"A win is a win"

Derrick Rose goes up for a reverse layup against the Mavericks on Thursday night.

It wasn’t pretty, but its hard to be unhappy about a positive outcome. Derrick Rose was just happy to escape with a win as the Bulls beat the Dallas Mavericks 82-77 on Thursday night.

“A win is a win, “ Rose stated after the game. “Everything that went on in that game was kind of terrible, except the way we played defense.”

The defensive effort was solid, holding a Mavericks team to 36 percent shooting and forcing 15 turnovers. Dallas was coming off a win over the Lakers that snapped a 6 game losing streak. Dirk Nowitzki put up 19 points for the Mavs and Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler and Deshawn Stevenson scored 12 apiece. It was Nowitzki’s fourth straight start after missing more than two weeks with a knee injury.

The Mavericks, ranked fourth in the NBA in opponents points per game, also played great defense while holding the Bulls to just 37 percent shooting. Derrick Rose was the only Chicago player in double figures, and he wasn’t exactly burning up the nets while shooting 9-for-28 from the field. His pull up jumper with 55 seconds left gave the Bulls an 80-77 lead and Kyle Korver made two free throws after Terry missed a three pointer that sealed the win for Chicago. While Rose did shoulder most of the scoring load, this game was different than the lackadaisical effort against Charlotte on Tuesday night. For instance, Luol Deng scored only seven points on 3-13 shooting, but lead the team with 12 rebounds and played solid defense when defending Nowitzki, who is considered one of the best players in the league.

“That’s what I love about Luol, he can play effectively when he is not shooting well. He is always doing other things like tonight, rebounding the ball for us,” Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. Thibodeau was not happy with Rose’s offensive hesitation in the first half and challenged him to take more shots after Rose put up only eight shots in the first half, making four of them. Rose went 5-20 in the second half, but his willingness to try and ignite the offense is what his coach was looking for.

“Coach was mad because he didn’t think I was shooting enough [in the first half],” Rose said. “So I just tried to be aggressive in the second half."

Dallas’ effort was also commendable, and Coach Rick Carlisle was pleased that Rose had to work hard for his points.

“He scored a lot of points, but he had to take 28 shots to do it,”Carlisle said. “Our guys worked hard.”

The Bulls are off tonight before the Cleveland Cavaliers come into town on Saturday. The Cavs could be just what the doctor ordered, considering they have the league’s worst record at 8-33 and have lost 24 of their last 25 games. Cleveland, who knocked the Bulls out in the first round of the playoffs last year, is the first team in NBA history to have the league’s worst record at the midway point during the season after having the best regular season record in the NBA the season before. Carlos Boozer is expected to return to the lineup for Saturday night’s game after missing the last three games with an ankle injury.

It's lonely at the top

The Charlotte Bobcats came into Chicago riding a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night. Guess who their last win was against? That’s right, the Bulls lost to them last Wednesday. It seems like this team goes through periods of playing to the level of their competition and last night was no different as Chicago fell to Charlotte 83-82.

Usually 33 points from Derrick Rose is enough to scrape out a win by itself, but when Rose missed a fade away jumper that would have won the game it underscored the reason for the loss. Simply put, Derrick Rose cannot win by himself.

Now let me be clear. I LOVE DERRICK ROSE. As a huge Bulls fan, it’s an absolute privilege to be able to watch this kid play every night. As a basketball fan, I think he’s the obvious MVP choice at this point in the season. But it has been proven over and over again that great players simply cannot win championships by themselves. Now to put things in perspective, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah - two of Chicago’s version of the “Big Three” are battling injuries and did not suit up for the game. Tuesday’s contest was also the fourth game in five nights for the Bulls, and with Dallas coming into town on Thursday it’s possible, maybe even probable that the Bulls were looking forward to a short break instead of focusing on the team at hand. But when you see your star point guard doing literally everything he could to give the Bulls a chance to win, it should motivate you to step up your play. Apparently Rose’s efforts fell on deaf ears last night. Only three Bulls scored in double figures with the second leading scorer being Ronnie Brewer with 12. Luol Deng was a no-show, scoring 10 points and hitting only two of his eleven shots and Chicago had trouble hanging onto the ball, turning it over 13 times in the loss.

I understand it’s a long season and every team and every player is going to have those days from time to time. Its just the fact that the last four losses for this team have come at the hands of 3 teams that are a combined 43-78 this season. What was frustrating about last season with this team was that they played to the level of their competition which I have long said is the mark of an average team. The Bulls are a different team this year, there’s no doubt about that. They are much better defensively, being ranked third in the league in opponents ppg and when Boozer and Noah are on the court they’ve shown themselves to complement Rose’s game almost perfectly. Come to think of it, they do have the fifth best record in the NBA and the third best record in the Eastern Conference…..

Maybe I’m looking too deep. Maybe the flashbacks from the Tim Floyd era are still too traumatic. Maybe the constant feeling of being letdown by an underachieving team in the past has made me unable to enjoy the success of an evolving contender. Whatever “it” is, there’s one thing for certain when it comes to Derrick Rose and this team.

He can’t do it alone.

A Special Delivery

Blake Griffin is a beast.  This isn’t a newsflash, anyone who has watched Sportscenter for more than five minutes over the past three months could have figured that out for themselves.  But his last two games have sent his stock skyrocketing even higher, if that’s possible.

Take Sunday’s game against the defending champion Lakers for instance.  Griffin scored only 2 points in the first half, but finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds.  But the most important part of that game had little to do with his final stat line.  With 5.7 seconds remaining and teammate Randy Foye shooting free throws, the rookie was fighting for rebounding position when Lamar Odom grabbed him by his jersey and attempted to throw him into the basket support.  Minor dustups are nothing new in the NBA, but it was Odom’s reasoning that caused me to raise an eyebrow:

“…I just feel like if you’re up 9, a ram in the back at that point.  Any other time, I get it. You play hard, you’re strong, whatever, but the ram in the back (while) up 9? I don’t get it…”

I don’t get it either.  A rookie playing as hard as he can from start to finish is so enraging that he needed to confront the situation with an attempt at intimidation?  Either there’s some unspoken rule about taking the last few seconds of the game off, or Odom was a victim of his own frustration since the Lakers (along with everyone else in the league)  couldn’t find an answer for the high-octane rookie.  Even more impressive was Griffin’s reaction to the whole melee.  As Odom jumped in his face, the rookie shrugged his shoulders and attempted to walk away before teammate Baron Davis and resident NBA crazy person Ron Artest jumped into the fracas, resulting in ejections for all four players.  Griffin had this to say after the game:

“Whatever happened, I didn’t say anything, I didn’t take a swing at anybody, I didn’t push anybody.  When Baron came in, I grabbed him. … There’s never a situation where I’m not going to go to the glass. I would think of all people, (Odom) would know that.”

As someone who has played and followed basketball for a number of years, I know that more than size and positioning, rebounding is about attitude.  And any player that says  he’s always going to crash the boards, regardless of score or time left has the attitude that any coach at any level would love to see in his team.

For Griffin’s encore?  The next night against the Pacers the rookie poured in 47 points to set the high scoring mark for any player this season.  The most amazing thing about those 47 points is that he didn’t use a bunch of breakaways or lob dunks to score them.  With a dizzying array of spin moves, drop steps and pull-up and fadeaway jumpers, Griffin showcased all of his talents.  This guy’s skill set is unreal.  He’s got the explosiveness of Shawn Kemp (along with Kemp’s ability to jump through any roof) along with the strength of Karl Malone.  Combine that with the Jordan-esque mentality of not taking any days or even seconds off, and what do you have?  A phenom having one of the best rookie seasons ever  averaging 22 points and almost 13 rebounds per game.  A player who’s reignited the “rivalry” between the two L.A. teams.  A guy who’s make this hapless franchise relevant again.  Despite their losing record, the Clips have established themselves as one of the most exciting teams in the league and besides their victory over the Lakers, they’ve beat some of the top teams in the league including Miami, San Antonio and Chicago. 

The scary part about all of this is that we’re talking about a guy who’s 40 games into his first full season after missing all of last year with a knee injury.  And the fact that he’s only 21 years old.

Man, I can’t wait for the next encore.