Written by Dave Pustilnik | 23 January 2010

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcjklEnqmto] Goran Dragic (who?)...have you met Derrick Rose?  All I have to say is thank goodness the Bulls came away with the victory tonight, because that Rose dunk would have meant nothing and would have been far less enjoyable in a loss.  Dragic just made his way into Derrick Rose's career highlight reel.  It's what I like to call Craig Ehlo status.  For those who don't know what I'm talking about (if you don't, you probably shouldn't be reading this blog), Ehlo is the one who is in every Jordan highlight reel shown on television thanks to his being forced to guard MJ on the legendary buzzerbeater known as "The Shot," which clinched the '89 playoff series against the Cavs.  Poor chump.  Similarly, Dragic can now claim to be apart of every Derrick Rose career highlight reel for the next 16 to 17 years.  Congrats buddy.  After that ridiculous tomahawk in his eye, he may want to turn in his green card and go play for CSKA Moscow or something, because you're in THE LEAGUE now son.  The biggest travesty of the night:  the tomahawk was only #6 on Sportscenter's top 10.  I watched the top 10, and it undoubtedly deserved to be #1. I don't know what got into Derrick Rose tonight.  Maybe it was that he was donating $1,000 for every point he scored to Clinton Bush Haiti Relief Fund.  Maybe it was that he knew he was on national television.  Maybe he knows that the coaches are about to select the All-Star reserves, so he has to prove himself pretty much right now.  Or maybe he wanted to show the world exactly what Steve Nash isn't capable of...ON STEVE NASH'S TURF.  All I know is that he was absolutely possessed tonight.  Lights out...but someone was home.  9-11 in the first half for 18 points.  EVERYTHING was going in.  And by everything...I mean everything.  Second half?  Same story.  When you're hitting fadeaway three-point buzzerbeaters at the end of quarters with ease, I would say you're probably having a solid night.  I mean how sick was that third quarter buzzerbeater?  It kind of makes you think maybe Derrick should be shooting the three a little more often.  He finished with 32 points on 15-21 shooting, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.  Just a ridiculous shooting night.  Pretty much didn't miss.  My only quip with Derrick is he didn't drive the lane nearly as much as he should've been when the lane was pretty much wide open half the night.  The jumper looked sharp tonight, but I really hope he doesn't fall in love with it, because Derrick is at his best when he's attacking the rim...and he did not do that tonight whatsoever.  Kind of worries me...but man did he make up for it with the jumper. Kirk Hinrich had a nice game with 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.  He hit a couple threes, but he bricked twice as many.  At least someone is hitting them.  The Bulls need at least a threat of a three-point shooter, and I suppose Kirk provides that as long as he hits a couple a game.  Anything is an improvement from last game's 0-7 from downtown.  He also had a nasty lob to Derrick early on, which also belonged on SC's top 10 but didn't make it.  Salmons had a nice game as well, with 14 points of his own and going an impressive 6-9 from the field.  He also had two threes of his own.  Both Hinrich and Salmons are playing much much better as of late, minus Kirk's stink-bomb last game. Joakim Noah had an excellent game with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  His jumper looked impressive tonight.  He definitely won't be hitting that shot every night, but tonight he really couldn't miss.  He was an efficient 5-9 from the field.  His minutes were limited throughout the game due to serious foul trouble due to his guarding an impressive Amar'e Stoudemire (who obviously got his tonight), but when he was in, he was pretty effective.  He had a big day at the free-throw line, going 9-10.  Joakim has slowly but surely become one of the best free-throw shooters on this team.  Who ever thought that would be the case?  But I trust him at the line pretty much more than anyone else right now.  He also had some nice blocked shots as well.  Due to his foul trouble, he missed one of his patented double-doubles, but a good game nonetheless.  He did have the knucklehead play of the day though, biting on a pump-fake by Jared Dudley at the three-point line with 4 fouls in a close game in the 4th quarter.  How do you bite on a three-point pump fake, from Jared Dudley, in a close game, with 4 fouls?  I mean he flew at him at about 30 mph.  Pretty ridiculous.  If the Bulls lost by 1 or 2, I would have blamed Joakim. Luol Deng had a big big game with 23 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block.  Deng fell in love with the 19 foot jumper again tonight, but he was hitting them pretty much the whole game.  It's definitely the most frustrating shot in the world, since you're right in front of the 3-point line, so you might as well take a step back and shoot it.  But as long as it's going in, can't complain too much.  He finally did take a step back and hit a big 3 from the corner late in the game to put the Bulls up by 3.  After that shot, the Bulls pretty much never looked back.  I think it's time Vinny tells Luol to try and take a step back more often if he's going to shoot the 20 footer ALL THE TIME.  I think as time goes on, he'll hit that tre just as effectively as the 20 foot deuce.  I mean what's the difference really?  I think it's more a mental thing than anything else.  Take care of it Vinny. Tyrus continues to play like hot garbage.  A 1-7 showing, which included numerous bricked jumpers from every spot on the court.  The kid will simply never ever learn.  The one improvement we saw from Tyrus today was he gave the ball up on fast breaks twice.  One led to the lob to Derrick from Kirk, and one led to the tomahawk by Derrick.  See what happens when you let the pros run the break?  Knucklehead. Tonight was pretty much a weird game.  It was one of those nights where it seemed like we were in bizarro world.  It was the bizarro Suns versus the bizarro Bulls.  The Bulls shot 50% from the field while the Suns shot 38%.  Those numbers, on any other night, are reversed.  Usually it's the Bulls who can't buy a bucket while the Suns are the most efficient offense in the league.  That says a lot about how the Bulls played defense tonight.  I chalk it up mostly to Kirk Hinrich totally shutting down Steve Nash.  Nash only had 8 points and 7 assists.  Those are Duhon-like numbers.  Sorry Stevie, that's the reality of the situation.  The Captain did a number on him, and as a result, the Suns became the Bulls and vice versa.  Continuing with the bizarro theme, the Suns out-rebounded the Bulls 49-42.  But I chalk that up to Noah having foul trouble.  Either way, one does not expect that to happen, considering the Suns don't really have rebounders.  Somehow, the Bulls still managed to pull it off. As I stated in the preview, this game was a much better matchup than both the Warriors and the Clippers.  No excuses for losing to the Warriors with what their rotation was that night (on the other hand, the Clippers are actually a better team than the Bulls in my opinion), but the lack of an Andris Biedrins or Marcus Camby type player makes a huge difference for the Bulls effectiveness on offense.  I couldn't pick the Bulls to win, because they are just so bad on the road and the Suns are the most efficient offense in the league, but I liked the matchup.  Beyond that, it's one of those nights where if the shots are falling, then you're going to win the game.  This team lives and dies by the jumper.   And tonight...boy were they falling.  But usually, when 4 of your top scorers are shooting 15 twenty footers a game, you're going to lose.  Even though most of them went in tonight, I am not expecting a repeat performance tomorrow.  Nights like tonight come around once in a blue moon for this team.  Houston is tough, and I expect a reversion to around 41% from the field tomorrow.  Plus the fact that it's a second leg of a back-to-back doesn't help.  But Derrick Rose is clearly a budding superstar, and every game he's growing more and more, so with a player like that, you never know when he will decide to put the team on his back and pull out a victory a la Baron Davis a few nights ago.  Clearly, he's becoming capable of it now.  If tonight's performance showed anything, it showed just that.  More to come on the Houston game tomorrow.