| 28 January 2010
[/caption]
If somebody came up to me and told me that the Bulls were going to reach .500 on this 7 game Western Conference road trip, I would have called them an idiot. A fool. A buffoon. Prior to the trip, the Bulls had won 4 road games all season. How were they going to come out .500 on a 7 game road trip against good teams? I felt even more confident that they would not reach .500 after the first 2 games. It's simple logic. Lose to two crappy teams on the front end of a big road trip with good teams making up the middle and back end, and you might go 0-7. I forgot that this team completely defies logic.
This season has been like a ridiculous roller coaster ride. Nice wins early, followed by loss to New Jersey, followed by big losing streak, followed by some nice wins, followed by 35 point comeback, followed by nice wins, followed by losing streak, followed by 4 game winning streak, followed by 2 game losing streak, followed by 4 game winning streak, followed by 2 game losing streak, followed by 4 game winning streak on the road. Literally. With a little big of Vinny being fired, and then not being fired, thrown in. And we're only half way through.
I suppose we should all enjoy this enigma of a winning streak while it lasts. The Bulls have shot over 45% in every game and over 50% in three of the four games. Previous to this streak, that was unheard of. Derrick Rose is playing like Dwyane Wade. Literally. He's a clone. Joakim Noah is an offensive rebounding machine and stopping opposing centers in their tracks. And every other player has actually played their role perfectly, providing for a tremendous overall team effort each game. It's been great to watch. Let's see how last night's game breaks down.
First off, Derrick Rose with another huge night. 26 points on 13-23 shooting, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds. He took over at the end of the 4th quarter to ensure the Bulls pulled away late, and also had another authoritative dunk that left the Thunder standing around looking at themselves and that left Russell Westbrook with a reminder of what he is not capable of. Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are similar players? HA....yeah...apparently not.
Joakim Noah had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Double-double number gazillion on the season. He also added 4 steals and 2 blocks. Joakim Noah's shot-blocking ability is not to be underestimated from this point further. The man can hold his own with the best of them. On top of that, he's learned to play the passing lanes like an All-Defensive First Team member. I'm not going to anoint him yet, because he still can't body up against wider big-men, but he's becoming The Man.
Luol Deng continues to be Mr. Consistency, putting up 17 points, including 3-4 from three point range. It's honestly huge that Luol Deng has legitimately added the three point shot to his arsenal. He's actually hitting that shot consistently now, which says a lot about how much he worked on his game this offseason. No player on the Bulls has been more consistent, and he's proven to be a tremendous second option on this team. Not only that, but his defense on players like Durant has been a revelation. Maybe he's hung out with Scottie Pippen this summer, but either way, he's become a pest. Durant really played awful last night because he couldn't get off an open shot thanks to Deng. Actually, Durant ended up padding his stats in garbage time...but he did end up going 28 points and 11 boards, with most of his points coming on free throws. But a lot of those points came late when the game was already decided, so don't flatter yourself Durant.
Taj Gibson is becoming a formidable front court opponent for any 3 or 4 that he's guarding. He added 13 boards of his own last night. He also had an impressive drive to the basket, finishing with a running floater off the glass. That's something we haven't seen from Taj in the past, and I honestly think he may have been one of the steals of this past summer's draft. He continues to impress. Tyrus Thomas had a good night, for once, with 13 points on 6-8 shooting, with 2 blocks and 1 steal. The reason Tyrus played well tonight is because he played within himself, attacked the rim, and was smart in transition. We saw good Tyrus tonight, a night where Tyrus was following shots, dunking put-backs, and cutting to the rim for layups. That's all he should be doing, but obviously he'll be shooting jumpshots next game because you never get two games in a row of good Tyrus.
Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons had rough nights. It's almost as if the two are mentally conjoined. If one plays poorly, the other one absolutely must play poorly. It's unfortunate, because you'd like one's ability to counteract the other's if one of them is having a bad night. Hasn't happened once yet. But these two are going to have bad nights...they're just not good enough of shooters to avoid night's like this. As long as it happens on a night where the Bulls win, I can live with it.
But the three point shooting that was missing from Kirk and Salmons tonight was made up for by not only Deng, but the Brad Miller Sideshow Circus. Miller has risen like a phoenix from the ashes, starting with his game in Phoenix ironically enough, and has played like Dirk Nowitzki on this 4 game winning streak. I still can't believe it. I don't know how or why he's doing it, but I would like to know why he wasn't doing it before. Miller continued his hot shooting going 4-9 from the field for 14 points, as well as 2-5 from the three point line. I never in a million years before this season thought that Brad Miller could consistently hit from long distance. He is now a light-skinned Sam Perkins.
I'm just going to lay it out there. The Bulls are on a tear right now. They're one of the hottest teams in the league. Not many teams are capable of winning 4 games in a row on the road. Not even some of the elite teams. And we're talking about good teams we're playing. This is their 3rd 4 game winning streak in 16 games. Sick. The key for them is to avoid those one or two disheartening losses that always seem to find them in between the winning streaks...those games that they shouldn't be losing but always manage to lose. If they can avoid those, this team becomes very very dangerous. Right now, the Bulls are just very dangerous. At this point, 0-7 on the road trip seems like a distant memory, and now they're guaranteed to come out with a winning record on this tough trip. No one, and I mean no one on the planet, would have predicted that. The best part about all of this? The Bulls have reached .500 on the season, currently sit in the 7-seed, and are only 1 game out of the 5-seed. They are far ahead of last year's pace, and this is without Ben Gordon, their leading scorer last year.
Who can we thank? Sure, Noah's improvement into an All-Star caliber center has been crucial. Deng's development into a consistent true second option has been key. Even the drafting of Taj Gibson to fill a void in the front-court has played a huge role. And yes, the Brad Miller Sideshow Circus has given the Bulls a big spark recently. But the true reason why the Bulls are where they are right now? Mr. Derrick Rose...a true All-Star, and a man who has his teammates believing he can eventually lead them to the promised land. And if you don't think his playing level is equivalent to that of Dwyane Wade's right now during this stretch, then you're a hater.
