When rookie Thabo Sefolosha heard Scott Skiles mispronounce his name and tell him to get in the game with more than 30 minutes left, the entire crowd at the United Center knew the game was in the Bulls’ hands.
But it was the scrubs off the bench who surprised everyone last night, contributing 61 points in route to a 113-83 shellacking of Golden State.
After the game, general manager John Paxson said he would petition the league to play out the rest of the season against the lowly Warriors.
“Can you imagine if we could do play them for the rest of our games?” Paxson said. “We’d clean the table. We could put the Luvabulls in there and win games. Maybe even the Matadors.”
Ben Gordon led the team in scoring with 22 points and added six assists and five rebounds. Sefolosha was close behind at 19 points. Adrian Griffin posted 17 points, which probably will stand as his career high until he is forced out of the league at some point next season. Tryus Thomas put his bad attitude down for a night and picked up 14 points, while Luol Deng stepped out of the spotlight for a game, yet still put up 13 points and six assists.
After the game, Gordon credited his teammates’ unselfish play for the resounding victory.
“It was a group effort out there tonight,” Gordon said. “I’m really proud of the guys off the bench and their effort out there tonight. But those bitches are still going to have to carry my luggage.”
Number of the night: 9
Fans at the United Center who knew who Adrian Griffin was before he got in the game and scored 17 points last night.
