Bulls ready to take control against erratic Hawks
A normal NBA team, with its chemistry wired correctly, would surely crank up the intensity after losing at home and falling behind in a playoff series.
The Atlanta Hawks? Who really knows what to expect.
After all, this is a team that finished the regular season losing 20 of 31 games, then turned things around and beat Orlando in the first round of the playoffs.
“I will admit that I do have an interesting group,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said Saturday.
Drew actually thought his team would be too hyped up at the start of Game 3 on Friday. Instead, the Hawks were barely competitive in a 99-82 loss.
So now the Bulls lead the series 2-1. Win Sunday at Philips Arena and the Bulls will have a chance to finish off the Hawks at home on Tuesday. Lose and this series becomes a best-of-three.
“No letdowns,” center Joakim Noah said. “Just come out more focused than ever, more prepared than ever. Really just focus on the routine and getting ready for the battle.”
The story of Game 3 was Derrick Rose unloading 44 points, his career-high, playoffs or otherwise. After the Bulls practiced Saturday at Philips Arena, Rose complimented his surroundings.
“I just like playing here,” Rose said. “The crowd, I like the arena. I guess it's a good-shooting arena, so I'm loving it.”
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau asked Rose to pick up the pace in Game 3 and he complied. Rose was also hot from long range, hitting 16 of 27 shots overall and 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
The Bulls were already asking Rose to do just about everything. He didn't think pushing the tempo wore him down at all.
“I think I'm in good condition where I can hold up,” Rose said. “I think coach Thibs has been preparing us for every game perfect, making sure guys are doing the exact same thing they were doing last game. Double-teaming the ball when we need to. Rebound the ball. I think we could play a little bit faster.”
Forward Luol Deng scored just 7 points in Game 3 and hit 3 of 10 shots. On Saturday, he was marveling at Rose's performance, just like everyone else who watched it.
“I remember me and Keith (Bogans) talking about ‘Derrick has got it going. Keep finding him,'” Deng said. “There were a couple times, if you look at the tape, where he threw it at me, he threw it at Keith and we threw it right back.
“We know when someone has it going. You've got to find something else to do for the team when that happens. That's how you become a winning team.”
The Bulls also continued to dominate Atlanta on the glass Friday, winning the rebound battle 47-34. Noah led the Bulls with 15 boards and Thibodeau offered some guidelines for how that performance can be repeated.
“It's not only the energy, I think he has to concentrate,” Thibodeau said of Noah. “When he concentrates and he brings that energy, I think that's what gives him that special intensity. He can't just run around wildly, otherwise he's going to break our defense down.”
Even though Atlanta scored just 82 points in Game 3, Thibodeau felt the Bulls' defense was just OK. They did allow Hawks point guard Jeff Teague to score 21 points and gave up a few open drives to the basket.
“There are a lot of things we have to clean up,” Thibodeau said.
Against the Hawks, the Bulls would be wise to prepare for everything.