Inevitably, every player does, but so far, the fact that he’s gotten off to such a good start, and he’s faced really good pitching has been impressive.”

Injury updates

Tuesday will be a notable day for injured Cubs players’ next steps. Right-hander Alec Mills (low back strain) is scheduled to throw live batting practice in Arizona.

Shortstop Andrelton Simmons (right shoulder inflammation) is set to face live pitching in Arizona. He will remain at the extended spring training site to build up his at-bats and likely will need to go on a minor-league rehab assignment before returning from the IL.

In Chicago, lefty Wade Miley (left elbow inflammation) is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Tuesday.

Arrieta retires

Former Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta announced his retirement from playing baseball on Monday’s episode of the “Pardon My Take.” He added that he hadn’t yet signed the paperwork.

Arrieta won a World Series and the NL Cy Young with the Cubs. But in his most recent stint in Chicago, Arrieta posted a 6.88 ERA in 20 starts last season.

“I think when you look back,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said after the Cubs released Arrieta last August, “I think there’s a really good argument to say he’s one of the more influential people in the history of this franchise.”

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