Nikola Mirotic Killed A Man Last Night, Is The Best Player On The Bulls Right Now
2 things happened last night. 1, the Bulls clinched a playoff spot, which was not exactly exciting because it was inevitable in the East, but it officially happened last night. And 2, Nikola Mirotic further proved that he is currently the best player on the Bulls. You see what he did to Jason Maxiell right here? Absolute destruction at the rim. And it wasn’t just that play, he took over the game late in the 4th and basically won the game for the Bulls. 86-82 with 2:34 left and Mirotic rattled off a personal 8-0 run in 63 seconds. Stopped the Hornets right in their tracks (an admittedly bad team) and won the game for the Bulls. Over the last month he’s averaging 21 and 8 in just 31 minutes per. Even leads the league in 4th quarter points with some pretty good company.
If there is one great thing to take away from a weird, frustrating season it’s the fact that Nikola Mirotic is ready to become a bonafide star in the NBA. He’s a complete game changer for an offense. Three pointers, low post moves, that step back that is virtually unguardable….
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it’s all there, the total package. I know there has been talk about Thibs not playing him down the stretch in playoff situations, going with Jo/Pau or Jo/Taj but I just can’t see it anymore. Even Thibs who has always leaned heavily on Defensive crunch time rotations knows you can’t put a guy like this on the bench, he’s that good and he opens the entire floor up. Two post basketball is the stuff of Dinosaurs. When Jo and Pau or Jo and Taj share the floor they clog everything up. The offense doesn’t move well and no one can drive to the hoop. When Mirotic is on the floor everything makes more sense. You have 4 shooters and a big on offense and the more traditional 2 bigs and 3 guards on Defense. If it’s all about match ups, Niko is your ace in the hole, your matchup nightmare. I know the dream of seeing Tony Snell in the lineup at the end of games is probably dead. Jimmy Butler came back last night and Snell immediately was sent back to his uneven 15 minutes, but Mirotic has to stay. With everyone healthy he just has to be one of your 5 and if you’re a Bulls fan he’s tremendous hope for the future.
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PS
The third thing that happened was I went to the game and Mirotic missed 2 free throws at the end of the game denying us all free Big Macs, but I’ll let that one slide because it turned into a blowout specifically due to his play. Also Cuppy Coffee is a fucking bum, 3rd place, ran a terrible race.