It was Tristan Thompson’s “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” moment.

The veteran big man was doing his best to try and motivate his teammates going into this weekend’s Round 1 playoff showdown with the Milwaukee Bucks, and was again preaching his own championship history.

“In 2015 we played the Atlanta Hawks, who had won 60-some games, and they beat up on us all year earlier in the season … beat our ass every game, and they weren’t close games either,” Thompson said, with an excited pitch in his voice.

Actually, Thompson’s Cavaliers team beat that Hawks squad by 33 points in the first game of that 2014-15 season, but forget it, Thompson was rolling.

“And then we get to the playoffs and beat them 4-0,” Thompson continued. “We got the whole week to study for this final exam, no matter how the previous tests went. That’s why it doesn’t really matter what a good team does to you in the regular season.”

A good point, but not an accurate one. It wasn’t just what Milwaukee did to the Bulls this season, sweeping them in all four meetings. It was what every elite team did to the Bulls this season. Of the eight teams with a winning percentage of .600 or better, the Bulls were an embarrassing 2-21, only beating Boston and Dallas, and that came way back before Nov. 10.

Does this Bulls roster have a path to upset the Bucks in this series? Buried in a bunch of trees and brush, yeah, a very, very slight one. But they would need to have all five of these keys go their way.

1. Build the wall – Miami has had the blueprint for a few seasons in dealing with Giannis Antetokounmpo, and that was on display yet again this year. The “Greek Freak” shot 55.3% from the field for the 2021-22 campaign, but just 38.6% against the Heat in three games.

Yes, Miami has an elite defender in Bam Adebayo to throw on Antetokounmpo, but they also play him with physicality, and more importantly when he’s attacking in the paint, build a wall for him to try and plow through.

The Bulls don’t have a Bam or a Jimmy Butler, but Patrick Williams is an unproven physical specimen, while Alex Caruso has no fear of putting his nose in the mix. It won’t replicate the Heat wall, but it better at least be a fence. Make Antetokounmpo be a mid-range jump-shooter and live with the results.

2. No ice – The Bulls offense is at its best when the ball is moving and the assists are stacking up. The isolation ball played way too much the last six weeks has to stop. It’s not what this Bulls team is good at, and it feeds right into what the Bucks want defensively.

3. Three ball – The Bulls have been awful defending the three-pointer, especially since the All-Star Break. Milwaukee finished fifth in the NBA with 38.4 three-point attempts per game and percentage (36.6%). The communication in rotating has to be stellar for the Bulls if they want to survive the long-range onslaught.

That means not only Caruso, but Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.

4. Bench mobbed – The Bulls bench is young and has very little playoff experience. Meanwhile, Bobby Portis, George Hill, Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton and Serge Ibaka are all capable of turning a small Bucks lead into a large one.

Bulls guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu will be tested like they haven’t been tested this season.

5. No whine with that cheese – Playoff basketball is physical. Baskets are tougher to come by. LaVine, and even DeRozan at times, whine way too much when they don’t get perceived calls, and far too often carry that to the defensive end. That has to stop. Begging for calls in the playoffs is a quick way to an early summer vacation.

NOTE: Lead assistant Chris Fleming and assistant Damian Cotter will miss Game 1 in Milwaukee, after testing positive for the coronavirus and going into the league’s health and safety protocol.

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Legendary Chicago Blackhawks announcer Pat Foley called his final game of his career on Thursday night, ending a 39-year career by one of the greatest broadcasters, not only of Chicago, but of all time.

It’s surreal to imagine life without Pat Foley behind the Blackhawks mic. He was there in 1980, when Stan Mikita’s number was risen to the rafters. He was there during those heartbreak years of the 90’s, when the Hawks felt ever-so-close to reaching the holy grail behind the likes of Roenick, Belfour, Larmer, Amonte, and Chelios. He was there during the “dark ages,” when the Hawks were a perennial laughing stock with no end in sight; and he was there when they rose from the ashes of oblivion into one of the greatest eras of Blackhawks history. He was not only the voice of the Chicago Blackhawks, he was the rock, through good times and bad.

To say the organization has had a lot of missteps this year would be an understatement, but in the case of honoring Foley last night, they nailed it. Joined by his family, including his mother Mary, Foley was honored with a pre-game on-ice celebration of his hall-of-fame career. He was met by raucous applause by the crowd and a video which highlighted the greatest moments of his career, from his many classic calls (BAAANNNNEEERRRMANNN!!) to his 2015 Stanley Cup parade speech. Humble as ever, Foley credited his father and mother for all of his success.

“The only thing that’s not perfect about tonight is that the greatest man that I have ever known is not here,” said Foley. “I love saying that Bob Foley got me this job, but it was Mary Foley who made sure I was ready when I got it.”

“I always say I’m the luckiest guy in the room, and tonight is no exception. It’s been a great ride. This career has exceeded my wildest hopes. Those dreams that began as a ten-year-old have been eclipsed ten-fold.”

In the midst of an eight-game losing streak, the night was in danger of being spoiled by the visitors. The Hawks appeared as if they would never snap out of their current funk before their season concluded, but the hockey gods — and Patrick Kane — had other plans.

After blocking a shot from the point, Kane ignited a 3-on-1 rush with Strome and Debrincat, finishing with a quick tap-in for the opening score. It was one of many highlights Kane would have in the game, including a half-spin-o-rama that provided Foley an opening for one last classic line. As Sharks defenseman Jaycob Megna completely lost his skates trying to cover Kane on the play, Foley replied, “”I think there’s a little underwear laying around in the San Jose end of the ice.”

For Foley’s final call, the game itself could not have been more perfect: a back-and-forth affair between two competitive teams, with many big saves and highlight reel goals. The Sharks not only tied the game twice through the first thirty-eight minutes, but also rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third to force overtime; as if the hockey gods did not want to let Foley go just yet.

On any other night, a blown two-goal lead would have been infuriating. On this night, it ended up being serendipitous. After Alex Debrincat scored what would be the game-winning goal in the shootout, goalie Kevin Lankinen would provide the penultimate moment for the legendary broadcaster to shine:

Quite simply, it would have been a travesty for this game to end any other way than it did, with Foley exclaiming, “Hawks win! Hawks win!” In a dismal year of Blackhawks hockey — both on and off the ice — it was a moment Hawks fans desperately needed. Somewhere between the pure elation and the bittersweet realization of Foley’s final call, capping off a year that was as tumultuous for an organization as it ever could be, Blackhawks fans were once again able to rely on the rock they had leaned on during the best and worst of times, one last time.

There are a minority of fans — and I stress, minority — who have said that Foley lost a step over the years; that his play-calling wasn’t as sharp as it once had been. Even on his worst off-days, there was absolutely nobody better than Pat Foley. His cadence, his infectious laughter, his pure enthusiasm and knowledge of the game was surpassed by no one. Quite simply, what made him eternally great was that he was just another fan, who just so happened to have the mic in his hands. He loved the sport. He loved the Blackhawks. He loved the fans; and he exuded that in every single broadcast during his 39-year career.

It’s unfathomable that Blackhawks hockey will exist without Pat Foley, but as hard as it is to see him go, there is a modicum of solace in the fact that he received both the recognition and the send-off he so rightfully deserved. His Hall-of-Fame legacy is solidified all the more with the class, humility, and honesty with which he carried himself. Although Blackhawks hockey may never be the same without him, he will always and unequivocally be a legend in Blackhawks hockey.

At the end of it all, with the Blackhawks staying on-ice after a 5-4 win to join the fans in one final “toast” to him, Foley truly went out on top. We not only enjoyed the broadcast; we were honored to witness his outcome.

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

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Patrick Williams’ first couple of seasons in the NBA have been eventful, to say the least. Most 2020 NBA mock drafts anticipated going in the top-10, but very few experts were expecting him to go as high as #4, where the Bulls surprisingly selected him.

He flashed signs of high-upside potential during his rookie year when Chicago traded for Nikola Vucevic at the deadline. This past off-season, the Bulls also acquired additional high usage players in DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball, adding them into the mix with Zach LaVine and Vucevic.

Five games into this sophomore campaign, Williams dislocated his wrist on a hard fall, forcing him to miss a majority of the year. He played in just 17 regular season contests and looked like he was struggling to fit in offensively, mainly spotting-up for 3-point attempts, cutting off-ball into the paint, or crashing for second-chance opportunities.

The roster overhaul has immediately made the Bulls as competitive as they’ve been since Jimmy Butler was dealt to Minnesota, but one of the detriments has been the effect on Williams’ role. With LaVine, DeRozan, Vucevic, and Ball spending so much time handling the rock, the rest of the roster has had to learn how to play off those guys, including Williams; this year, his usage rate of 13.9% ranked below less heralded youngsters like Ziaire Williams (14.4%) and Corey Kispert (14.2%).

Unfortunately, that means some of his greatest strengths get mitigated, particularly his vision and passing ability, both of which had NBA draft experts excited about him coming out of Florida State. Not only can Williams see passing windows others don’t, he’s also skilled enough with either hand to place the ball through them, which is even more impressive when considering his 6-foot-7, 215-pound frame.

In Chicago’s final game of the regular season in Minnesota on Sunday, the Bulls sat LaVine, DeRozan, Vucevic, Alex Caruso, and Coby White. Those absences allowed Williams ample opportunity and he absolutely shined, finishing with a career-high 35 points on 10-21 FG, 3-4 3FG, 12-14 FT, four rebounds, and four assists in 41 minutes. Williams showed what he’s capable of, creating shots not only for himself, but his teammates as well.

If Chicago is going to have any chance in their first-round playoff match-up with Milwaukee, and sportsbooks currently aren’t giving them much of one, Williams will need to carry over as much from Sunday’s performance as possible into his postseason debut. Playing the Timberwolves’ junior varsity squad in a meaningless game is slightly different than doing it against the defending NBA champs in the postseason, but it’s still clear that Williams needs to be more involved than he has been with the Bulls’ regular starting group.

Against Milwaukee, Chicago could occasionally use Williams as a screener for LaVine and DeRozan, rather than Vucevic, especially if Vucevic’s shooting goes cold, as it has for long stretches this season (he shot just 31.9% on 307 3FG above the break 3FG). The Bulls could instead plant Vucevic in the corner and utilize Williams’ versatility in the pick-and-roll game. If Milwaukee plays a drop coverage, which is almost always head coach Mike Budenholzer’s preference, Williams is good enough shooter to take advantage of the space; he shot 13-25 catch and shoot 3s this year and 49-123 (39.8%) last year).

If LaVine and/or DeRozan are able to find a rhythm, perhaps the Bucks decide to blitz and force the ball out of their hands. If that were the case, Williams is perfectly suited to run the point in a 4-on-3 break, with his ability to play downhill, finding shooters and cutters or finishing at the rim himself.

Defensively, the Bulls could use Williams to try and make Giannis Antetokounmpo work a little harder than he typically has to when playing them; the Greek Freak averaged 26.8 points and 13.5 rebounds on 55.7% shooting against Chicago this season in just 32.3 minutes per game, leading the Bucks to a 4-0 record over the Bulls.

As we know, Antetokounmpo is at his best as a runaway freight train (if trains had arms long enough to hug a small planet), scoring a league best 8.5 points per game in transition. Tasking Williams with slowing down a two-time NBA MVP and 2021 Finals MVP is a gigantic ask, but he is the best equipped Bull to take on Giannis with his combination of size, strength, and agility.

If Williams is up to the task, it would go a long way if he could extend defensively beyond half court, even if it just means turning Giannis once or twice so that he isn’t dribbling full speed in straight lines at the rim all. When it gets to that point, he’s close to unstoppable.

To this point in his career, Williams has tantalized Bulls fans at times and left them cold at others, which is the case for plenty of 20 year-olds in the NBA. Given what his role has looked like when Chicago is at full strength, its a little far-fetched to imagine Williams having a major impact on a playoff series.

That said, the upside is impossible to ignore when Williams is rolling, and the Bulls will need every ounce of that potential to put up a fight against Milwaukee. If head coach Billy Donovan can put him in positions to succeed, and Williams remains aggressive rather than passive, he is more than capable of having a significant say in how the series plays out when Chicago and Milwaukee tip-off their series at 5:30 on Sunday.

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

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Can you imagine what an NFL player transfer portal would look like?

According to Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr, the creation of such a system would be beneficial specifically for one player: Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. Yes, you read that right.

Orr goes on to lay out his reasoning for Fields (and any other player who doesn’t want to go through the pains of an NFL team rebuilding) requesting a trade because it hinders his progress being put “in an impossible situation to succeed” heading into his season year with the Bears.

He (Fields), or Trevor Lawrence, or any rookie quarterback who arrives in the NFL and sees a brushfire of chaos in his facility shouldn’t be scared to demand a trade. Many of their situations become too late before they realize it. However, the more we come to grips with the reality of roster teardowns, the more use we might have for some kind of formal process, like a waiver or transfer portal. Fields, or any player in a less-than-ideal situation, should be given the chance to work with the NFLPA to request a different assignment. This would force teams to maintain more of a consistent competitive spirit, or, at the very least, be more open with their fan base about the path forward and offer promising players some sort of back-end protection.

Let’s get something straight, no one enjoys losing. Players get irritated, fans grow restless, hope starts to become lost — it’s all depressing.

Such an outlandish idea to allow players to come and go from rosters as they please because of losing however, is a whole new level of bad idea. If you’re going to allow players, especially younger ones, the option to pack their bags and head elsewhere because they aren’t happy, you might as well allow them to submit a “do not draft me” list to teams prior to the NFL Draft. Why go through the hope that a promising, young player can help turn the team around if they don’t want to go through the struggles? Does that sound feasible, let alone smart? Absolutely not.

Orr discusses how other teams with young quarterbacks around the league have made a valiant effort to rebuild their rosters to benefit their budding stars. The Bears on the other hand? They’ve done no such thing. The SI writer does admit this isn’t Ryan Poles’ fault – the blame lies with his predecessor Ryan Pace, to which we’ll give him credit for pointing out. That’s about where the credit ends.

Heading into the 2022 offseason, the Bears had $28.6 million dollars in cap space with significant holes across the roster. Like a smart GM, Poles sent Eddie Goldman, Tarik Cohen and Danny Trevathan to create more than $15 million in cap space. While a controversial move in the eyes of Bears’ fans, he then dealt Khalil Mack and his $30 million cap hit, putting the Bears well over $125 million in cap space for the 2023 offseason. The Bears’ 2022 draft picks will take up $6 million against the cap when it’s all said and done with plenty of work to still be carried out in filling the rest of the roster. Poles ultimately had no choice but to build with the future in mind instead of continuously kicking the can down the road like Pace had been doing for years.

New head coach Matt Eberflus stated very clearly that the Bears are Fields’ team and they will continue to build around the promising quarterback. Such conviction has been said multiple times since Poles and Eberflus got to Halas Hall. When Orr says Fields should be asking “what the Bears are going to do for me once they have the players, the cap space and the roster constructed how they envision?”, the answer is simple: they’re going to compete and they’re going to win.

Things could easily go south for the Bears’ rebuild, but this idea of a portal doesn’t “force teams to develop, or empower players to develop themselves and take away the internal politics that derail promising careers” like Orr suggests. Instead, it creates an unnecessary escape rope for players who don’t want to face adversity – something nearly every NFL pro will face in their careers.

Even Orr knows there was “back-end scheming, coach hiring, coach firing, player cutting and trading” that benefited all the greats like Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger to help them grow. With the reset button hit at Halas Hall, there is a plan to get the Bears back to being a contender. Fields deserves the chance to see that plan through instead of dreaming about a Wish.com version of the collegiate transfer portal.

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

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Even as I sat and watched high school prospects this past weekend with college coaches in Indianapolis during the first “live” weekend of the spring evaluation period, the transfer portal dominated conversation.

And that was just from the college coaches who were actually in attendance.

This was the smallest number of Division I coaches out on the road evaluating during any “live” period I’ve ever seen. That’s because so many coaches were home, on campus, hosting potential transfers on visits.

While with college coaches, whether it was watching games, grabbing lunch or out to dinner, the focus was all portal. All the time.

All weekend heads were down, coaches checking the phone for the latest portal entry as the number continued to climb well past 1,000 transfers.

Coaches lamented how difficult it even was to watch and evaluate high school kids. They know it’s nearly impossible to win with freshmen and, worst-case scenario, keep your job playing freshmen. They’re just too young, too far away to win with in today’s college game.

College coaches evaluating younger classes like current sophomores and freshmen? Forget about it. Only if you have nothing else to watch.

“Do you know how hard it is to watch this when we’ve been watching film on college players for the past six weeks?” different coaches would repeatedly say in some form or another.

Nonetheless, there were still players who made a mark and continued to put together strong starts to their spring club basketball seasons.

Here is a City/Suburban Hoops Report spring Three-Pointer on three of those players following a weekend in Indianapolis:

No. 1: Never too late for Bobby Durkin

Last summer Bobby Durkin was watched and evaluated, both with Glenbard West in June and throughout July with his Breakaway club basketball team. College coaches didn’t bite.

Then all winter long the 6-6 senior was a key cog in the Glenbard West machine that ultimately rolled to a state championship. He produced and made key shots in big moments for the Hilltoppers all season, including scoring 30 points in a state semifinal win with plenty of college coaches in attendance.

Players evolve over the course of a year. They grow, gain confidence and, simply put, get better. Durkin, who was committed to Army for a bit, did just that and has shined the past two weekends while playing on the AAU scene as a senior.

Durkin’s strength has always been his shooting. He knocked in 82 threes this past season. And that’s the one great strength to have in basketball.

However, it’s clear he has put in the time to work on his body over the past year. His body is slimmer and stronger than it was last summer which has helped his athleticism.

This weekend Durkin will take an official visit to Wright State as many others are interested.

No. 2: Cameron Christie solidifies status

Over the past two weekends all Rolling Meadows star Cameron Christie has done is solidify himself as the City/Suburban Hoops Report’s top prospect in the Class of 2023.

The 6-6 guard boasts the physical attributes with his height and endless length. There is the ease he plays with and a versatile scoring arsenal at his disposal. Put it all together and Christie has the highest upside of any junior in the state, which was on display this past weekend while playing with the Illinois Wolves.

The high-major prospect added another offer earlier this week from Virginia. .

No. 3: Big man impresses

There are some big names from Chicago atop the sophomore class. But a central Illinois big man, Normal’s Jaheem Webber, is an impressive old school 5-man and among the state’s best prospects.

Webber impressed while playing with the Illinois Wolves in Under Armour Association action in Indianapolis.

He’s 6-9 with a massive frame and strength for such a young player. At his size, Webber establishes post position and offers solid post footwork. Even as his offensive game remains a work in progress, he demands an extra defender when he works his way deep in the lane.

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