Rose's fourth quarter forgettable

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Even though he fell into rare foul trouble, Derrick Rose played a brilliant game for three quarters at Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

He scored 24 points in 21 minutes of action.

But that final quarter was one to forget.

The Thunder ganged up on Rose defensively and the Bulls couldn't find the proper response.

Rose hit just 2 of 10 shots and had 2 turnovers in the fourth quarter, when the Bulls were outscored 24-13.

“I don't want to ever force shots like that again,” Rose said.

“I want to make plays instead of force shots. We just lost control of the game in the fourth quarter.”

The Bulls' unfamiliarity was obvious. With eight new players and a different coaching staff, they had trouble getting on the same page. A few possessions were spent yelling and pointing, trying to figure out what they wanted to do, leaving only a few seconds to actually produce a shot.

“We were blowing sets, all of us,” Rose said. “The shot clock was going down, people weren't in the right spots. I wasn't taking my time telling people where to go. We can easily fix that.”

In the final box score, Rose hit 12 of31 shots for 28 points, with 6 assists and 2 turnovers. He ended up hoisting a shot per minute.

“If he's open, he's got to shoot,” said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. “I thought we had some blown sets and I didn't like our pace in the fourth quarter.”

Boozer getting closer:

Carlos Boozer is counting down the days until his cast comes off his broken right hand. The date is set for Tuesday, less than a week away.

“I get the cast off, then they'll take the pins out and I'll be in a soft cast for a few days, make sure it's all healed up,” Boozer said. “Then I'll start rehabbing and getting the strength back in it and hopefully shortly thereafter, I'll be back out there with my fellas.”

In the meantime, Boozer is on the bench in a suit cheering on his new teammates, although it can't be easy knotting a tie with one hand in a cast. Fortunately for Boozer, he made plans ahead of time. He just slips the ties over his head and tightens the knot.

“The good thing about it is I had all my ties done already, a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “All my ties are done and I can get ready for the season.”

Rose recalls treats:

Before leaving for Oklahoma, self-confessed candy lover Derrick Rose talked the struggles he faced trick-or-treating as a kid. His mother had a rule that she checked all candy before it was consumed.

“I used to be so tempted to eat my candy on the way to other people's houses,” Rose said. “She used to hide my candy when I was younger, so I wouldn't go in there and eat all of it. I'm going to need therapy or something.”

Calling all captains:

The Bulls officially named Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah team captains, but coach Tom Thibodeau downplayed the title.

“I'm not as concerned about the naming of captains as I am more about leadership,” Thibodeau said. “To me, those four are our leaders and that's really what I'm looking for.”

Bull horns:

Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks played for Tom Thibodeau twice in his career, when Thibodeau was an assistant in Minnesota and New York. … The Bulls won a few stat battles against Oklahoma City. They led in rebounds 51-44, points in the paint 50-40 and had 4 fewer turnovers.