Chicago has gone through the stages since Rose went down in Portland several weeks ago.

There was a blowout loss in Los Angeles while the team and the fanbase refused to accept the idea Rose was gone for the year. Anger arrived with the news of Derrick’s torn meniscus, fans fumed at the perceived unfairness of yet another lost season especially in what was billed as ‘the year’ for this core to make its championship run.

Bargaining came in the form of hoping Rose might return earlier than next season. That didn’t last as the team announced he was shelved for the remainder. Depression has continued, however, with a loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA in Utah and a meek home loss to Detroit. That barren run was punctuated by a morale-lifting win against the Heat.

The boost didn’t last long as another home defeat against Milwaukee sent this team to a new low and a third sub-80 point performance in New York confirmed the scale of the problem.

Now comes acceptance.

Mike Dunleavy sunk a game-winning three to rescue a win from the brink of defeat in Milwaukee Friday night. Yet again, the Bulls struggled to score points against another contender for the number one pick in the draft in June.

Joakim Noah has been inconsistent most of the season as he nurses injuries but picked the Bulls up off the deck by tying up Gary Neal to force a jump-ball that led to Dunleavy’s banked winner.

Tonight the Bulls head back home to host the Toronto Raptors. Toronto comes into the United Center with a very different rotation than they had just three weeks ago. Rudy Gay, Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy were all sent south to Sacramento in return for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes.

The trade ultimately got Rudy Gay’s bloated salary off the deck and brought in another competent point guard in Vasquez. GM Masai Ujiri has now traded away Gay and Andrea Bargnani’s combined $60 million in owed salary while bringing in multiple future draft picks and assets that can be flipped again before the deadline for yet more picks or salary flexibility.

Kyle Lowry still runs the show exceptionally well north of the border but expect his name to continue to appear in trade gossip columns now the Raptors have a surplus of point guards on the roster. Practically anyone not named Jonas can be had at the right price of expiring deals and future assets.

Amir Johnson detonated on the Lakers in Kobe’s return game last week, pouring in 32 points on a variety of post moves and mid-range shots while also pulling down 10 rebounds in a frightening display of all-round ability. DeMar DeRozan added 26 points himself in his first game freed from the ‘your-turn-my-turn’ offense he and Gay shared.

Toronto comes to Chicago on the back of a 108-100 win at home against Philadelphia, though they are embracing tanking for the top pick this summer. DeRozan scored 27 and Terrence Ross had 24 including the game-icing three pointer in the final minute that let Toronto pull out the victory.

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From Flickr via Compscigrad

Playing without Derrick Rose for the first time in six game—an entire six game!—the Bulls capitalized on an ugly shooting night from all but one of the Raptors to claim their first road win of the year and avoid starting 0-4 away from home for the first time in five years.

With about five minutes left in the second quarter, the Raptors were shooting 21.9 percent from the floor. Toronto ended up shooting 25.6 percent for the half and was 2-17 from mid-range and 0-7 from deep. That is eight percent shooting from outside of the paint.

But the Bulls couldn’t pull away—leading by just 14 at the break—because they weren’t much better. Chicago shot 6-17 from midrange and 0-4 from three, which translates to a whopping 28.5 percent.

By the end of the third though it was a 20-point game, which, considering the Raptors’ shooting, was about an insurmountable as you can get. DeMar DeRozan kept the Raptors somewhat close, but with no one else able to help him out, the Bulls were able to walk out with a victory. DeRozan tallied 37 points on 22 shots. Derozan hit 13 shots while the rest of the Raptors combined for 16 made field goals.

It was a strong step forward on the road for the Bulls, who were 0-3 away from the United Center on the year and had been giving up 103.7 points per contest. It came against a team though that was ranked 25^th in the league in field goal percentage through Thursday.

It was another nice game for Carlos Boozer, who finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists, with much of that damage coming early. Every Bulls starter scored in double figures, led by Luol Deng, who scored a team-high 19. Lu hit two threes tonight, after going 1-18 from deep in the first six games of the year. That can only mean one thing: Derrick Rose kills your three-point percentage.

It wasn’t easy on the eyes, but the Bulls grabbed a win without their best player. It’s not unusual though, as they don’t have anything to prove after playing without Derrick Rose all last season. They made it to the second round of the playoffs with their home-grown point guard on the sideline and that’s their peak if Kirk Hinrich has to start.

What they need now is a healthy Derrick Rose. They need Rose back in the line-up to give Derrick the opportunity to continue making steps back to his MVP level. The next chance for that is Saturday night against the undefeated Pacers. The Bulls lost by 17 to Indy in the first matchup of the year, but Chicago is 3-0 at home.

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Stats from Basketball-Reference

Raptors Injury Report:
Andrea Bargnani: out (sprained elbow)
Linas Kleiza: out (sore knee)

Overview:
With injuries piling up, and Chicago’s loss to Detroit, fourth place in the Eastern Conference seems out of reach. There are just six games left for Chicago in the season and the Bulls are two behind Brooklyn in the loss column.

Chicago is also two losses ahead of Atlanta in the fight for the fifth spot. That means unless one of these teams falls apart, it’s shaping up like a Bulls-Nets matchup in the four-five game, with the winner advancing to face Miami (likely). Playing on the road in round one, and then playing Miami if they advance isn’t exactly what the Bulls expected entering this year, but the fifth seed, with all they’ve been through, is impressive even in a bad Eastern Conference.

They aren’t out of the woods yet on these injuries either, and honestly Chicago won’t be completely healthy for the rest of this season.

Joakim Noah returned against the Pistons and in his 21 minutes of action, he was the best player on the court for Chicago. Only three players recorded positive plus/minus numbers, led by Jo (+7). The other two, who recorded a plus-one, were Malcolm Thomas and Marquis Teague, and they played just one minute.

But in those 21 minutes of him leading the Bulls, he re-aggravated his plantar fasciitis, and is now planted back on the bench. Noah received a cortisone shot in his right foot and it’s unclear when he will return.

If it was just Noah, the Bulls could pull it off, but the injury list looks more like a starting five at this point in the season. Noah, Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and Rip Hamilton are all out. Four of those guys were starters last season, and four of them are in Tom Thibodeau’s favorite fourth quarter lineup.

This season, Deng is their leading scorer; Noah is the team leader in rebounds, blocks and steals, with Taj second in blocks. Rose was the leading scorer last season and Rip was supposed to be the starting shooting guard. It’s not even an uphill battle anymore. It’s like trying to climb a waterfall.

Marco Belinelli is expected to play, which I guess is a small bright side.

It is nice that the Bulls are getting rest before the playoffs, perhaps teaching Tom Thibodeau that every game isn’t a must win. It’s a marathon not a sprint, and you can’t finish the race if your legs fall off. Or if Joakim Noah has plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

Thibs is expected to use his 14^th different starting line-up against the Raptors, a team that the Bulls needed overtime to beat in the only previous game between the two this season.

Carlos Boozer tallied 36 points, which remains a season high, and 12 boards to lead the Bulls. Noah added 16 and 14, as Chicago outscored Toronto 54-36 in the paint.

The Bulls will have just two of the same starters this time around, with Boozer and Kirk Hinrich being the only healthy bodies compared to the January showdown.

Chicago always goes all out, even when they are depleted with injury and guys like Daequan Cook and Vladimir Radmanovic are getting heavy minutes. The question will be how much fight Toronto will have, considering they are knocked out of the playoffs already.

The Bulls and Raptors meet again Friday night in Toronto.

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Stats from Basketball-Reference

Raptors Injury Report:
Alan Anderson: left Tuesday’s game (chipped tooth)
Andrea Bargnani: bruised elbow (out)
Linas Kleiza: sore knee (missed Tuesday’s game)
Jonas Valanciunas: fractured finger (out)

Overview:
How will the Bulls follow up one of the best defensive performances—that was aided by some awful offense from Atlanta—in NBA history? Will they use it as a building block to finally get on track, especially in the United Center, or will it be just an impressive win scattered between disappointing losses? Well knowing the Bulls, and knowing how up and down they are, it’s really anybody’s guess.

They may come out still fired up from Tom Thibodeau ripping into them before that Hawks games, or they may fall flat, going from such a high (59 points allowed!) to some sort of low (losing to Toronto).

Take for example, three of their biggest wins this season and what they did after them.

-On December 21, the Bulls dominated the Knicks for most of the game in Madison Square Garden. The next day, Atlanta returned the favor for New York, blowing out the Bulls.

-Chicago followed its impressive win over the Heat in Miami by protecting its home court against the visiting Cavaliers.

-The Bulls went into MSG again on January 11 and got their second win of the season in that arena. They then promptly went home and lost to Phoenix, ending the Suns’ 12-game road losing streak.

For a team that used to be so consistent, the Bulls have been all over the map this year.

But it all came together against the Hawks. “Everybody was ready to go” Taj Gibson said after the win. “We ran back hard. It was the best I’ve seen our defensive transition all year. We were flying back on D and getting stops. They were frustrated. It’s one game. We hope we can build off it.”

Their first chance to build is against Toronto. The Raptors are on the second night of back-to-back, coming off of a loss to the Nets. Brooklyn won its seventh straight game, behind 22 points from Brook Lopez and 21 each by Deron Williams and Joe Johnson.

Kyle Lowry was Toronto’s high-scorer, finishing with 21 points on seven field goals off the bench (19 of those points came in the fourth quarter). Amir Johnson added 15 off the pine, while Jose Calderon led the starters with 15 points. The Raptors shot quite well actually, finishing 48.8 from the field, 53.8 (7-13) from three and 82.6 (19-23) from the line.

What did Toronto in were its uncharacteristic turnovers. They rank second in turnover percentage (.122) and were ninth in opponent turnover percentage (.139) heading into that game. But the Raps turned it over eight more times (14-6) than Brooklyn. And the Nets capitalized, scoring 24 points off of Toronto’s 14 giveaways, while the Raptors scored just eight points off of Brooklyn’s mishaps.

Getting a win in Toronto would be a nice step, as the Bulls next three games come against tough opponents in the Celtics, Grizzlies and Lakers. The last two of those match-ups are in Chicago, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, considering the Bulls’ 11-10 home record.

“We have to play with great intensity all the time,” Tom Thibodeau said. “You can’t relax, never exhale. We have to grind and fight. We have to do it day after day.” Day Two is today.

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