Tidal wave coming at Rose
In the history of sports guarantees, this won’t rate very high, but center Roy Hibbert insisted Saturday’s Game 1 scare won’t be the Pacers’ only playoff highlight.
“We’re going to shock people,” Hibbert said after the contest. “There’s no way they’re going to sweep us.”
After the top two seeds in the Western Conference both lost Sunday, the threshold for shocking moments in the playoffs dropped a bit.
Video posted on the team’s website showed the Pacers working on sending two defenders at the point guard during Sunday’s practice. Finding a way to slow down Derrick Rose is their most obvious task for Monday’s Game 2.
“We realize there are other players, but our focus right now is Derrick Rose,” Danny Granger said.
Said Hibbert: “It’s a hard task, but it’s not one man’s job, it’s all five men on the court. We’re going to change some things up.”
Added Pacers coach Frank Vogel, “We practiced some different looks we might throw at Derrick Rose and some of their other guys. We’ve got to have wall of defenders every time he goes in there.”
Just walk away:Tom Thibodeau reacted Sunday to his players#146; reaction to some of Indiana#146;s rough fouls in Game 1.Derrick Rose yelled at Pacers center Jeff Foster after a first-half foul and was held back by referee Violet Palmer. In the fourth quarter, Luol Deng got a technical for confronting Tyler Hansbrough after another hard foul against Rose.#147;What I don#146;t want is fourth-quarter technicals, I can tell you that,#148; Thibodeau said. #147;We#146;ve got to be smart. I think teams that are smart ultimately win. That#146;s what we want to do. We want to be smart.#148;As a whole, Thibodeau thinks the Bulls should take this sort of rough stuff in stride.#147;This is the playoffs. There are going to be fouls like that,#148; he said. #147;To me, this is ordinary. This isn#146;t any big deal. Just play.#148;Power forward deficit:One statistic that was tough to ignore from Game 1 was Indiana#146;s Tyler Hansbrough outscoring Carlos Boozer 16-2 in the second half. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau downplayed the issue.#147;The big thing is, Carlos didn#146;t guard him the entire game,#148; Thibodeau said. #147;We didn#146;t do a good job. Our team didn#146;t do a good job. Then you have to look at how he got those points. What it a result of breakdowns and people not doing their job? I#146;d say it was a compilation of things. We#146;ve got to do a much better job on him.#148;Boozer finished the game with 5 fouls and as a result, played just 26 minutes.#147;Even if he gets fouls, he#146;s got to stay aggressive,#148; Thibodeau said. #147;When he#146;s aggressive, he#146;s very good.#148;Bull horns:During Game 1, Derrick Rose went 0-for-9 from 3-point range and 10-for-14 from inside the arc. ... Carlos Boozer on Indiana center Roy Hibbert promising to shock people in this series. #147;I think talk is cheap, to be quite frank,#148; he said. #147;Talk doesn#146;t do much for me.#148;