FanHouse LuolDeng

The Bulls went into Cleveland on Thursday and pulled out a hard-fought win over the Cavaliers. It was a low-scoring, defensive struggle, as neither team shot the ball very well, so it's not surprising that the game came down to the final play.

LeBron James drove to the basket with three seconds left and his team trailing by one, and was met by two defenders when he got there -- Luol Deng, who was guarding him from the play's outset, and Joakim Noah, who came over to help at the last second. James appeared to jump into Noah, and there was definitely contact. But somewhat incredibly, the refs swallowed their whistles, and the Bulls won the game.

Was it the right call? Read on and judge for yourself.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The 2008 Bulls, hopefully, won't be remembered for defining mediocrity at 41-41. Instead, they'll likely be remembered for a thrilling first round series against the Boston Celtics in which were able to only do so much (it's italicized because it's a shoddy theme, y'all!) before heading home for the offseason.

And that offseason saw them very quickly lose -- even if it was expected -- their top scorer from last year. Ben Gordon's explosive, albeit one-dimensional, game will be missed a team that was already middle of the pack in terms of offensive efficiency last year. And John Salmons, a trade-deadline addition along with Brad Miller, will help counter Gordon's loss, but, guess what? He can only do so much.

In 2007, Rockets star Tracy McGrady traveled to Darfur refugee camps in Chad in order to educate himself about the crisis and film a documentary. Since then, he has also presented a plan to build schools to facilitate the education of the refugees. He has been been a constant advocate for aid to Darfur, and has inspired other NBA stars to speak out as well. McGrady even changed his jersey number from No. 1 to No. 3 to promote the cause.

The hour-long documentary, Three Points, has now been released on Hulu. Hulu's Rebecca Harper also has an interview with McGrady, where he reveals that seeing a public service announcement on Darfur featuring Sudanese Bulls forward Luol Deng provided the final impetus to take up this project.

You knew it would come to this eventually: the Bulls, who agreed to pay Luol Deng a handsome sum of money through 2014, have decided the player, who missed several months of 2008-09 action with a leg injury, is not healthy enough to play with Great Britain's national team this summer. The Daily Mirror reports the Bulls won a struggle to keep Deng off the nation's roster for the Eurobasket 2009 tournament.

It also may effectively end Great Britain's chances to field a team at the 2012 Olympics in London. Host nations are typically granted automatic bids, but that supposes a reasonable level of competitiveness in the sport. The Queen's roster is not exactly loaded without Deng (Pops Mensah-Bonsu is the top player remaining), and Great Britain sits in a tough group at Eurobasket in September, one featuring Olympic runner-up Spain, talented Slovenia and Serbia. Without Deng, a good showing here -- and momentum for a 2010 FIBA Worlds berth -- seems unlikely.

You're not really tired of all the offseason rumors, near-deals, unnamed sources, and "whispers." (Who whispers in these conversations, anyway? Couldn't you just make the call on your way home in the car? Does anyone think Pritchard has his employees' cars bugged?) You're loving all of these deals that don't happen, the signings that never arrive, and all the inside information. And it's a good thing, too. Because there's more. Lots more. Like this!

ESPN's got the scoop on a rumored deal that either makes a ton of sense or none at all, depending on your point of view. Long story short?

Carlos Boozer to Chicago, Kirk Hinrich to Portland, and Tyrus Thomas to Utah. Ta-da! So how real is this thing? As usual, that depends on who you talk to.

Bad news for Bulls fans: Luol Deng, who hasn't played since Feb. 28 due to a stress fracture in his right tibia, may not play again this year. Technically speaking, he hasn't yet ruled out a return in the postseason, but after suffering "a great deal of pain" following a recent workout, there's no chance he'll return before the regular season ends next Wednesday.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "[Roy Hibbert]'s sitting next to Travis [Diener], which I find very interesting. You have to watch Travis because he can be very tricky on flights. Roy has an expensive bag he uses as a carry-on and on our last flight from Boston, Travis thought it would be a good idea to hide a meatball in it. Now, this was not a meatball in tin foil or anything but a meatball with pasta sauce and parmesan cheese on it. Roy was not amused, to say the least." -- Troy Murphy's blog, via Indy Cornrows.

Luol Deng has been struggling with a sore leg for a few weeks. Saturday night against Houston, the pain got worse. An x-ray showed a stress fracture in the tibia; Deng will have an MRI Monday and could be out for the season.

If Lu ends up missing the season's finish (as Chicago tries desperately to grab a playoff berth), the list of stars downed by February will have grown by one. Marc Stein of ESPN.com noted how many season-ending injuries happened in the month: Amar'e Stoudemire, Al Jefferson, Jameer Nelson, Tracy McGrady and Elton Brand, and also possibly Mike Dunleavy and Monta Ellis (both of whom went back on the shelf recently). Most of those players leave their teams in the lurch in terms of playoff contention.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Thursday night we found out that the Cavs and LeBron James aren't invincible. Their Kryptonite: Delonte West's broken wrist and Luol Deng. The second rated player from LeBron's 2003 high school class scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 40 minutes of play. Not numbers that knock you out of your seat. But considering Deng has been playing like a wet nap the entire year, I gotta give him props. Especially since, you know, he was playing against that locomotive in disguise we call LeBron James.