Saturday, April 23, 2011
Posted: 12:10 p.m.
By Aggrey Sam
CSNChicago.com
INDIANAPOLISAll season long, pundits and even opponents have maligned the Bulls lack of balanced scoring and outside shooting. Those people underestimated the value of Kyle Korver.
Ideally, the Bulls would have more options than Korveralthough Derrick Rose and Luol Deng are much-improved long-distance threats, and fellow starter Keith Bogans is also capable of hitting from deepbut when a team has one of the truly elite shooters in the league on its side, it provides a unique weapon. Moreover, not only is Korver potent from behind the arc, hes emerged as a major complement to Rose in the clutch, as evidenced by his body of work in the fourth quarter against the Pacers thus far.
Im just trying to take shots that are there. In the playoffs, the sets that we run, they work less and less because you run the same sets every game, they go over it in practice every day and youve got to have guys that can just break you down and play. Weve got the best one in the world in Derrick, so when theyre worried about him, thats when we have to really step up, move to the open spot, find the open seam and I just try to be one of those guys, said Korver. Youve just got to try to be ready. The type of player that I am, Ive been in that situation a lot in my basketball career on every level. Its one of those things. You just try to be ready. You cant get caught up in it. Youve got to know time and score, but you cant get caught up in, This is the big shot. I think its just over time and experience, you just kind of learn how to do those things.
You just try to play smart. You dont want to force the issue, but Ive always said: Im not the fastest guy in the world, but youre going to get tired before I do, he continued, laughing. I just keep on going and eventually, somebodys going to turn their head and just try to be ready.
Korver has developed a special chemistry with Rose, the ultimate drive-and-kick point guard. Their partnership has burgeoned to the point where the pair often confer during breaks in the action to strategize.
Hes helping us out a lot, shooting the ball when hes supposed to. I always tell him, when hes got an open look, shoot it because his chances are way greater than ours, Rose revealed. Hes a great teammate, comes to you, tells you how theyre playing you, how the game is.
NBA
Its great when you have a teammate come to you. As a point guard, youre going to miss some thingsyoure not going to see everythingand just telling me how they were playing him. Thats why, towards the end of Thursdays Game 3, I just kept going to him because Collison was on him. Korver has a great release on his shot, jumps pretty high and can get his shot off on him.
Korver struggled to find his rhythm at various junctures of the season, in part to adjusting to a new system and raising his defense to a level that earned Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeaus trust. He bought in from the start of the campaign, but now even downplays his own contributions because of his belief in the system.
If our defense is really on, we dont need to score 120 points to win. We scored in the 80s Thursday and we won. Weve done that a lot this year, said Korver. Shooting comes and goes, defense is what keeps you consistent throughout the year and obviously Thibs preaches that all the time, and I think because of that, were able to be in a game like Thursday. If we dont play the defense in Game 3, we probably lose.
Not without his 10 fourth-quarter points, torrid marksmanship and continued coolness under pressure.
Aggrey Sam is CSNChicago.com's Bulls Insider. Follow him @CSNBullsInsider on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bulls information and his take on the team, the NBA and much more.