It’s not often that a player who is averaging 22 points finds himself on the bench in the fourth quarter of a very close game. Well, this was indeed the case with Carlos Boozer when the Chicago Bulls played the New Jersey Nets on January 5th.
To be exact, Boozer didn’t play the last 14 minutes and 21 seconds of the game and had managed only 12 points up to that point in the game.
“The big thing was we were behind big and they were zoning," said Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau of Boozer's absence in the fourth quarter. “And so the group that went in, playing Luol [Deng] at the 4, gave us another perimeter player. So it was more effective for us against the zone. So that's why we did it. And when that group cut the lead down and now we were in position, they tied the game up so we just were going to finish with the group that was going well.”
However, the decision to pull Boozer late in the third had more to do with Boozer’s lethargic play and less with the strategy that the Nets employed on defense.
Throughout the game, Boozer was the last guy to get back on defense. Often the last line of defense against players sl ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Artem Altman
Carlos Boozer’s Impact On Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah.
January 7th, 2011 by Artem Altman Leave a reply »
Advertisement