Sometimes I dream. That he is me. You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be. I dream I move, I dream I groove. Like Rose. If I could Be Like Rose.
That’s the kind of praise Kyle Korver was singing after Game 2.
From ESPNChicago.com: “I would just like to be athletic for a day, let alone be Derrick Rose for a day. I mean this dude, you watch some of these guys and you’re just like, ‘If I could move like that, this would be a totally different game.’ Could you imagine? If I could run and jump like that, you’d shoot whenever you want. That would be incredible. Obviously, it’s not going to happen. I got past that a while ago.”
Bonus video:
Just for fun, here’s the full one-minute version of the original “Be Like Mike” Gatorade commercial.
From ESPNChicago.com: “The NBA is reviewing two hits Indiana Pacers center Jeff Foster leveled against the Chicago Bulls during Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals series on Thursday, according to a league spokesman.”
Regardless of whether the league actually does anything — such as suspending Foster for Game 4 — hopefully this will dissuade Foster and the rest of the Pacers from getting so free with their arms and elbows. Hard playoff fouls are one thing. But, clearly, Indy is pushing things a bit too far. And the league has noticed.
Before the series, Granger (rather infamously) said: “Chicago, they go as Derrick Rose goes. If you make a concerted effort to stop Derrick Rose, you have a better chance to beat them.”
Over the first three games of this series, it has become very clear that “making a concerted effort to stop Derrick Rose” is indeed Indiana’s game plan. They have doubled Rose. They have trapped him. They’ve thrown entire walls of defenders at him. When he drives, they bump him, hit him, and, if all else fails, commit hard (and borderline flagrant) fouls, such as Jeff Foster’s “Who me?” elbow to the head midway through the third quarter.
Honestly, the tactics the Pacers have been using against Rose feels like a zero-calorie version of the “Jordan Rules” former Pistons coach Chuck Daily devised to stop MJ back in the late 1980s. The strategy (as explained on Wikipedia) was “to play him tough, to physically challenge him and to vary its defenses so as to try to throw him off balance. Sometimes the Pistons would overplay Jordan to keep the ball from him. Sometimes they would play him straight up, more often they would run a double-team at him as soon as he touched the ball to try to force him to give it up. And whenever he went to the basket, they made sure his path was contested”.
Sounds about right, doesn’t it?
Rose beat that strategy in Games 1 and 2. He succumbed to it last night and submitted one of his worst games of the season: 4-for-18 from the field, 2-for-6 from downtown, only 2 assists and a game-high 5 turnovers. Rose still managed to score a game-high 23 points by going 12-for-13 from the foul line. He also snatched a game-best 4 steals and hit the go-ahead layup with 17 seconds left.
That’s the hallmark of truly great players: They can make an impact even when they are playing like absolute garbage.
Last night, for most of the game, Rose got by with a little help from his friends. And no, Carlos Boozer (4 points on 2-for-10 shooting in 32 minutes) was not one of those friends. But everyone outside of Rose and Boozer (who were a combined 6-for-28) went 22-for-44.
Starters Luol Deng (21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists), Joakim Noah (11 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) and even Keith Bogans (9 points on 3-for-3 from downtown) came through big time.
The Bench Mob didn’t see a lot of floor time (more on that below), but Kyle Korver was crunch time savior. He scored 10 of his 12 points in a three-minute stretch of the fourth quarter that began with the Pacers up 70-66 and ended with the Bulls ahead 80-76. That hot-shooting burst by Korver really turned the game around because the Bulls were struggling — and struggling mightily — to find some offense at that point.
Said Indiana coach Frank Vogel: “Korver killed us in the fourth. He even killed us on the last play when we couldn’t leave him to help. That allowed Rose to get to the bucket.”
When they review the video of this game, Vogel and the Pacers are going to wonder how Korver kept getting wide open for those shots. They may also wonder: “What more can we do?” Seriously, Indy has done everything in this series but actually win. The Pacers have had fourth quarter leads in all three games and then choked them away. That has to be demoralizing. How much spirit will they have left in Game 4? It’s hard to say…but I’m not going to bet against them. They’ve shown more scrap in this series than I imagined possible.
As for the Bulls, their offensive struggles continue. Offensively, Game 3 was the ugly twin of Game 2, with Chicago shooting 38.9 percent from the field and giving up 18 points off 16 turnovers (12 of those points and 12 of those turnovers came in the first half). However, whereas the Bulls dominated the boards in Game 2, the Pacers evened things up last night (42-42) and won the offensive rebounding battle (15-10).
Unfortunately for Indiana fans, the Pacers shot poorly from the field (37.9 percent) and were absolutely dreadful from beyond the arc (1-for-10). Throw in Chicago’s 27-18 advantage in free throw attempts, Korver’s shot hot streak, Rose’s clutch basket and Granger’s awful final shot…and that’s the ballgame.
I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again: The Bulls have problems but they aren’t on defense. Last night, they once again exceeded their season averages by holding the Pacers to an eFG% of 38.5 percent and an Offensive Rating of 97.8. Take away Danny Granger’s 10-for-21 performance and Indiana was 23-for-66 as a team (and 0-for-9 from downtown). And here’s more data from ESPN Stats and Information:
“While it wasn’t pretty, the Bulls’ win over the Pacers followed the same familiar scripts as in the first two games with Chicago’s defense tightening up in the 4th quarter. Chicago held Indiana to just 17 points in the 4th quarter on 8-23 shooting. For the series, the Bull are holding the Pacers to 35.4 pct from the floor in the final frame.”
Like I said: Defense is not the source of Chicago’s (relative) woes.
The problems are on offense. The Pacers strategy has been: Throw a variety of defenses at Rose, clog the paint and force the Bulls to become a jump shooting team. They have supplemented this strategy with aggressive, physical play and loads of hard fouls (mostly against Rose). These are tactics lesser teams have always employed against better teams. That’s how the Knicks rose up to challenge the Bulls in the 1990s, although these Pacers are not nearly as brutal as those New York teams and this year’s squad isn’t on par with the Jordan teams. With all due respect to Deng, Boozer and Noah, Rose doesn’t have his Scottie Pippen.
That could be Chicago’s undoing in these playoffs.
Outside of that, the Bulls’ spacing was terrible. That’s why many of these turnovers are being committed. It’s also a big reason why Boozer is struggling so much. Because the spacing is so bad, the area around Boozer often looks like a mosh pit. Several turnovers have been committed because post passes to Booz have to travel through a sea of enemy hands. And when the ball does reach Carlos, he’s almost always surrounded.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has to clean up this spacing issue because it is strangling the offense to death. This is made even more apparent by the following factoids from ESPN Stats and Information:
“The Bulls made a season-low seven field goal attempts inside of five feet on Thursday, one fewer than the eight field goals they made inside five feet against the Bucks on December 28th. The Bulls shot 30.4 percent on such attempts in Game 3 (7-23), also a season-low.”
And:
“The Bulls managed just 16 points in the paint, by far their fewest of the season. During the regular season Chicago’s fewest points in the paint were 26 done three different times. It’s also the fewest the Bulls have scored in the paint in any playoff game over the last 15 seasons.”
Thibs also needs to remember that a clear and consistent rotation was one of the primary keys to Chicago’s regular season success. I get that starters tend to log more minutes in the playoffs, but as near as I can tell, Thibodeau has completely scrapped the regular season rotation and hasn’t decided on one for the postseason. When the Bulls were winning 62 games, everybody knew their role, and it was a strength. The bench players don’t know what their role is right now and it shows.
I ask you this: What impact is Omer Asik going to have in three minutes?
But hey, a win’s a win, and we’ll take it. No matter how ugly.
Said Noah: “It shows you that it’s not all about just stats. I know that a lot of people are always looking at the stat sheet. If you look at, to me, what really affects winning, Taj Gibson’s blitz on [Danny] Granger at the end of the game. Nobody’s going to ever talk about that. But those are the things that win the game. A lot of guys stepped up. Booz didn’t score the ball very well tonight, but his rebounding was very big for us. Overall, it’s a team effort we stuck together, played hard as hell.”
Noah’s right. It’s pretty clear the Pacers aren’t going to win this series. But whether they sweep or finish things at home in Game 5 (or, gulp, Games 6 or 7), the Bulls need to use the remaining game (or games) to clean up their mess of an offense and establish some rhythm for the second round. This kind of play isn’t going to cut it against a better team.
TrueHoop Network: Jared Wade of 8 Points, 9 Seconds: “But it wasn’t Derrick Rose that beat Indiana tonight. What beat them was their own inability to create good offense when it matters. What beat them was a superior team that through the gutsy, unwavering will of its superior player — and I don’t just mean on the court in this game, I mean perhaps superior to any other player in the NBA right now — made a play just seconds after the Pacers proved unable to do so.”
Game 2 Stats: Chicago
Derrick Rose: 36 points (12-13 FTs), eight rebounds, six assists, six turnovers
Indiana
Danny Granger: 19 points (7-14 FGs), four assists, three steals
Overview: The Bulls left Chicago with a 2-0 lead, but those wins weren’t as convincing as you may expect to see from a number one seed against the lowest seed in the playoffs. Regardless of how the Bulls did though, experts would be picking their games apart and finding flaws. The Bulls know and expect this.
The Bulls have played well when they needed to; which, in the postseason, is a great sign. They haven’t blown people away for the first forty minutes, but they have outplayed Indiana in the last eight. That’s a great sign for not only this series, but the rest of the playoffs. A lot of that is Rose. He has stepped it up to another level (how many levels does he have?) when Chicago has needed him to do so in the fourth. That includes scoring and dishing, specifically to Kyle Korver.
Which brings up the next point; Chicago’s “finishing lineup” (Rose, Deng, Korver, Boozer and Noah), which seems to be playing (at least on offense) during crunch time, has been amazing. They have a 143.44 offensive rating compared to a 107.59 rating. That offensive rating is absurdly high. They don’t play many minutes together (16) but when they are on the floor, they dominate.
That lineup is shooting 53.1 percent from the field, 50 percent from three and averages six turnovers per 48 minutes. Obviously this squad can’t keep this up for 48 minutes, these numbers are just “per 48 minutes” extrapolations, but it’s a great sign for the ends of games.
The 107 defensive rating is pretty bad, especially for Chicago, but not when you compare it to their 143 offensive rating. And remember Boozer and Korver are in on that lineup, so that brings down the defense. And when the Bulls need stops, those two guys probably won’t be in.
Chicago’s starting lineup (Rose, Bogans, Deng, Boozer, Noah) has been much stingier on defense, but their offensive rating falls even further. The starters’ o-rating is 88.63 and their defensive rating is 90.43. They are shooting 31.5 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from three. Yuck. That partly explains the poor starts that the Bulls have been experiencing.
But with all that, the Bulls are still up 2-0, and that’s really all that counts. That’s not to say there isn’t much to work on though.
“We just don’t want to relax,” Bulls forward Luol Deng said. “Whether we go out and win by 20 or win by one or whatever, I think there’s always going to be something that we’re going to talk about that we want to get better at. That’s just been us all year, where we’re never too high and never too low. We just know what we want to get to.”
And to get to that goal, Chicago will have to pass a new test: playing on the road in the playoffs. The Bulls and Pacers split the games at Canseco Fieldhouse this season 1-1, with Indiana taking the most recent. That loss was also Chicago’s only division loss of the season.
Indiana has gotten out to early leads in the first two games, but the pro-Bulls crowd hasn’t quieted or gotten behind them, obviously. That will change when the stadium is dominated by Indiana fans, if in fact Pacers fans outnumber Bulls fans. Chicago fans have traveled well all year long (they rank first in home attendance), while Indiana ranked last in attendance this year. Crowds are often overblown, but it wouldn’t hurt to see some red in Indy for tonight’s game.
Another question mark is whether Darren Collison will be able to play. Indiana coach Frank Vogel said the Indiana “is preparing not to have him.” Collison is listed as a game-time decision, but he expects to play. Indiana’s backups are A.J. Price (13 points in 24 minutes) and T.J. Ford (5 points in 9 minutes). Collison has done well on both the offensive (18.4 points per 36 minutes) and defensive ends (slowing Rose) in this series. When he went down in game two, it changed the momentum somewhat. Whether he can go in game three, and how healthy he is, could have a big meaning for the outcome.
About the Author: Braedan Ritter was born and raised in Pennsylvania but was swayed by gifts from his aunt to follow the Chicago sports teams. It didn’t hurt that the Bulls had a guy named Michael Jordan playing for them, and the Sixers had…Derrick Coleman. Braedan has stuck with Chicago through thick and thin, and really thin (see: Chicago Cubs). And speaking of Coleman, Braedan is currently a student at Syracuse University.
Chicago Bulls — Game 2: Defensive Rating: 95.7
Pacers eFG%: 45.5
So, by the numbers, the Bulls actually exceeded their regular season average for defensive output in Game 2. Admittedly, they gave up 29 points in the second quarter, but they held Indy to only 43 points in the second half. Meanwhile, they slammed the breaks on Tyler Hansbrough (2-for-12), Paul George (2-for-7), Roy Hibbert (3-for-7), Darren Collison (2-for-5), A.J. Price (3-for-8) and Josh McRoberts (3-for-9).
Admittedly, Jeff Foster (4-for-5) and Mike Dunleavy Jr. (3-for-5) knocked down a handful of stunners, but holding any team to 95.7 points per 100 possessions is pretty good defense, right?
Meanwhile, against Indiana’s aggressive (and exceedingly physical) defense, the Bulls managed a pathetic eFG% of only 41.6 percent, and their Offensive Rating (102.0) was well below their regular season average (108.3).
My belief is that the Bulls are struggling because they can’t score. Rose is the only player capable of creating his own shot on the perimeter. He’s also the only player who can consistently make it to the basket against one-on-one defense. Carlos Boozer can score in the post, but he hasn’t gotten consistent opportunities. I”m not sure whether that’s from a lack of effort on his part or because coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t committing to the inside-outside game he talked about so often early in the season.
Look, we all know the defense is going to be there. The Bulls need to get their offensive act together. Boozer scored 17 points and earned nine free throw attempts despite not getting many touches in the second half. There’s no way Indy’s front line should be able to stop him. Chicago needs to force the issue and pound that ball down low. Heck, I’d like to see more post-ups from Joakim Noah while we’re at it. Luol Deng, too. Why not? Danny Granger’s not on the All-Defensive Team.
And, gak, the Bulls’ performance at the rim was awful in Game 2: 15-for-36. That’s right: 21 missed shots at the rim. Take away Rose’s at-the-rim numbers (6-for-11), and the rest of the Bulls were 9-for-25, with the Boozer/Deng/Noah triumvirate combining to go 5-for-19. Excuse me, but when did the Pacers sign Bill Russell?
Give the Pacers credit: They are using extremely physical play to protect the basket. The Bulls need to either figure out a way to finish or draw fouls. Shooting 41.7 percent on 36 attempts at the rim isn’t going to get the job done against anybody. Well, they got by in Game 2, but it’s hard to see that working on the road in Game 3.
Bulls Starters: Luol Deng (+13)
Carlos Boozer (+12)
Joakim Noah (+12)
Derrick Rose (+11)
Keith Bogans (+8)
Bulls bench: Kyle Korver (+5)
C.J. Watson (-3)
Omer Asik (-3)
Taj Gibson (-4)
Kurt Thomas (-7)
Ronnie Brewer (-14)
Pacers starters: Darren Collison (+6)
Tyler Hansbrough (-6)
Paul George (-11)
Danny Granger (-12)
Roy Hibbert (-16)
Pacers bench: Jeff Foster (+12)
Mike Dunleavy Jr. (+9)
T.J. Ford (+7)
Brandon Rush (0)
Josh McRoberts (-2)
A.J. Price (-17)
As you can see, the Bulls outscored the Pacers by double digits when their top four players were in the game. Conversly, Indy was outscored by double digits with three of their starters on the floor (George, Granger, Hibbert).
What jumps out at me is that the Pacers got good plus-minus production from some of their reserves (Dunleavy, Ford, Foster) while the Bulls bench underperformed by their standards (especially Brewer).
I don’t mean to oversimplify things. However, one of the defining characteristics of this year’s squad was that the Bench Mob was typically able to come in a really put the squeeze (particularly defensively) on the other team.
That became a popular question in the aftermath of their come-from-behind victory in Game 1 on Saturday. It’s going to be even more popular today, tomorrow, and in the hours leading up to Game 3 in Indianapolis on Thursday.
Because there must be something wrong with a team that has won 11 games in a row and 23 of their last 25.
So what’s wrong with these guys anyway? Let’s ask Derrick Rose.
“Our play has to get better,” Rose said. “We have to be more smooth, more efficient, especially on the defensive end where we have to try a lot harder. But I feel like we’re going to get things together pretty quickly.”
Better defensively? Last night, the Bulls held he Pacers to 90 points on 41.6 percent shooting, forced 18 turnovers and won the rebounding battle 57-33. Indy finished with an Offensive Efficiency of 91.8.
The defense was fine. The offense? Not so much.
The Bulls shot 38.6 percent from the field and misfired on nine of their 14 three-point attempts. They also bricked seven free throws. Starters Luol Deng (3-for-13), Joakim Noah (2-for-10) and Keith Bogans (1-for-5) couldn’t have located the basket with a GPS device. Derrick Rose scored a game-high 36 points and went 12-for-13 from the foul line, but he missed 14 of his 25 shot attempts.
Apparently, Indiana’s defense was fine, too.
Worse than the misdirected shooting, though, was that the Bulls gave up 26 points off 22 turnovers. Look, playoff basketball is tough. Defenses step up the intensity and shooting percentages tend to drop. That’s to be expected.
To win in the postseason, teams need to play defense, rebound and take care of the basketball. In Game 1, the problem was either that the defense didn’t play as expected or the Pacers shot the lights out from mid-range (or both). Last night, the Bulls played solid defense and took care of the boards. However, they did not value possession of the basketball. And it nearly cost them Game 2.
That said, let’s think things out a bit.
This quote from the AP recap really stood out to me: “It hasn’t been easy for the Bulls after they stormed through the regular season with a league-best 62-20 record.”
Did you see what I saw?
The Bulls did indeed finish with a record of 62-20. Best in the NBA. But it’s not really accurate to say they “stormed through the regular season.” The 2010-11 Bulls did a great many things, but storming was not one of them. Several teams — the Celtics, Hornets, Lakers, Mavericks and Spurs, for instance — ran out to better early-season records. And there were long stretches of the season in which the Bulls had, say, the fourth, fifth or sixth best record in the NBA.
No, what they did was not “storming” so much as it was grinding out win after gritty win. As the season wore on and other teams struggled with injuries, boredom, or a general pulling back of the throttle to reserve energy (both mental and physical) for the playoffs, the Bulls came out with the same level of focus and desire to win every game every night.
The Bulls were the league’s best regular season team not because they are the most talented group of players but because they wanted it more. Because their focus and intensity was more consistent than any other team in the Association.
And so now there’s been a major shift in perception. Remember: The Bulls were not expected to lead the East in regular season wins. Many people figured they would finish behind the Celtics, Heat and Magic at a bare minimum. Maybe the Hawks, too. And, as I’ve mentioned, there were people who genuinely believed that the Milwaukee Bucks might win the Central Division.
With great power comes great responsibility, right? Well, with 62 wins comes increased expectations. When the Bulls were grinding out win after regular season win, they were exceeding the expectations that had been set for them prior to the season. But now, because they were the league’s best team for 82 games, there are new expectations. Namely, that they should be steamrolling their opponents, especially lesser teams like the Pacers.
Look, I’m not trying to demean the players on this team, because they’re great guys. That said, the Bulls’ success this season has caused many people to overrate the team’s talent. I think this has happened for two reasons. First, because the Bulls have been so successful, people need to reframe the situation to better understand it. “Oh,” they decide, “these guys must be a lot better than I gave them credit for.”
Second, in the rush to argue against Rose’s MVP candidacy, it became a popular notion to suggest that his teammates were actually better (or even much better) than previously assumed. “Hey,” they pointed out, “check out those plus-minus numbers. The Bulls aren’t just Rose. They have a lot of really good players.”
I’m not sure that’s actually the case, though. If the Bulls truly had a lot of really good players, they wouldn’t have to start Bogans. No, what Chicago has are a lot of solid NBA contributors who bought into a concept (defense and teamwork) and played their butts off for six months.
I mean, let’s face facts. Carlos Boozer was a major free agent last summer, but he was definitely on the second tier of the most sought-after acquisitions. Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer might have been on the fourth tier. As far as I could tell, there were no bidding wars or trade battles for the services of C.J. Watson. Kurt Thomas is ancient. And everyone realizes that Omer Asik is a rookie with almost no offensive game to speak of and even less upper body strength, right?
Oh, for the record, I’m not saying any of this to boost Rose’s MVP resume. I just think that it’s worth reevaluating the updated perception of the Bulls. The 62-20 record looks overpowering, but this was not an overpowering team. The Bulls might be number one in terms of wins and losses, but in terms of pure talent, they might not be in the top five. They are very well coached, they play exceptionally hard and they believe in each other. Oh, and they have Rose to clean up any messes.
And if you take a look back at the last month or so of the season, the formula for winning became this: Play all out on defense and let Rose take over the last five minutes of the game. I’m serious. Go back through the game logs. The Bulls played a lot of close games in which their will and Rose’s ability to close simply wore down the other team.
That’s what’s happening right now. Nothing has really changed except what people believe the Bulls are supposed to be doing.
Said Noah: “Like we’ve been saying all year, we have really high character on this team. It’s funny how people always [say], ‘Oh, you guys are going to smack [them].’ People are just automatically expecting us to just beat down on teams. That’s what we want to do, but sometimes it’s not going to happen, and you’re going to find a way to win these games as well.”
Exactly.
The Bulls are not and have not been a “smack down” team. As Noah said, they are a high character team that wears down opponents with consistent effort and intensity. It worked in Games 1 and 2. And it should work well enough for them to win this series.
Past that?
We really don’t know yet, do we? These Bulls are travelling an unconventional path to success. They win more on scrap than talent, and the scrappy teams aren’t supposed to win 62 games and earn the top seed in their conference (and the league). They’re supposed to do what, say, the Houston Rockets did, or what the Pacers are doing now.
What will these Bulls do? What can they do?
Their are a lot of variables that effect regular season success. The playoffs are about talent. When you look at the past decade of NBA champions, you see Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. You see Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Shaq and Kobe. The closest recent comparison is the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons who featured a top four of Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince.
Can the Bulls emulate their success?
I’m not sure. Those players were at the top of their repective games at that particular time. Rose, obviously, has never been better. Deng is having his best season (or second only to 2006-07). This hasn’t been Boozer’s best season. And, frankly, the Noah of right now is not the Noah from before his thumb injury. Jo is ripping down boards and playing defense, but he looks confused, hesitant and out-of-sync on offense. Earlier in the season, he was much more confident posting up, taking short jump hooks and shooting the midrange jumper. His offensive confidence is gone unless he’s dunking the ball or getting a putback.
To be perfectly blunt, Chicago’s offense has become too reliant on Rose. Actually, scratch “has become” from that sentence. It’s been too reliant on Rose for a while now. If I have any criticism of Tom Thibodeau, it’s that he has not (in my opinion) done enough to diversify the non-Rose parts of the offense. And I get that. I mean, it has been working. It worked well enough to earn the team 62 wins.
I’m afraid it may cost the Bulls during these playoffs. If not in this round, then in the next, or the one after that.
Or maybe I’m doing it now. Maybe I’ve caught the “What’s wrong with the Chicago Bulls” fever, too. They have an established formula that works for them. It has worked against bad teams and it has worked against the good ones as well. They are playing hard, executing down the stretch and, most importantly, winning.
So maybe there’s nothing wrong with the Chicago Bulls.
Update! I knew the Bulls had the second-best margin of victory in the league this season, but I didn’t realize how many blowouts they had. I checked the schedule, and it turns out the Bulls had 30 double-digit victories. Of those 30 wins, 17 of them were by 16 or more and seven of them were by 20 or more.
You know, it didn’t feel (to me) like there were that may double-digit wins. Maybe I need to (partially) reevaluate my perception of the Bulls as a grind-it-out team.
Game 1 stats: Pacers
Danny Granger: 24 points (10-20, 4-8 from three), 6 rebounds
Tyler Hansbrough: 22 points (10-19), 4 rebounds
Darren Collison: 17 points (7-15), 6 rebounds, 9 assists
Bulls
Derrick Rose: 39 points (10-23, 0-9 from three), 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks
Luol Deng: 18 points (7-13), 11 rebounds
Kyle Korver: 13 points (4-7, 4-4 from three), game high +13 plus/minus
Overview: After a “disappointing win,” the Bulls look to take a two game lead before they travel to Indiana for the next two games. Chicago played against one of Indiana’s best performances, maybe the best they will face, and still won; thanks in large part to Derrick Rose.
Remember when Rose was criticized for not getting to the line? It was quite the opposite this weekend when Rose got to the line 21 times, and hit 19 of those freebies. All of Rose’s great plays notwithstanding, he shot (and missed) nine three pointers. That cannot happen again. A couple of them were end-of-the-quarter-heaves, but too many of them were silly shots; especially when Rose was getting to the rim at will.
It’s a great sign that the Bulls willed themselves to win, showing amazing poise in the last few minutes. Indiana, on the other hand, didn’t show the greatest late-game composure, allowing the Bulls to go on a 16-1 run to close the game. But the fact that the Bulls were down by ten, in the fourth quarter, against the worst team in the playoffs, isn’t great. It shows that this team is still young and has a lot to work on.
There was a lot of talk about Boozer’s poor showing. He scored just 12 points on 4-11 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and added four turnovers and five fouls. Not quite the game Bulls fans were expecting from their new inside scorer.
But his defense wasn’t as bad as some say it was, especially against Tyler Hansbrough. Hansbrough played a great game, as he did the last time the Bulls and Pacers met in the regular season. With Boozer on the court, Hansbrough shot 33 percent (1-7 from the restricted area, 3-5 from mid-range). When Boozington was out, Hansbrough shot 86 percent (6-7 from the field overall, 4-5 from midrange).
Those numbers don’t look great considering that Hansbrough is clearly a mid-range shooter and the Bulls didn’t close out well on him, but don’t expect him to get any open looks tonight as Coach Thibodeau is sure to make adjustments.
So what did Thibs think was wrong on defense? “Everything,” Thibodeau said Sunday. “Every aspect from ball pressure, challenging shots, finishing the defense, getting back, getting set. Fourth-quarter defense was a lot different than the rest of the game.”
One reason the Bulls won the game, was the rebounding margin. Chicago out-rebounded the Pacers 49 to 34 and 21 to 13 on the offensive glass. Joakim Noah had eight offensive boards himself. But the game didn’t start out looking like Chicago was going to control the boards. Roy Hibbert had four offensive rebounds in the first quarter. He ended up with five offensive rebounds and eight total rebounds.
Maybe the Bulls learned that the playoffs are really different. And after seeing upsets in a few other series, hopefully they will come out hungrier than ever. The Pacers have nothing to lose and they played that way for most of the game. But then they seemed to get tight, as did Chicago’s defense. If the Bulls can play the same defense they showed at the end of game one, this game shouldn’t be too close. But isn’t that what everyone said about game one?
From ESPN Stats and Information: “Derrick Rose has been sensational in playoff Game 1s, averaging 34.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 9.0 APG. Game 2s have not been as kind, as Rose is averaging less than half as many points along with fewer assists and rebounds. Rose is 0-2 in Game 2.”
About the Author: Braedan Ritter was born and raised in Pennsylvania but was swayed by gifts from his aunt to follow the Chicago sports teams. It didn’t hurt that the Bulls had a guy named Michael Jordan playing for them, and the Sixers had…Derrick Coleman. Braedan has stuck with Chicago through thick and thin, and really thin (see: Chicago Cubs). And speaking of Coleman, Braedan is currently a student at Syracuse University.
Yes, that’s right. Even though this recap was delayed a day, I’m still saying “whew.” That’s how I feel…and that’s just the kind of game it was. Here are my thoughts.
First, a lot of the post-game talk was about how Chicago’s defense failed. As Rob Mahoney (writing for SI.com) put it: “Chicago may boast the top defense in the NBA this season, but it allowed Indiana to score at a rate of 113.8 points per 100 possessions in Game 1, in part because of the Bulls’ inability to disrupt the scoring balance of Darren Collison, Danny Granger, Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert. That combination, which scored a combined 74 points on 51 percent shooting, proved to be surprisingly stable.”
Okay, look. I will admit Game 1 wasn’t the strongest defensive showing we’ve seen from this Bulls squad. And yes, there was a stretch in the fourth quarter when I thought Carlos Boozer had been paid off to throw the game. But Collison, Granger and Hansbrough were crazy-hot from the outside. Those guys combined to shoot 12-for-22 from 16-23 feet (Hansbrough was 7-for-10) and Collison and Granger went 6-for-10 from downtown. Furthermore, Brandon Rush and A.J. Price combined to go 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
That’s some unusually accurate long-distance shooting. And several of those shots were contested.
I concede that the Bulls can clean up their defense a little bit. But I think the Pacers were converting long field goal attempts at a much higher rate than usual — the Hoopdata numbers back this up – and I find it difficult to believe they’ll be able to shoot as well in Game 2. Particularly since I’m sure coach Tom Thibodeau will be cracking the defensive whip.
I also think the Pacers had a really good defensive game plan. They were physical and aggressive. They bullied Boozer and Joakim Noah, forcing them into a combined 6-for-16 shooting at the rim. They committed hard “playoff fouls.” They had active hands, disrupting passes and contesting shots, refusing to give up anything easy.
Basically, the Pacers played really well. I’m tempted to say they played about as well as they could possibly hope to play. And they lost.
As for the Bulls, there’s plenty of room for improvement, mostly on offense. They missed 15 shots at the rim. They went 6-for-20 from three-point range (including Derrick Rose’s gak-inducing 0-for-9). They committed 15 turnovers and gave up 24 points off those turnovers. Overall, their offensive execution was poor. That was in large part due to Indy’s aggressive D. But still.
Fortunately, the Bulls have D-Rose and the Pacers do not. Look, we all know what Derrick did: 39 points (a playoff career-high) on 10-for-23 from the field and 19-for-21 from the free throw line. In the final 4:52, Rose scored 9 points, assisted Noah on a dunk and dished to Kyle Korver for a three-pointer that gave the Bulls their first lead of the game.
Just call him The Closer.
And did the Pacers ever feel safe? Even when they went ahead 98-88 with 3:38 left?
Said Granger: ”With Derrick Rose on the other team, no. It’s like a crazy stalker ex-girlfriend. Every time you tell her you don’t want to talk to her, she’ll show up at your door again.”
Not exactly politically correct, but essentially accurate.
Rose is a superstar and he did what superstars do. He willed the Bulls to a win that they might not have deserved. Or, to put it another way, he stole a win away from the Pacers that they very nearly earned.
Some other thoughts:
How cool was it when Luol Deng got in Hansbrough’s face for committing a hard foul on Rose? On the one hand, Deng earning a tech during a hotly contested fourth quarter with the Bulls down 91-86 seems like a tactical error. But sometimes it’s important to set a tone. To let the other team know you won’t be intimidated and you won’t let them push your best player around. Deng isn’t what you’d call a natural leader. But standing up for Rose was a very leader-y move.
And, fortunatley, Collison bricked the technical free throw. After which Deng incited the crowd into a cheering frenzy. It was good to see.
Let’s not forget that Deng also contributed 18 points (7-for-13) and 10 rebounds.
Keith Bogans: 0-for-3 and a plus-minus score of -11 in 17 minutes. It was exactly the kind of playoff game Bulls fans have been worried about all season. I’m just sayin’.
Okay, about Boozer. Yes, his defense on Psycho T was, okay, it was dreadful. And the sequence in which Hansbrough stole the ball from Boozer followed by Boozer committing one of history’s dumbest fouls on Hansbrough’s breakaway dunk had me ready to light some torches, grab some pitchforks and assemble a mob to run Boozington out of town.
That said…Boozer’s D was, in part, affected by the fact that he was in foul trouble all night. In addition, Hansbrough was hotter than usual. Guys don’t normally shoot 7-for-10 from 16-23 feet.
Still, Carlos needs to get more physical, force Hansbrough to put the ball on the floor. Hansbrough lives for stand-still jumpers. It’s what he does. Boozer can’t give him that.
Furthermore, Boozer needs more offensive touches. Look, Rose cannot keep churning out 30-point games while driving into buzz saws every night. The Bulls need to figure out how to generate some consistent non-Rose offense. And since Boozer clearly isn’t out there for defense, it’s time to get him more involved in the offense. The Bulls need to post, re-post and re-re-post if necessary. Remember early in the season when Thibs wanted the Bulls to be an inside-out team? What happened to that?
Boozer is a proven scorer. That, along with rebounding, is why you have him on the floor.
Anyway, here’s my final word on the game. The Pacers came out relaxed and confident because they weren’t expected to win. To them, this was the first of four chances to get a win in Chicago. The pressure didn’t get to them until the final five minutes. As for the Bulls, they came out stiff and sluggish, and allowed the Pacers to set the tone.
They took Indy’s best shot. And won anyway. That could be bad news for the Pacers.