Bulls 90 Hornets 67
Derrick Rose is suffering from back spasms, but said he was good to go last night against the New Orleans Hornets (4-22). The Bulls (22-6) didn't really need Derrick as the Bulls had this one in hand after the 1st quarter. The Bulls would blow out the Hornets 90 to 67. A 9-0 start in the 1st quarter and a defensive clinic made short work of the Hornets.
Since the Bulls were able to put this way early, Coach Tom Thibodeau was able to limit Derrick's playing time. Derrick played just over 22 minutes with 6 points and 6 assists. Derrick sat the whole 4th quarter and was obviously not 100%. Derrick did a good job of running the offense while limiting his hard drives to the net. Carlos Boozer stepped up to fill the void with 18 points and 6 assists. Joakim Noah had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Both starters played under 30 minutes in the game. Luol Deng only had to provide 9 points and 7 rebounds in under 35 minutes of play. Ronnie Brewer struggled with his shooting. He only shot 2/9 from the field, 0/1 from 3pt line, and 1/4 from the free throw. Ronnie would finish up with only 6 points.
“We’re playing well right now. We’re coming out early, defending, running the floor, getting the lead and playing well with it. We’ve just got to keep doing that,” said Luol Deng. “We’re learning how to play with a lead. There’s times when teams get a run, but we’re better at it now than we were last year. There’s a lot of times where we’ve played well and let teams get into it, and there’s times where we’ve played bad and played from behind, but I think guys are more comfortable, you’re more confident when you come out and play with a lead.”
The Bench Mob got a healthy amount of playing time. Kyle Korver dropped in 12 points. He was 4-9 from the field and 2-6 from the 3pt line. Taj Gibson had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Omer Asik had 8 points and 8 rebounds.
Coach Thibodeau said, “All four bigs were really good in all aspects. Defense to rebounding to post play to making the extra pass. I thought they played complete games and I thought that set the tone for us.”
The leading scorer for the Hornets was Chris Kaman off the bench. Kaman had 17 points and 9 rebounds. The Hornets are probably the worst team in the league or at least one of them. The Hornets were able to score a 3 pointer with seconds left in the 4th quarter to prevent setting a franchise low record in points scored.
Thibodeau commented on Kaman stating, “Kaman came in, he got some shots on us and they’re dangerous. As they get their players back, they’ll be fine. The challenge is to be ready to play and I thought we did that. There are a lot of things that we could do better and that’s what we strive for.”
The Bulls will continue their road trip Friday at Charlotte against another struggling team in the Bobcats. With Derrick not looking a 100%, I believe that he will sit this game out. Many fans make a lot about Coach Thibodeau allowing his players to play high minutes or Derrick's unwillingness to sit out a game. What people need to grasp is Tom Thibodeau isn't going to change. This is how he coaches, and it's been successful for him. For Derrick, it's a pride thing. Derrick wants to win the MVP award again this year and play every game possible. You can't do that on the bench. I understand you have to be smart about the decisions you make, but you have to understand the kid is a competitor at the highest level.
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