If the Warriors could make LeBron James and the Cavaliers look like the 76ers in Cleveland, then they certainly could do that to the Bulls in Chicago.
And they did, bang, just like that, as easy as 1-2-31 points.
Wednesday night’s game might not have exposed everything that’s wrong with the Bulls, but it didn’t miss nearly as much as Pau Gasol did.
The Warriors bookended a 34-point first quarter with a 38-point fourth quarter. They hit 12 threes compared to the Bulls’ 1. They shot 52.6 percent from the floor compared to the Bulls’ 37 percent.
Geez, the Warriors scored one basket while two of their guys were in the backcourt tying their shoes.
“That shows just how bad we can be if we don’t guard,” said Jimmy Butler, and anytime you guys want to play defense because it’s your job, fine by me, but who’s going to tell Gasol?
Derrick Rose was the only good thing about the Bulls, matching Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes shot-for-shot by himself.
But Rose pulled himself out of the game less than halfway through the first quarter because he’s not in condition, the result of his many injuries and rehabs and injuries and rehabs.
Rose wants to make it through a season for the first time in forever. I get that. Rose wants to be healthy for whatever passes for the Bulls postseason. I get that, too.
But leaving halfway through the first quarter after being almost all of the Bulls’ offense is a bad look.
To recap, it’s January, it national TV, it’s the best team in the league, and after hitting five of six shots and scoring 10 of the Bulls’ 12 points, Rose was fatigued in the first 5:38 because he couldn’t sustain the burst and energy we’ve been waiting on.
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I guess, then, we can only hope that Rose gets some restorative help when the mothership arrives from his home planet.
Leading into the game against the defending champs who are going after the Bulls’ NBA record of 72 wins, Butler said the Bulls also were an elite team. No lie. It’s right here.
Some observers might ask: What was Butler supposed to say?
My answer: the truth.
Butler could’ve said something like “It doesn’t matter what label you slap on any team right now, including us, because it doesn’t mean anything compared to what happens on the floor.
“And what’s happening on the court is we don’t show up ready every game, we don’t play hard every game, we don’t move the ball quickly on offense every game, we don’t commit and communicate on defense every game.
“Until we do that, we’re aren’t elite, and for that matter, we aren’t elite until we win a title.”
Nobody with a brain could disagree. That would be an example of a self-declared leader offering the honesty a self-declared leader should.
But no. Butler said the fourth-place team in the weaker conference is elite.
The Choice (and remember, death is not an option): Rose claiming he’s still a great player or Butler claiming the Bulls are elite?
The game and all the storylines made it ugly and discouraging. But here’s something that is important to remember:
Getting strafed by the Warriors is not a barometer of how ill-equipped the Bulls are to win a title.
No, the barometer of how ill-equipped the Bulls are to win a championship is needing 53 points from Butler and an overtime period to beat the 76ers.
