On Saturday April 20, the Bulls lost the first of a seven game series on the road to the Brooklyn Nets. Chicago lost by 17 points and prospects for the remainder of the series seemed grim indeed. Then the Bulls won game 2 by a score of 90-82 and game 3 by a score of 79-76.
Oddsmakers were coming down heavily in favor of Brooklyn for the pivotal game four played in Chicago on Saturday the 27th and it was a classic. Triple overtime. 276 total points scored.
And the hero of the evening? Seven year veteran and just about the littlest guy on the basketball court, Nate Robinson stepped up to be counted on Saturday night.
Nate scored 34 points to help bring the Bulls back from a 14 point deficit late in regulation play and force the game into overtime, then another overtime and then still one more overtime until the Bulls finally came out on top , 142-134.
It was one of the greatest games in living memory and broadcasters were still talking about it a week later. The Bulls were trailing by 14 points, 109-95, late in the fourth quarter, the Nets had the game in the bag, then along came Nate Robinson. He hit from all over the floor and managed to put in 29 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods where they counted the most.
After the game Nate told reporters, “I always think I’m on fire, kind of like the old school game NBA Jam. You make a couple in a row the rim’s on fire. You shoot the ball, the ball’s on fire. I feel like that at times…..all the time. Whenever I’m in the game, I just play with a lot of confidence. You kind of have to lie to yourself and feel like you can’t miss.”
The Bulls were then up 3 games to 1 in the series and it was beginning to look like they might just take the series after all. Then Brooklyn won the next two games and forced a game 7…..again, on a Saturday night.
Derrick Rose is out for the season. Luoi Deng is in the hospital and Nate Robinson is throwing up into a garbage can on the sidelines. Joakim Noah has a hurt foot and looks like he is running on pins and needles. But, in spite of all the negitaves, the Bulls pulled off the victory and will go on the face the Heat in the next series.
