NP: King Crimson, Discipline

When a team goes from looking as bad as the Bulls did two weeks ago to as good as they did this past Saturday night, you have to wonder just what happened.

First off, and I distinctly remember making this exact same comment last year, it seems like Chicago has finally stopped drinking at halftime. One of the consistent patterns of the eight-game losing streak was coming out horribly flat in the third quarter, and both against Milwaukee on Friday and in Saturday's utter dismantling of the Grizzlies, that changed, and changed in a massive way.

Second, it's obvious that something has gone right in the lineup. The three-guard front was a lousy experiment designed to get Ben Gordon into the starting lineup without making too many waves, but now that Chris Duhon has accepted his new role with nary a complaint, we can get down to business. You might not think it from a scoresheet that went heavy to starting guards Gordon and Kirk Hinrich, but it looked like starting two guys who could post up inside in Michael Sweetney and Othella Harrington was huge. Going inside early kept Memphis honest from the get-go, and it allowed the guards to be dangerous. Sorry, Tyson, but you'll be coming off the bench for a while when you get healthy again.

Third, and I don't know how or why, but the change in defensive intensity is palpable. A big part of the win on Saturday was that Pau Gasol never got in the game. That was because of Harrington, Sweetney and Darius Songaila at various points of the game making his life completely miserable.

Looming large across this whole change is veteran and co-captain Othella Harrington. Iit seems that nobody can ever stop his little jump shot from just outside the post, which opens up both the lane and the perimeter. For somebody who has been a role player pretty much his entire career, it's refreshing to see him step up into the spotlight here by playing good, fundamental basketball. It seems like last year, Antonio Davis returning to the starting lineup was the catalyst that got the Bulls rolling, and it seems like this time, it's Harrington's turn.