I Think I'm Excited About The Bulls?

CHICAGO -- Chicago Bulls forwards Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis are making the type of professional transition that many never thought possible two months ago when Portis broke Mirotic's face and gave him a concussion after a scuffle in practice. The pair combined for 47 points and 12 rebounds as the Bulls knocked off the Boston Celtics 108-85 to win their third straight game on Monday night. The Bulls are now 3-0 since Mirotic's return last Friday against the Charlotte Hornets. They were 3-20 previously.

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I don’t know what I watched on Monday night. I turned on the Bulls game expecting to see the dumpster fire that is the 2017-2018 Chicago team. Dumpster-fire may be a little harsh, it’s just we’re not very good. We’ve got some promising pieces, most noteworthy being Lauri Markkanen the high scoring big fella, but we’re still very much a work in progress.

Things seemed to have been derailed even before they started when two of our power forwards: Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis got in a preseason brawl. The fight saw Niko go out for eight weeks with a concussion and broken jaw, and Portis suspended. It appeared that there would be no remedying of the situation, as Mirotic’s camp said that he’d rather be traded than take the floor with Portis ever again. He had since returned to practice and things appeared to be fine, but only as fine as things could be.

Which means last night must have been a fucking unicorn, and I’ll appreciate it as such. Both guys were on the floor (at the same time) just shooting the fucking lights out. Mirotic opened the game with 13 quick ones, and then Portis came in and started throwing his hat in the ring as well. Mirotic would kick it out to Portis for three, then the next time down the court Portis would give up the three and feed that hungry dog Niko down below for a nice hook shot. They were high fiving, pounding it, basically makin' out, and I don’t know what the fuck I was watching.

Is this what happens when your power forwards aren’t sucker punching each other? Is this what a cohesive basketball team looks like? I’M SO CONFUSED. It felt like the first time I’ve seen the Bulls play cohesive ball since, I don’t know, ‘Nam (2014). Also consider the fact that we’ve been sparked by the play of undrafted guard David Nwaba, who made 4-24 three pointers during three years at Cal Poly and this all seems like a Hanukkah miracle.  But hey, I know the Celtics didn’t have Kyrie, we would have probably been smoked if he played, BLAH BLAH BLAH. My hopes aren't up and I know that this is probably not something that will happen again this season.

But maybe it will be.