advertisement

Noah, Rose lead Bulls past Celtics

As usual for the Bulls, good health leads to good results.

Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah were back on the floor Friday at Boston and led the Bulls to a 109-102 victory at the TD Garden.

The stat lines were impressive. Rose finished with 21 points, shot the ball well and helped the Bulls overcome a slow start by scoring 12 points in the first four minutes of the second half. The Celtics led by 16 with just over four minutes remaining before halftime.

"My confidence is through the roof, man," Rose told reporters after the game. "I don't need more confidence, I just need to play. I know how good I am and I know how good I'm going to be. It's just that I just need to be out there playing."

Rose has been in and out of the lineup while coming back from nearly two years off with a pair of knee surgeries. When he plays at least 20 minutes, the Bulls are 6-1 this season. The lone loss was in overtime against Cleveland on Oct. 31, when he didn't play down the stretch due to a pair of sprained ankles.

Rose missed four games with a left hamstring strain, returned against Utah on Monday, then lasted just 10 minutes a night later in Denver. Ultimately, Rose and coach Tom Thibodeau felt it was smarter to sit out the second half as a precaution.

"Ten minutes against Denver was important. Every time he's out there is important," Thibodeau said. "That's how he's going to shake the rust off. I just want him to keep building. He's got to be out there to be able to do that.

"When you look at his plus-minus when he's on the floor for our team this year, it's off the charts. When he's on the floor it makes a big difference for our team. I think we all know that."

During his third-quarter scoring surge, Rose successfully took a charge from Boston forward Jeff Green. Rose got back to his feet very slowly, but stayed in the game.

Noah didn't play against Denver because of a scratched eye and sore left knee, which was surgically repaired over the summer. The rest must have helped, because Noah delivered 15 points, 14 rebounds, 6 blocked shots and 6 assists against the Celtics.

In the final minute, Noah blocked a driving layup attempt by Boston's Evan Turner, then drained a 19-foot jumper to give the Bulls a 106-102 lead with 24.4 seconds left. After the made jumper, Noah let out a scream and celebrated with teammates in front of the bench.

"You can't say enough about the way Jo played, his activity, rebounding, blocked shots," Thibodeau said. "You can see he has his bounce. He's been like that for a while now. The day after the Portland game (Sunday, actually) I thought was his best practice of the year. So it's good to see him playing like that."

The Bulls (10-6) weren't always sharp on Friday. The Celtics shot 59 percent from the field while scoring 35 points in the first quarter. Even after erasing the 16-point deficit and taking the lead in the third quarter, the Bulls gave up a 13-2 run.

They made up for the sloppiness by limiting Boston to 11 points in the fourth quarter. Still, the Celtics led 102-100 with less than two minutes remaining. Jimmy Butler (22 points) tied it with a pair of free throws. Then after Rajon Rondo missed twice at the foul line, Butler was fouled going for a rebound and hit the go-ahead free throws with 50 seconds left.

Aaron Brooks (15 points) and Nikola Mirotic (13 points) played well off the bench, while Pau Gasol pulled in 15 rebounds.

The Bulls are now 3-3 on the circus road trip and can finish with a winning record by beating Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon.

Get the latest Bulls news via Twitter by following @McGrawDHBulls.

Paxson: Shutting down Rose not an option now

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.