Bulls, Rose get revenge on Raptors
Inside the Bulls' locker room before Saturday's game, the topic was John Calipari, Derrick Rose's college coach at Memphis, who was about to lead Kentucky into the NCAA semifinals.
There is a Bulls-related anecdote from Calipari's days with the New Jersey Nets. While the coach yelled at his players during a game, Michael Jordan allegedly approached some Nets and asked, “Why do you take that from him?”
Rose hadn't heard the story, but he's definitely heard the screaming.
“Cal was the more ‘angry face, I'll fight you' type,” said Rose, who spoke to Calipari on Friday to wish him luck. “Yelling on the sidelines. He'll chase you up the sideline yelling at you.”
Rose induced plenty of screaming from fans at the United Center by piling up 36 points, 10 assists and 3 impressive blocked shots in the Bulls' high-scoring 113-106 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
The Bulls (56-20) moved three games ahead of Miami for first place in the Eastern Conference with six left to play. They improved to 33-5 at home.
When it comes to aggressive coaching, Rose doesn't mind it at all. He thinks Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau's style differs from Calipari, but Thibodeau also pushes the players relentlessly to be their best.
“He's definitely hard on us,” Rose said of Thibodeau. “Everybody on this team has an ultimate goal and that's to win. Whatever it takes to win. Him yelling at you or whatever, we're used to it by now. So we just listen to him and go out there and do our jobs.”
The Bulls did their jobs all right while building a 10-point halftime lead. But Toronto, playing without top scorer Andrea Bargnani and point guard Jose Calderon, sent a smaller, faster lineup on the floor and gave the Bulls problems.
Behind guards Jerryd Bayless and DeMar DeRozan, who finished with 26 points each, the Raptors shot 62 percent from the field in the second half. They came back to tie the game at 74-74 late in the third quarter.
Rose responded with a driving lay in, a long jumper, then tacked on a couple of blocked shots on the defensive end.
The second was a spectacular fast-break swat of former Bulls teammate James Johnson, with the 6-foot-2 Rose smacking the ball more than a foot above the rim.
“I just remember them celebrating after they won back in Toronto,” Rose said, referring to a Feb. 23 loss. “Tonight, just trying to pay them back.”
The postgame topic became things that get Rose fired up.
Most intense competitors search for ways to give themselves an edge. Rose is a little different, since he's not an emotional person in general.
“By nature, I'm just a quiet guy, tend to get along with a lot of people,” he said. “I don't have anybody hating or disrespecting me to my face or anything, that I know of. When you see someone celebrating or the coach clapping — any crazy thing — the fans going crazy. You just try to get going from that.”
Rose said his right elbow scraped against somebody's tooth in the second half, but it wasn't an issue.
After the Bulls built an 11-point advantage early in the fourth, Toronto got within 4 several times.
A Kyle Korver 3-pointer off a pass from Rose put the home team up 105-98 with 1:40 left, taking some steam out of the Raptors.
Carlos Boozer finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Luol Deng scored 17, while Taj Gibson tacked on 15 points and 9 rebounds off the bench.
“I've always been a Carlos Boozer fan,” Bayless said. “Watching him and Derrick, that's a tough combo. I'm not surprised at all (the Bulls lead the East).”