Official Game Thread: Hawks at Bulls

[lethalweapon3]

“Ready to check in! My services are still needed around here, right? Yes? No? Maybe so?”

 

Watching the Bravos at Citi Field in Queens over the summer, I realized how lonely Benjamin T. Bull and Harry the Hawk must feel at times. No matter how much of a bummer New York’s overpriced, underperforming National League baseball team can get at times, at least Mr. Met knows he can go home with his better half, Mrs. Met.

So, for Mascot Bachelorette, allow me to introduce, just in time for the holidays, a doe-eyed furry most suitable as a significant other for each of these mascots and their franchises, as the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks (8 pm Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Chicago) teams face off at United Center.

Benny the Bull? Harry the Hawk? Meet Nancy the Stag. Stag Nancy? This here’s Benny, from around the way. This is Harry, in town from Atlanta.

Oh! It seems you’re all familiar with one another already? Cool beans!

With each passing day, it’s looking like both clubs will have to vie just to prove themselves worthy of life in and around Stag Nation.

Up through the turn of the calendar into 2022, it looked like it would be Benny, and not Harry, that had finally shed his long-smitten feelings for Nancy the Stag. Having gelled around the athletic point guard Lonzo Ball, fellow acquisitions Nikola Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan had Zach LaVine and Chicago at 27-11, looking ready to go on a hot date with Supreme Macy. The summer before, Trae Young, De’Andre Hunter, Clint Capela and Atlanta’s conference finalists were all but sure that Stag Nancy was Yesterday’s News.

Yet by the end of 2021-22’s season, Chicago’s keystone, Lonzo, would be gone due to interminable injury. Nate McMillan’s days as Atlanta’s coach, and Travis Schlenk’s as Hawks president, proved to be numbered. And both teams found themselves back in courtship with Nancy, leaving their doting fans to spend the ensuing NBA seasons asking the uncomfortable question: “What… ARE we?”

 It is going to take more than chocolate-covered threes from Trae Young and Bogi Bogdanovic, or Coby White (94 made 3FGs, tied-2nd in the NBA East with Bogi, behind Trae’s 97) and Patrick Williams (7 straight games with 2+ 3FGs), for either team to have a shot at anyone better than Stag Nancy.

It’s always one step forward, two stumbles back. The Bulls (13-18) looked to have recovered from an unattractive 5-14 start, winning eight of their next 11 games. But a 109-95 home loss on Saturday to a division rival, Cleveland, that was without its own top four scorers, proved you can’t even attract stags when you’re out here scaring the does.

Having Jalen Johnson and a healthier depth chart will make coach Quin Snyder’s roster look a bit comelier. But as Atlanta (12-17) repeatedly fails to fend off suitors impressing with 70-plus-point halves, as was the case in their most recent loss back home versus Memphis, the Hawks’ mascot will just look like a porcine beast with a little extra lip gloss. Smoochy the Pig.

There’s something about Stag Nancy, and just earning The Final Rose seems like an uphill battle. But the longer this sub-mediocre stag party keeps going on, the more their fanbases will be interested in pairing their favorite mascots up with a feathery, ornithologically nondescript creature, named Flippin.

Harry the Hawk? Benny the Bull? Flippin The Bird.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

18 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Flippin The Bird.

thanks lw3! Early game thread love it! 

We have to beat these guys, I don’t care if Ressler has to suit up or his son.

Vegas has Bills -1.5

I’m sorry but this is a MUST WIN. I’m throwin out the gauntlet! We need a W no matter what tomorrow!

 

GO HAWKS!!!

[Gray Mule]

Gain one.  Lose one.

JJ is available tonight.  Hunter is out.

Time to turn this ship around.  Enough of this!  Trae, sore shoulder, is questionable.  

[lethalweapon3]

On the Bulls side, Vooch is Questionable (bruised adductor), while there'll be no Zach attack with LaVine (inflamed foot) joining Torrey Craig (sprained plantar fascia) as Out. The only healthy one of the three two-way players, Adama Sanogo is on Two-Way duty with the Windy City Bulls.

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

12 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Vegas has Bills -1.5

Turns out they had the BULLS not Josh Allen and the Bills by 1.5 

 

and now..

Hawks -1.5 .. 3 point swing… @TheNorthCydeRises are you betting on this? Why the 3 point swing in the line? DeRozan out?

5 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

On the Bulls side, Vooch is Questionable (bruised adductor), while there'll be no Zach attack with LaVine (inflamed foot)

That must be it. Zach out! 

[terrell]

6 hours ago, Gray Mule said:

Gain one.  Lose one.

JJ is available tonight.  Hunter is out.

Time to turn this ship around.  Enough of this!  Trae, sore shoulder, is questionable.  

Sore shoulder sore knee sore thigh Sore foot etc...

Since when did soreness become an injury???

Im sore all day everyday.. lol

How many seasons now have certain posters blamed "injuries" as to why we stink???

Hawksspital never fails..

Been saying it for years.... smfh

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by terrell

[JeffS17]

3 minutes ago, terrell said:

Sore shoulder sore knee sore thigh Sore foot etc...

Since when did soreness become an injury???

Im sore all day everyday.. lol

Hawksspital never fails..

How many years now have certain posters blamed "injuries" as to why we stink???

 

 

Yeah, I really hope Hunter is out because we're protecting his health for a big trade.  Otherwise, the only thing he an Kawhi have in common is how many games they miss every year.

[Dnice]

Thank God their 2nd best player is returning.  4-10 without Jalen is unacceptable. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

[terrell]

Look for Ayo to try to stop Trae's streak..

Pretty sure that's who theyll throw at him..

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[NBASupes]

Let's go Trae!

[terrell]

Coby White Career high tonight?

Play some dang Defense fellas!!

[NBASupes]

4 minutes ago, terrell said:

Coby White Career high tonight?

Play some dang Defense fellas!!

Trae guarding Caruso so this is gonna be a lot of screens and Trae resting on D

[terrell]

JJ impact already

[JayBirdHawk]

JJ impact on the boards already.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

29 minutes ago, terrell said:

Look for Ayo to try to stop Trae's streak..

Pretty sure that's who theyll throw at him..

 

 

Trae straight up cooked Ayo the last time the Bulls played.  Ayo had like a nice 2 game streak of guarding Trae.  It's been lopsided Trae ever since.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

And don't get me started on Andre Drummond.  That guy should've been a Hawk 3 years ago.