Bobcats topple Bulls, 96-91

Kudos! Let’s hope this continues.

1. He was motivated last season for personal reasons. He had never coached a team for more than 2 seasons and failed to make the playoffs. When he took the helm in Charlotte many experts publicly noted that Brown was highly unlikely to be able to continue that streak. From that point on it was a matter of personal and professional pride to achieve that goal last season.

2. He was under contract for this season and beyond. He only had 2 ways out. First, he could accept Jordan’s largesse and ask to be let out of his deal. Had he done that though, it would have cast a negative light on his carefully protected resume. In short, it would have made him look like a man who is a quitter and any team (apart from Philly) that hired him could face the same problem with him the moment he got homesick and sick of commuting home for sporadic visits. Hi only other option was to get fired. He’d been through that experience enough times already to know that he’d be able to snare another position soon. He was also certain that his BFF Jordan wouldn’t make him look bad. That’s why Brown got so cheesed when Jordan demanded the resignation and anounced that Brown had voluntarily stepped down. It forced him back into the first scenario. Had he been fired he could have said the things that always worked in the past – the players won’t listen to me, management wouldn’t listen to him, Jordan couldn’t resist being hands-on and kept taking his authority away as coach, etc. In fact, that’s why LB made it a point in front of the national media coverage the one time thus far we were on national television this season to say, “I didn’t say anything. The owner came in to the locker room and he had plenty to say himself.” When Jordan “resigned” Brown, it screwed up all off LB’s carefully laid plans.

3. Brown isn’t stupid. By pitting players against one another and praising Boris and McGuirre as the only players doing the job whenever one of them had a horrible night, he knew the team would fall apart and Jordan would can him. The final scene just didn’t play out according to the script he’d carefully written. Michael decided to do a little improv on Brown’s ass. Notice how it took less than 48 hours for the press to change its tune and start printing that Brown was fired? You NEVER hear anyone in the media say that Brown resigned anymore. There is an active spin campaign to change things around so Brown will still have a shot to get hired by some crap team and turn them around so they can celebrate a first round playoff sweep just like we did.

For those that think I may be engaging in a bit of conspiracy theorizing and speculation, point out even one thing I mentioned that went down differently that what I’ve outlined above.

And DJ still scored – including the final 4 points at the free throw line.
Arguing that DJ only had a great night because he was wasn’t double-teamed the whole game is a straw man argument.

And you’re right Newsinz, the question will be rendered moot next Tuesday because we all know Rose will be out for payback and the Bulls will believe that if they shut DJ’s shooting down they’ll have our number. Silas will probably have Oak working with DJ and teaching him some tricks on how to spot the open man and pass out of a developing double. Once the “helper” is committed, a quick pass will pin him in no-man’s-land and free the player he WAS covering to get that pass in the open. If the Defense adjusts it will result in either a mismatch or an opportunity to rotate the ball to the freshly-created weak side for an open jumper. That’s why it’s essential that Tyrus get plenty of burn WITH Diaw whenever possible. It will put 3 players (Jack, Diaw AND Thomas) on the court that can exploit an open jumper. If we put Crash in position to be the open player then He’ll get 20+ easy points and easily deliver the ball for at least 8-10 assists as well.

All Star games in all sports are nothing but popularity contests. And they’re terrible to watch anyway.