Rose
rallies in second half to give Bulls fourth win in a row
The
Chicago Bulls (4-1) faced the Atlanta Hawks (4-1) Tuesday evening and
for 36 minutes it looked like the Bulls were playing backwards..
nothing seemed to go their way.. but then Derrick Rose took charge.
You could almost close your eyes and feel like it did when Jordon
played. But this is Rose’s team.Bulls
(4-1) faced the Atlanta Hawks (4-1)
Last
season the Bulls went 3-2 against the Hawks in Atlanta including the
post-season. In Atlanta, the Bulls were 2-1. It was the Bulls first
season series win since 2006-7 when the Bulls were 4-0. But this is a
new season, and very well could be the best in some time.
Fans
had little to cheer about until that miracle in the fourth period.
The Bulls pulled out an unlikely victory, 76-74 over the Atlanta
Hawks after trailing by 19, 14 in the fourth quarter.
It
was a true team effort in that fourth period. Luol Deng once again
stepped up with the game winning shot, and the 2011-12 Bulls are now
5-1
“I’ve
had so many (game winners),” Deng said with a laugh afterward.
“I’ve got to go back and watch the tapes. Go back and see which
one was my favorite.”
Deng
cut in for the winning layup with 3.7 seconds left as Derrick Rose
was smothered on the outside by the Hawks. But you knew the Hawks
would key on Rose.
Oh,
yes, Rose, had a bit to do with it all as well, including what looked
like his second game winner of the season, a power drive with 9.9
seconds left in a classic finish. There was three lead changes and a
tie in the last minute. Rose went between his legs twice and high off
the backboard over Josh Smith, who’d already rejected a pair of
Rose drives in the fourth quarter. It was simply amazing.. The fans
were on their feet.. and loud..
It’s
raining “three’s” at the Madhouse
Rose finished with 30 points, 17 in
the fourth quarter alone, and seven
assists. Deng, who along with Rose played 44 minutes and the entire
second half, finished with 21 points, 13 in the fourth quarter, and
eight rebounds.
“Derrick
was sensational down the stretch,” said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.
“He made big play after big play. And, you can’t say enough about
Luol. He does everything. He rebounds, he defends, he cuts, he is
active and tough and smart.”
Rose
hit a pair of three pointers, Deng ran out for a score after he pick
pocketed Zaza Pachulia, Rose hit another three, got fouled on a shake
and bake move and made a pair of free throws, and then Rose
penetrated and passed to Deng in the corner for a three pointer and
with gallant defensive effort on the other end, it was suddenly 62-62
with 6:20 remaining.
“We
contained him the first three quarters, but there is a reason why he
is the MVP,” said Atlanta’s Al Horford, who led them with 16
points. “He made plays for his team. Not only him but Deng and the
bigs stepped up and made big shots. I felt like we played a great
game. We were right there with them. We dominated them for most of
the game. Just Derrick Rose happened.
“We
all assumed the ball was going to come back to Rose and we were going
to trap. That was a great play by them, by their coach, to take the
pressure from Rose and hit Deng on the backdoor,” said Horford
afterward. “We didn’t expect that at all.”
“There
are going to be pretty ones and ugly ones,” said Deng, who did have
game winners twice over Miami last season. “With the ugly ones you
find ways to win. The best thing is we have a group of guys, most
have been here last year, they are familiar with each other and what
to do at the end of games and what to bring. We’re not going to
give up. There’ll be games we’re down a lot and we’re still
going to play hard.”
Where
was Noah?
Noah
was in foul trouble again even with no huge Hawks interior force and
played just 16 minutes with four rebounds.
“I
have to do a better job being able to be more productive on the
court,” said Noah. “I need to rebound better. Do better
defensively. I’m happy we won, but at the same time I want to do
better. When you shoot as poorly as we shot (33.8 percent and won),
that’s pretty bad. When you do that and win you should be happy,
but at the same time you have to be critical about the things you can
do better.”
“We
were very flat and we were searching,” said Thibodeau. “That
group got some momentum going so we were staying with them. I felt
they got us out of a hole so they deserved to finish it. I was going
to come back (with the starters). But that group was making their
run. There was a lot of ground to make up. I felt at that point you
couldn’t afford to have another lull. I felt they looked like they
were fine and it looked like they were picking up their energy.
Derrick and Lu are accustomed to playing big minutes, so I thought
they were fine.”
The
Bulls scored 34 points in the fourth quarter. They didn’t reach 34
points until midway through the third quarter.
“It
was disappointing the way we started the game,” said Thibodeau. “I
thought we were playing a low energy game. I give Atlanta a lot of
credit. They played great and we caught a break. This was the second
night for them, a back to back. They were more aggressive to start
the game. When we play without pace, we struggle. I think we had five
fast break points in the first half. We did not start running until
midway through the third.”
“Nothing
was going our way,” said Deng. “Our offense was not looking too
good. The first half we stood and did not move much.”
In
the first quarter the Bulls looked confused and fell behind 23-15.
Then
they missed 19 of 21 shots and shot 9.5 percent in the second
quarter. Noah was wide open on the baseline virtually at the basket
and passed. Ronnie Brewer, who shot two for eight, hesitated on wide
open jumpers. The Hawks showed a zone and the Bulls were baffled.
Several teams have tried that against Miami with nice success and you
wonder if the Bulls will as Thibodeau is much against zone
principles.
“Their
zone bothered us,” admitted Deng. “This is the most zone we’ve
seen this year. The next practice or tape session we’ll be talking
about zone offense a lot.”
The
Bulls went into halftime down 38-26, and it looked as if they made no
real adjustments early in the third.
The
Bulls fell behind 56-37 with under three minutes left in the third
quarter, Boozer got a spark and Asik had a strong drive and finish as
the Bulls were heading into the fourth quarter trailing 56-42.
The
awakening.. of the charging Bull
“I
was saying something the whole game, cursing and everything,” Rose
said when asked if he offered any pep talk like he had in the Lakers’
game. “We got things together at the right time.”
“Unbelievable,”
said Noah. “I’m watching from the bench and it was just crazy.
The beauty with Derrick is he keeps attacking. Even with shot
blockers. He’s good at getting it up there and he’s either going
to make it, get fouled or we’ll be there to clean it up.”
Joe
Johnson, who had a miserable shooting game with three of 17, hit a
three to put Atlanta back up. But Gibson followed a Deng miss for a
score after Horford scored on a lob. The Hawks continued to run
similar lob plays successfully to Horford and Smith, the last one to
Smith with 43.6 seconds left for a 73-72 lead. Thibodeau was in a
rage screaming as he saw the play developing, but that group had been
in all quarter and wasn’t about to stop everything.
“The
first half I stood and did not move much,” he said. “I wanted to
get more movement, more cuts.”
Deng’s
last free throws moved the Bulls within 69-68 with 2:57 left. Smith,
with 15 points and 14 rebounds, then scored on a high arcing jumper
before the Bulls fought through three offensive rebounds before Rose
missed. The Bulls were still down three with just over a minute left
when Smith missed a 20 footer.
Korver
then got stuck with the ball, giving it up to Gibson who found a
cutting Deng in the lane and Deng sort of hot potatoed the ball just
over the front rim to bring the Bulls within 71-70 with 1:17 left.
Asik
then made a huge play in overplaying a pass into Horford and knocking
it off Horford. It originally was ruled off Asik, but changed on
review. That led to Rose’s first of two late drives for the 72-71
lead with 57.8 seconds left. Smith then got loose for that lob slam
dunk from Marvin Williams when Smith lost Gibson on a screen. That
put Atlanta ahead 73-72 with 43.6 seconds. Rose then missed a short
jumper when the play broke down and he got the ball late and pushed
up an eight footer with 20.9 seconds left and the Bulls trailing by
one.
The
Bulls had to foul, but Jeff Teague missed both free throws (Atlanta
was 14 of 25 from the line), giving the Bulls hope and the crowd
life.
But
Horford made just one of two for the 74-74 tie, and then came the
play.
“We
had multiple options on the play,” said Thibodeau. “Obviously, we
were trying to get into Derrick. They did a good job of taking away
the first and second options. Derrick set a great screen and Jo made
a great pass and Lu made a great cut. It was a terrific pass and a
great screen.”
“We
run it after practice every day,” said Rose. “Lu was able to get
open and get an easy basket. Actually, I did break the play a little
when I ran to the ball. Lu did not throw it to me. So I went down and
ran the play. I was supposed to set the back screen for Lu. It was
supposed to be a handoff. Joakim threw a great pass to Lu.”
It
was. You could see Noah, who is the team’s best passing big man,
look toward Rose and then see Deng slashing at the rim uncovered.
“Derrick
was having such a good game in the fourth they just have him too much
attention,” said Noah. “They put two on him and Lu was naked at
the rim.”
The
Hawks had one last chance, but the Bulls forced Johnson into a wild
miss. Game over.
