Oh my goodness, it's only preseason, but I'm high billed fuck, Jimmy G, fuck it, get the fuck it's, oh my goodness, give me the heaps off, billed fuck, give me the heaps off, what are you doing, drag it, get you there, get the memo, there it goes, can't go upstairs, go, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang

Round one of the NBA playoffs are in full swing and one of the big storylines in the NBA, the Chicago Bulls knocking off the defending NBA champion, Milwaukee Bucks tying that series at a game of peace and the big news coming out of that game, Chris Middleton suffered a sprained MCL

He could be out two to four weeks, which means of course he would miss the rest of the series. This is episode 75 of Gimme the Hot Sauce, Stacey's alongside

Whisper's Kelly, ready to roll and we've got our special guest, the Dean of Chicago Bulls Beat Reporters, Casey Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, joins us this afternoon.

Casey, you were in Milwaukee to witness that really the Bulls could be up to nothing in this series. They really had the Bucks on their heels in both games.

Yeah, I think what's jumped out to me, Mark and Stacey is just how this team's kind of got its identity back. I mean, this is the team we were used to seeing earlier in the year when they were sitting atop the east defensively.

They've been on point, they've created a bunch of turnovers, they've turned some of those turnovers into offense and they're just, you know, much more physical, they're kind of in the game, they're taking charges.

I mean, they went to the finish line. I was not confident that this Bulls team would appear and winner lose. I mean, even though they lost game one, that identity was, was prevalent.

So that's an encouraging thing if you're a Bulls fan mood for the rest of the series.

Well, you know, I think that the big thing is is that, you know, having Alex Crusoe being somewhat more healthy than what he was at the end of the season with that bad back.

He just does so many things, Casey, that are winning plays, you know, a guy taking charges, you know, that charge he took at the end. How many guys have you seen when I stand in front of Yannis, you know, that close and that close to the rim, not too many guys.

So the impact that he's brought defensively in the mindset, I think has really, really bled on this team and I think they're following suit.

I think your point about his health is a good one, Stacy. I think people are starting to realize the importance of that week of the play internaments. I mean, last night you heard both Billy Donovan and Nicole of which of it also point to a team meeting that preceded the week of practices they had.

That was a get right week for this team. We all know how badly they played down the stretch of the regular season.

And you know, in that meeting, they kind of aired out some concerns, some issues, some things that the team needs to work on.

And then by all accounts, and I was there every day, you could hear the practices. It was like, you know, back in your guys days, Stacy, like those days were scrimmaging, they were going full contact, they were going hard.

It was like training campsite practices that week, not every day. It was two of the four days leading up to game one.

And I think that experience and also that week where, you know, Alex and Zach could kind of take some time to address their bodies is is is paying off now because you're right. That was a that was a master class in defense yesterday by Alice.

Casey, are you buying the story that tomorrow to Rosen got into the Pfizer forum Tuesday night and was able to shoot by him.

I mean, where did that come from? I mean, who's turning on the lights in a multi billion dollar arena? You know, what's going on here?

It came in a bad game of Twitter telephone because I think you're there, which I was tomorrow was having some fun with it. He was running with it. There was sarcasm in his voice. And then somebody tweeted as if it was fact.

But no, he did go to the Pfizer form to shoot. I mean, that footage was shown. And he says he does that often. He said he might even go to the United Center and get up shots here before game three.

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