Can we trade Boozer for Burrows?

The Bulls were able to win Game 5 in regular season fashion. They looked like their old selves by playing good team defense (minus Carlos the Playoff Ghost of course), a shooting percentage above the Mendoza Line, and a MVP performance by none other than DRose. The Bulls were up by 10 early in the 3rd when Derrick picked up his 4th foul and had to sit. The Pacers whittled the lead down to 4 and Thibs had to roll the dice with DRose in foul trouble. It was at that point where Derrick added to what will be a pantheon of great playoff performances. The 3rd quarter became the "DRose Show" as he first hit TajMahal for an open J, then he put a savage block on Hibbert (couldn't find a version with Stacey King), and then he started raining 3's. Bogans joined the party with a few 3's of his own. Bulls closed the 3rd with a 21-8 run and the Fat Lady was warming up her vocals. Shows how much trust Thibs has in Rose even though he was playing with 4 fouls. The ankle didn't look like it was bothering Derrick as much last night, but it's great that he gets to rest it until their next game which won't be until Monday. DRose had the help from his surrounding cast that they've been looking for this whole series. Joakim and Lt. Deng played both played great. Noah looks like he's in full form since his late season injury. Deng was pouring it in from everywhere and at the same time chasing down Granger the whole game. TajMahal made a strong case for himself with a 30-minute performance that maybe made Thibs think about starting him Game 1 in the 2nd round. Taj put up a solid 10-point performance in place of a foul-plagued and "injured" Boozer. This is where the Boozer-hate-fest portion starts, feel free to skip ahead to the Hawks review.

Sixteen minutes played, 2 points scored, 5 rebounds, 4 fouls. No, that isn't Kurt Thomas' stat line. BigSexy got a DNP but I would have much rather had him in the game than Booz. He picked up 3 quick fouls in the 1st half and only played 10 minutes. Supposedly he suffered from "turf toe" injury in the 1st half. This immediately bring's two things to mind: 1.) apparently you can get turf toe on other playing surfaces than turf, and 2.) Boozer was playing healthy the first 4 games?!?! Ugh. The performances of TajMahal and Bogans picked up Boozer's slack and it looks like we're going to have to look for those performances in the next round.

In other news, the Blackhawks season is over although they went out with a bang. After sneaking in the back door to make the playoffs and coming back from a 3-0 deficit against one of their main rivals, the Hawks were playing in a 7th game down by one goal with only a couple minutes separating them from what looked like the end of their season. Burrows and Kesler were absolutely dominating the Hawks and they looked like they were unstoppable. With Duncs in the sin-bin, a comeback was certainly almost impossible. Then with a little bit of magic, Toews made a great individual effort just to get the puck to Hoss in a place where he could get a shot off, and then The Captain got a shorthanded put back goal to tie the game. Unreal. My neighbors probably thought I was slaughtering a cow with all the hooting and hollering going on. I thought the game was ours going into OT. Hawks had all the momentum, Bobby was doubting himself again, and the Hawks picked up a quick man advantage. I thought the game was over when Sharpie took that shot from a wonderful pass from Toews through the crease. The game ended when Campoli was unable to clear the puck from their zone and Burrows got a little bit of luck snatching the biscuit out of the air for the breakaway winning goal. Crawford was huge last night. He made a bunch of clutch saves and single-handily kept the Hawks in the game. It was unfortunate that his stellar performance resulted in a heartbreaking loss, but hopefully he can use this game as a stepping stone and raise his game next season.

And so ends the Hawks campaign to defend the Stanley Cup. Perhaps the loss of great role players like BigBuff (who raised his game to All-Star status this year) and Ladd proved to be too big of a loss to the team. Hopefully they can build on what they have with a promising Ben Smith and Nick Leddy. At least we still have the Bulls before we have to start watching baseball. Bulls Round 2 preview to come later...