Nope. Under Vinny da Booo have a 31 point lead going into the 4th quarter and lose by 15.

Afterwards when questioned aboot the loss, Vinny says "It happens"

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What a complete waste of a game.

16 three-pointers in a game is ridiculous. With that being said... I don't care if this is Game 1 or Game 82. I want the starters in the game when we are within 8 points in the 4th.

You're thinking like an assistant coach. You don't need to win every possession. Gotta save the guys' legs. li'l danny says so and he knows. He was a broadcaster in the CBA.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Little Danny can kiss my ass.

I wouldn't blame this loss solely on a lack of defense. When your opponent drains nearly 3/4ths of the 3's they take, you probably are not going to win many games. In the second half when New York was raining threes, most of them were contested. The first half of the game was ugly, but if the Knicks shot even a ridiculous 50% from three, this came probably would have gone the other way. The bench had a great run in the 4th quarter to bring it within 8 with like 4 minutes left. It was just inexcusable that Thibs didn't bring Rose and Noah back at that point. The Knicks were clearly out of gas, or just thought the game was finished and were shutting everything down way too early. One final push from the starters may have made the difference.

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Looking back now, I can understand not bringing back the starters. You have to go back to back with a game tonight and even though they were within 8, it wasn't like the starters were really getting after it on the defensive end. I would guess Thibs wanted to see it under 5 before he brought back Rose and everyone.

So essentially Coach T gave up.

That's good to know.

There are days when you simply aren't going to win. The Knicks were unreal yesterday. If they play today, the Bulls probably win.

It's a long season. This game was meaningless. There was no reason to put up a highly unlikely attempt at winning when it got close. Lose the game and move on. The "try hard" Bulls would have went out there and done whatever they could. These Bulls are good enough to not go out and wear down the team trying to win at the end. This isn't even mentioning that the starters had sat for so long that you may have had a higher risk of injury.

The coach is going to get some heat on this but I think that he coached it just right in the fourth quarter.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

He didn't give up. He just didn't feel like overextending his starters in a game that was still going to be very difficult to win.

You can afford some of these types of losses in the NBA.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The defense from the bench did get them back in the game, but the offensive success they were having did not last forever (nor can you depend on that to last). The bench did their job, and the starters should have been brought back for one last push. If after about two minutes they fail, then sit them down again. You're not going to burn somebody out by playing them an extra 2-4 minutes. I would have brought back Noah for Asik, and Rose for Brewer. Korver was on fire and hopefully his success will continue. Him and Brewer have been the two most disappointing parts of this team so far in the early part of the season.

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The points being made in this thread are valid. I cannot argue that.

I guess I am looking at this from the perspective (right or wrong) of a ticket-paying fan who just so happened to be in attendance at a game I thought was still win-able. On one hand I want to pay for a win, but on the other hand I want the team to win the Championship overall.

Long-term this may have been the best coaching decision, but only time will tell.

That's the biggest point alot of people are missing while they are shitting on this game. Yes, I think the starters should have come back, but if the Knicks even shot 50% from three, the Bulls would probably win this game. They are a team that lives by the three and dies by the three. If they shoot like they did last night, they will probably win most of those games.

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At least you weren't courtside

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You never miss your wealth, till your well went dry
Seem like only yesterday, you were here smiling
Now you gone away, but I know you in a better place
No traces of you, what can I do?
Alone and confused

Maybe this can be a coaching opportunity. Thibs can study the film and put in something like a box-and 1 with Noah patrolling the paint to slow down these perimeter teams. Stoudamire didn't have a very good game.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Bulls' fans can chant "We want Rose! We want Rose!" like they did late in the 4th quarter, but guess what? Bulls' head coach Tom Thibodeau stayed with his reserves, not necessarily because they cut the deficit to single digits, but there are a couple of other things to consider. First, the defense was nowhere to be found from the 2nd quarter on when the John Ratzenberger-looking Mike D'Antoni turned the Knicks into the run & gun Suns that he coached previously before becoming New York's current head coach. It seemed like everything the Knicks shot went in, while the Bulls were very sloppy with the ball when they had it. The Bulls had 20 turnovers and it appeared as if Thibodeau's Bulls had no defense for what the Knicks were shooting. The Bulls were also down by as many as 18 points on a couple of occasions. When he took Rose out of the game for the final 9:36, Thibs felt the writing was on the wall and it wasn't meant to be...Let's not forget they're on ESPN's "NBA Friday" this eve in Boston as well, the first time Thibs' Bulls will play a back-to-back.