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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Oak Park
Journal
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© Suburban Journals of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
Chicago
Bull's End Home Stand With A Bang Beating Indian Pacers 104-91...Time
To Send in the Clowns.
By
Mark Rotor
As of Saturday night the Chicago Bulls had completed four of their five
game at home. First the good news, Bulls have defeated western
conference teams including the 7-3 Phoenix Suns and the 2-7 Dallas
Mavericks by an impressive average margin of victory of 12 point per
game.
Derrick
Rose shows Indiana a little "Dancing with the
Stars"...
©
Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
As for the bad news, the eastern conference Indiana pacers were in town
and the Bulls had lost 2 out of the last three games including two
losses to their Eastern conference rivals the 7-2 Cleveland Cavilers
and the surprising 6-2 Atlanta Hawks. With a 2-2 home stand record in
the balance, the Bulls were looking to turn the tide
on Saturday night with a victory at home against a 4-5 Indiana Pacers
team.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
Bulls Charged Out Of the Gate
The young Bulls wasted no time taking an early command of the game led
by another inspired scoring effort by starting guard
Ben Gordon. Gordon scored 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter with
3 baskets in the first 6 minutes of the game.
Gordon gave credit to his team mate Derrick Rose when he was asked if
good chemistry made the difference in their performance.
Gordon responded with "Yes we have good chemistry going.
Derrick is a dynamic point guard who gets in the lane and creates
his own shoots, he is a good passer. Any time you have a guy like that
it easy to play well."
Indiana's star point-guard TJ Ford tried to keep pace with Gordon with
6 points of own but the Bulls finished the quarter with an 8 point lead
(27-19).
Antacid Relief Continued For Bulls In 1st Half
Derrick Rose proceeded to take the raines of the Bulls offense in
the first half by getting other Bulls involved in scoring including
Luol Deng with 13 point and Andres Nocioni with 10 points.
Starter Luol Deng scored 9 point from the line and four points
from the field ending the night with 17 points. When asked if Rose was
impressive tonight Deng said "He a good player and he takes a lot of
pressure of a lot of people and that a good thing."
Good things also happened for Andres Nocioni who came to life scoring 5
baskets, 6 defensive boards and two steels in the first half. Nocioni
finished the night with 20 points, 9 baskets, two 3-pointers and 11
rebounds.
With an impressive multifaceted game played by Andres he was asked if
this type of game is how he wants to play and said
"It was important to us because we won the game, this is the
most important thing. I haven't played well this season and I need
to pick up my game not just one night but every night and play a
little bit better." With strong contributions from Pacer stars Danny
Granger (10 points), TJ Ford (10 points) and Jarrett Jack (8 points)
the pacers hanging tough ending the first half trailing the Bulls
55-47.
Derrick Rose In Full Bloom
Providing pressure relief for his team mate wasn't enough for Rose who
shifted into high gear in third quarter scoring 12 points on 4 baskets,
2 three-pointers and two assist. Team mate Larry Hughes said "Derrick
is aggressive and has the ball in his hands a lot and is making the
right play. He attacking a lot more in the 3rd and the early 4th
quarter. He figuring out how he wants to play and how
he can help out the team."
The 20 year old Rose appears to be figuring out the league fast finding
himself among the league leading rookies in statistics. He is second in
scoring (18.4 ppg),first in assist (5.3 apg) and second in minutes
played (38.3mpg).
On the evening, Rose electrified the crowd with a barrage of 3-point
shots, slam dunks and an assist on a high flying dunk.
As for the Pacers, with seven minutes left in the 4th quarter Indiana
charged back cutting a eight-point deficit to 85-83 game on a pair
of layups by TG Ford. But then, Rose re-entered the game and preceeded
to drive the lane twice picking up two sets of free throws and
delivering assist to Nocioni and Hughes. Rose capped-off the evening
with a 3-pointer snuffing out any thought of an Indiana Pacers's come
back.
Rose completed the evening with a dominating performance of 23 points
on 8 baskets, 3 three-pointers, 4 free throws and 8 assist. Pacers
coach Jim O'Brien said "Rose had a terrific game. He is an all-star in
the making. He is a rookie who is going to blossom
sooner than many people think" Rose was in full bloom tonight as bulls
coasted to a victory over the pacers by a score of
104-91.
Send In the Clowns. Send Off The Bulls.
With Barnum and Bailey Circus annual return engagement to the United
Center the Bulls will begin the much dreaded 7 game, two week road trip
on Tuesday verse the LA Lakers.
Since the Jordan era, the Bulls have an accumulative record of 52
losses in 58 game during the "Circus road trip" period. An additional
challenge for the Bulls is the schedule calling for 4 of the 7 games to
be played against teams that made the playoffs last year. NBA veteran
guard Larry Hughes remained optimistic when asked about his view on his
first Circus Road trip "I look forward to it, It gives
us a chance to get on the road and get familiar with each other. In
seven games there will be some ups and downs, that's understood. I'm
looking forward to seeing what this team is made-of."
If the team can pick-up where they left off on the recent home
stand, staying healthy, playing as unit and following the lead of their
budding star Derrick Rose then this may be the first "Circus Trip" in
many years that remains memorable.
Next, Bulls on the road versus Western Conference Champion Los Angles
Lakers.
Next Bulls Game:
At Los Angles Lakers
Tuesday November 18th at 9:30PM CT Game Time
Radio - ESPN AM 1000
TV - Comcast Chicago Sportsnet
At Portland Trailblazers
Wednesday November 19th at 9:30PM CT Game Time
Radio - ESPN AM 1000
TV - WGN
At Golden State Warriors
Friday November 21st at 9:30PM CT Game Time
Radio - ESPN AM 1000
TV - WGN
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