So let me get this straight, Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers claims that the Bulls Joakim Noah is a dirty player? Really? When in his own locker room resides three guys that are only missing the black rimmed glasses and some tin foil and they could double for the Hanson Brothers.
Josh McRoberts, Tyler Hansbrough, and Jeff Foster, all had 6 fouls to use and they played borderline thugball all series long. The Pacers knew they were an inferior team so they resorted to hard fouls, flying elbows, forearms across the face, tripping, clawing, and scratching. Noah didn’t do anything in game 5 that the Pacers hadn’t done in the entire series.
The Bulls took the abuse for the most part because they knew resorting to that kind of play could only lead to technical fouls, flagrant fouls, or suspensions. The Bulls announcing team took them to task most of the series for not fighting back, but the non-reaction by the Chicago players was the smart thing to do. After all they had round 2 and beyond to worry about.
Now getting back to Granger. He talked before the series about how he was glad they opened up against the #1 seeded Bulls. ‘Just stop Derrick Rose and you can beat Chicago’; Ok… it’s that simple. Granger might have a career in coaching when his playing days are over.
Then after the game he tried to scold Noah… Are you kidding me? You lost buddy, shake hands and get to stepping. Then when Noah wasn’t hearing it, he tried to open up to Luol Deng. Seriously. Did you think you and Lu bonded during the 5 game ?
The Pacers have a good young athletic team. They played much better than a typical 8 seed. Don’t ruin it by crying and complaining. Danny Granger needs to hit the weight room, work on driving to the hole, and get ready for next year.
