| 26 January 2010
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The Bulls are rolling people. Tonight they beat a very good San Antonio Spurs team on the road. Not an easy feat. Actually, they swept the Spurs on the season. You wouldn't expect this group to be able to accomplish that. Derrick Rose came in with the flu tonight. Silly of me to think that the flu would hamper a superstar player like Derrick Rose. As we all should know, true stars always seem to end up playing better when they're sick. Derrick was no different tonight.
Derrick's torrid shooting continues. He finished the game with 27 points on 13-23 shooting and 6 assists. He is now averaging 19.6 points per game on the season, which would actually be around 25 or more if you take away the first month of the season where Derrick was hampered by that ankle injury. Let's face it folks...at full strength, Derrick Rose is simply unstoppable. He's come a long way with the jumpshot. He can rise up at any spot, in any given moment, over anybody, and just drain it in your eye. He did it all night tonight over every Spurs player, including Timmeh. With flu-like symptoms. With the score at 91-91 with less than a minute to go, he drained a little 8 foot fadeaway jumper to give the Bulls the lead. That shot took the air out of the arena and out of the Spurs. By the way...Derrick drained another tough three in the fourth quarter from 25 feet away, but he made it look easy. Is Derrick learning how to shoot the three? I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it really looks like he's gaining confidence in his long-distance shot recently. Cross your fingers. I also love that little turn around one-handed floater he's developed. It's almost automatic and he pulls it out once or twice a game...and tonight he nailed it in Timmy's face. Truly a terrific performance all night. Clearly he deserves to be an all-star.
Joakim Noah also came out with a gutty performance. I didn't think Joakim would play tonight. In fact, I thought Derrick and Joakim would be sitting next to each other on the bench in street clothes. Nope. Joakim, unlike Derrick, was clearly hampered by his plantar fasciitis. You could see him grimacing as he attempted to run the floor on his way back on defense. You could also see that there was no way he was going to sit out unless he absolutely had to. In the first half, he was clearly limited and didn't really play much. In the second half, with the game see-sawing back and forth, his number was called. And he delivered. In 24 minutes, with most of them in the second half, Joakim finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and a blocked shot. He was matched up against a formidable opponent in Tim Duncan...and DeJuan Blair is absolutely no slouch either. But Joakim was a warrior tonight, and when Derrick drove in for the game-winning layup with 37 seconds left, Joakim Noah knew what to do. He went right to the basket to make sure that the ball found its way to the bottom of the net. He followed his point guards drive with a board and a lay-in, and it was clutch. It would have been absolutely great to see Derrick make that layup, and he actually should have made it and usually makes those finesse layups. But if it wasn't Derrick who was going to make the game-winner, somehow you knew it would be Joakim. Your two star players who are both fighting injuries/illnesses come out and play hero on the road. Wouldn't have it any other way. Let's not forget Joakim's big free-throws late in the game. He went 3-4 from the charity stripe after getting fouled twice in the last minute. You can't blame him for not making all 4...we're not talking about Mark Price here at the line. I'll take three out of four from Joakim in crunch time 9 out of 10 times gladly.
They star weren't the only ones with big efforts tonight. Apparently, the Brad Miller Variety Show was slated for an encore performance. Someone tell me how and why Brad Miller is channeling Sam Perkins the past two games? Actually, he's honestly looked like Dirk Nowitzki, just in slow motion. B-rad was clutch tonight in the fourth quarter, draining two big threes. The first kept the Buls within 2 points of the Spurs, and the second gave the Bulls a 4 point cushion as the Spurs were surging. Sore knee my foot. B-rad came out with a vengeance tonight. Big men better start checking his resume, or he'll be draining that three in their face all night with the way he's been shooting lately.
B-rad's buddy Salmons continues to play well. It looks Fish has finally found his stroke for good. He hit another three tonight, and went 4-6 from the field. Miller and Salmons are starting to play like they were late last season and into the playoffs. A big part of why the Bulls are streaking on the road right now.
Luol Deng also had some huge offensive plays late in the game when the Spurs were surging. There was a stretch where the Spurs kept trying to pull away, but Deng kept coming back and driving in and answering with layups of his own. Deng didn't have a career offensive night or anything, but he made plays when the Bulls absolutely needed some offense to stay in it. Playing at a high level. He also had an impressive 9 rebounds against a very good rebounding front court.
Kirk Hinrich is playing at a very high level. And the best part about it is that he's been consistent for a pretty long stretch now. Same with Salmons. Kirk provided a ton of offense early when the Bulls got off to a slow start. He had a big night, with 18 points on 8-15 shooting, as well as 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Quite a line for The Captain. This is important because he's increasing his value as the trade deadline approaches, thus increasing the Bulls' chances of dumping his contract in preparation for this summer. But at least for right now, he's helping this team make its way back up to .500. Just to add, he only had 1 three on the night on 1-4 from the arc, but I'll take 1 or 2 threes a game each from Salmons and Kirk, especially now with Devin Brown who will provide at least 2 or 3 more a game.
The Bulls had 6 players in double figures and Taj Gibson, whose incredibly also battling plantar fasciitis, had 8 points and 7 rebounds. The only player who played poorly was Tyrus Thomas...what else is new? Tyrus couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat right now. His shot looks that bad. Yet he keeps on shooting instead of diving to the basket. And I will never stop calling him out for it. But he did at least add 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. But you have score more than 2 points in 22 minutes of PT.
Tonight was a terrific overall team effort. Every player had a part in securing this tough road victory. Take any one of them away, and the Bulls probably don't pull this one out. Truly gutsy performances from Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Especially from Noah, who very clearly appeared to be playing through serious pain. The Bulls shot over 50% from the field for the third straight game...wait what? The Bulls? Yes...I have no idea what's gotten into them. We have Rose with the flu, Joakim with plantar fasciitis, Taj Gibson with plantar fasciitis, Brad Miller with the sore knee, and the Bulls just beat the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio with all their players healthy, no excuses. Are you kidding me? It sounds ludicrous when you see it on paper like that. Needless to say, the Bulls' confidence level has never been higher than it is right now. Three road victories against Western Conference playoff contenders may have been the defining point of the season and suddenly turns the Bulls into more serious players in the Eastern Conference. With one more win, the Bulls are back up to .500. No one would've thought they'd lose to Golden State and the Clippers and then follow that with a three game winning streak against the Suns, Rockets, and Spurs. The key now is to stop following your winning streaks with losing streaks and try to win 5 in a row instead of always stopping at 4. In a road trip where I thought it was conceivable that the Bulls would go 0-7, I know think it is conceivable that they can win out against the Hornets and Clippers and end up 5-2 on the trip. That would truly be unbelievable.
