| 25 February 2010
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The Bulls took care of business at home last night against the Pacers. The Pacers never really were in it, although they did make a run in the 2nd quarter to shorten a 19 point lead to 4. But the Bulls came out and score 37 points in the 3rd quarter, and never really looked back.
The Bulls rode big games from Luol Deng and Derrick Rose. Deng had one of his best games of the season, scoring 31 points and adding 9 rebounds. He also had 4 blocks. Welcome to Luol Deng's block party. Deng also went to the 11 times and made 10 out of his 11 attempts. A pretty efficient night for Luol.
Derrick Rose came close to his first career triple double. He finished with 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists. The best part about what I saw from Derrick was his body language. It's different. The look in his eyes is different. It's almost like he gets it now. He knows exactly how good he is. He's playing with some serious swagger. I would say Derrick's swagger is at an all time high. Thank goodness for that All-Star selection, because it really did a number on his confidence level. He is simply playing like the man. Derrick really had his way with T.J. Ford or anyone else they put on him, and really looked like he knew he was going to be able to do whatever he wanted. He's also starting to react emotionally much more after a big play. Last season, and earlier this season, it's almost as if Derrick felt like he had to earn the right to react and goad a little bit after a sick dunk or an and-1. Not anymore. On top of that, he's finally learned that he, of all players, has the right to let a ref know when they blow a call. And he's starting to do it with regularity. It honestly feels tremendous to have a player like this on the Bulls. I'm not gonna lie, with Ben Gordon being a mime and Luol Deng having the personality of a piece of plywood (no offense, love your game Lu), I thought the day would never come where the Bulls have a player with both superstar play and superstar personality. While Derrick doesn't talk much, he projects a TON of personality on the basketball court, and that's all I care about.
The Bulls overall shot over 50%, and they will win every game that they shoot 50% or more. Fact. They even had 5 threes. I swear...look it up. Brad Miller, after a game where he looked like he couldn't hit water if he fell off a boat, went 2-2 from three and shot. Kirk Hinrich had himself an impressive shooting night as well, going 2-3 from downtown, and 6-8 on the night for 14 points. These 2 are about as predictable as the ending to any Tarantino movie. Not very. But Ronald "Flip" Murray continues to provide more than John "Fish" Salmons ever did, with 16 points off the bench and 10 trips to the line. Although it looks like Hakim Warrick may have landed himself in Vinny's doghouse a little bit, as he only played 15 minutes last night. This is likely due to his inability to rebound, as opposed to Taj Gibson who is somehow a rebounding guru. That's right, I said it.
Taj Gibson ladies and gentlemen. The poll on Sports night went a little something like this.
If you had a vote, who would you choose as rookie of the year?
A) Brandon Jennings
B) Tyreke Evans
C) Stephen Curry
D) Taj Gibson
That's right, the 26th pick of the draft, Taj Gibson. Your Taj Gibson. Why is this question legit? Well because Taj is a double-double machine as of late. Last night he had 14 points and 11 rebounds, as well as 3 blocks. He prevents my heart-rate from speeding up when I think about losing Joakim Noah for an extended period of time (yeah, Noah only played 7 minutes...he wasn't really needed). And he's only a rookie. Respek. Obviously, he's not the rookie of the year, but for him to even be mentioned is freakin' fantastic and he's surely become the steal of the draft, aside from MAYBE DeJaun Blair (aka the award stealer).
As for the Pacers, all they really do is shoot 3's. They had 13 of them last night. The Bulls were focused on stopping Grainger, who continues to shoot poorly, although he did have 20 points. As a result, had 21 points, mostly due to going 5-9 from downtown. We can live with that. Also, Troy Murphy was pretty much held in check, thanks to Taj's solid defense. And oh yeah, Indiana just plain sucks. And the best part is we play them again on Saturday. That's a good look. But tonight, we want the Pacers to beat the Bucks, since the Bucks are chasing us for a playoff spot. Go Pacers.
The Bulls host Portland tomorrow night, and that game will not be nearly as easy. But the Bulls are playing decent enough, so hopefully they can pull it out. More on that later...
