It wasn't their prettiest game of the season, but the Chicago Bulls managed to hold off the hard-fighting Memphis Grizzlies tonight 99-86 in a game which grew testy at times.
The Bulls overcame a bad shooting night by Derrick Rose, particularly due to the play of Luol Deng who scored 23 points, added six rebounds and three assists and made key plays down the stretch .
Rose scored 24 points on 22 shots. His 6-of-22 shooting was bolstered by his 12-13 from the line. He also had seven rebounds and seven assists. Rose came through in the clutch though, scoring the Bulls last seven points. He also made the play that sealed the game cutting to the rim to score, drawing a foul with 10 seconds left that put the Bulls up by five.
Memphis had pulled out to an early nine-point lead as Chicago came out sluggishly. After making a 22 foot jump shot Tony Allen made a declaration to the United Center crowd that "This is my house."
That was a stupid thing to do.
It seemed to ignite the Bulls, who then went on a 12-1 run to close the first half and go into the break up 49-46.
The only thing that Allen did for the rest of the game was get called for a technical foul for trash talking to the Chicago bench after the game. After the game Rose was asked, when you have a guy talking like that does it make you mad and just want to beat them?
"Oh definitely," Rose replied, "the yelling and celebrating make you want to play hard, especially (with his) being from Chicago, and like his little brother's my best friend and it gets to you a little man." NBA teams take note, don't poke Derrick Rose.
When asked about Coach Thibodeau's assessment that Rose was a "complete closer" Rose responded, "No man, I missed a free throw at the end. Closers don't do that, ever...at all."
Is that what makes Derrick Rose MVP or what? He scores the last seven points of the game and beats himself up for the one free throw he missed.
As far as things to take home from this game, the way they came out flat was a bit discouraging, particularly after playing so well the last couple of games. They were a little bit fortunate to have pulled this one out.
On the other hand that's what you need to do sometimes when you're looking to lock up the No. 1 seed, overcome and win on your bad nights out. It's something Boston wasn't able to do tonight, which is why Chicago now holds a two-game lead in the Eastern Conference.
What's encouraging is that they won in a game where their defense played well. Their defensive rating on the night was 111.4, but their offensive rating was 114.9. This is a continuation of a highly efficient post All-Star break offense which has been scoring 113.8 points per 100 possessions.
The more encouraging thing, though, was seeing Luol Deng continue to step up as the No. 2 guy to really help the team when Rose is struggling. He's growing into the wingman the Bulls need, one that creates shots and takes pressure off of Rose.
He did that tonight against a solid defensive squad in Memphis, which is the 10th best defense in the league. It wasn't just the effectiveness, but the confidence to step up and not back off in key situations (though it helps that he was effective).
In that vein, Kyle Korver also stepped up in big moment in the closing minutes, sinking a three that gave the Bulls the lead. In a play similar to the one he passed up against the Pacers last week, he took the pass from Rose, side stepped two defenders who were rushing in on him, and then sank the three as they collided into one another and went rolling out of bounds.
In terms of playoff basketball it's good to see the Bulls doing the sorts of things they need to do to win when they aren't able to impose their normal game plan on the other team. All in all it wasn't a good win, but it was a win, and that makes it a good win. I know that doesn't make sense, but it does. Next up Yogi Berra will be guest writing.
The Bulls will host the Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow night in Milwaukee. If it's anything like the last game there, Bulls fans should outnumber the Bucks fans.
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