The Chicago Bulls had the nerve to welcome the Spurs back to San Antonio after their annual Rodeo Road trip last night with a loss, albeit in exciting fashion, 96-89. While the Spurs rallied from a halftime deficit behind an energetic Tim Duncan and the shooting of Gary Neal, the Bulls scored only 15 points in the third quarter as Derrick Rose saw the Spurs’ defense closing in around him. Most of the night Rose spent his time ripping through defenders in traffic, seemingly buried beneath outstretched arms until coming up for air at the last moment to throw a perfectly placed ball off the glass and in.
These are the plays that Rose has made his name in the NBA on. It isn’t just about the viciousness of his attacks or how he seems to slice through every layer of defense, no matter how daunting that may look, it’s also because there are times when Rose is doing this to save the collective face of the team in the midst of a stagnant Bulls offensive possession or stretch of possessions. This is not a revelation of the much-malinged Chicago offense, which often can become too Rose-iso-centric a la LeBron in Cleveland, with few other consistent schemes or scoring options, but last night was another example of why, with a player like Rose, just a little help — but not too much — can go a long way for everyone.
Joakim Noah scored put-backs and hovered around the rim in his usual style and Carlos Boozer’s shooting woes meant his offensive imprint was going to be small. Richard Hamilton had some looks and seems to be still rounding himself into form, but C.J. Watson provided consistent, well-timed shot-making. And when they had to have him, Luol Deng stepped up and drilled a couple big jumpers in the fourth quarter, providing the Bulls with the distance needed to get the win.
Chicago’s roster around Rose gave enough, and did so with the game in the balance, for the Bulls to defeat a Western Conference contender in the Spurs at home; only their second loss in San Antonio this season. That said, the Bulls were also ineffective enough for us to be able to watch Rose take matters into his own hands for a good portion of the game, rescuing possessions and torpedoing himself at the basket with that stern face that can only be satisfied with plays like these. Rose is that freaking good of a player, that on some nights he only really seems to need those around him here and there; the rest can be left to him. That’s when he and the Bulls cannot be ignored by anyone watching. It won’t work all the time or when their nemesis Heat come calling, but when it does, like last night, nobody complains either.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
