Beyond logging a season-high 34 minutes, the coaching staff dusted off the seldom-used guard because of his ability to pick players up fullcourt.
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The two point guards he replaced, Jerian Grant and Michael Carter-Williams, were an nearly unfathomable minus-21 in thirteen minutes combined.
“He’s an unbelievable player”, Canaan said. Thomas scored 10 points in part of their 12-0 run to regain the lead.
The trend of National Basketball Association head coaches criticizing game officials continued Sunday after the Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg ripped into the way refs handled Game 4 of the Bulls’ first round series against the Boston Celtics. He’ll be in uniform for any sort of elimination game, though, which looks like it will be Game 6 in Chicago next Friday.
Canaan had to guard the 5-foot-9 Thomas and eating soup with a fork might’ve been easier.
The Bulls made a third-quarter push for the second consecutive game, but fell short again, leaving the home team winless in the series.
Boston withstood several runs by the Bulls, who closed to a five point deficit early in the fourth period. Considering how dramatically this series has changed since his departure, he has to understand how valuable he is – interrupting passing lanes, predicting Boston’s plays and getting Chicago defenders to where they need to be to negate the Celtics’ general flow.
“Already, he’s not a good free throw shooter, so I can’t imagine a broken thumb will make him better”.
Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg vented frustration with the officials following the game, noting that Thomas becomes an “impossible guard” when he’s allowed to carry the basketball during his dribble.
Since Chicago struggles to score in half-court sets, it’s imperative that they get as many fast break points as they can. “That’s what he does but I don’t think he’s about that”. But I talked to coach about it, there were a couple opportunities where I could have been more aggressive.
“That’s not the reason I’m an impossible cover”, he said. If you go through the guys in the league that are hardest to guard, there’s a reason they’re hard to guard.
Crowder added 16 points.
“Mentally and emotionally I’m not here”, he said. You have to use so much energy to get back.
The NBA fined Rondo for attempting to trip Boston Celtics forward Jae Crowder from the bench in Game 3. “That’s not a battle Boston is going to win”, he said.
The rest of the Bulls’ lineup knows it needs to help offset the loss of Rondo and not put it all on Canaan. Thing was, it kind of both made sense (I would’ve stuck with Grant, but no doubting he was awful) and turned out to be somewhat effective.
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“He may have had to stretch his leg out. But I mean, I’ve been dribbling that way my whole life, so I don’t know what to say to that”, he said. “They believe in me”, Thomas said.
