Rose goes wild as Bulls roll Blazers 115-106
Tom Thibodeau has repeated this line so much lately when talking about Derrick Rose, it's almost become hypnotic.
“He's gotta go, he's gotta go.”
This phrase seems to have two meanings. For one, Rose has got to play. He won't get back to his old self by sitting on the bench resting minor injuries. Remember, Thibodeau's words are being interpreted here.
Secondly, Rose has got to go to the basket, be aggressive and get back to the style that made him an MVP at age 22.
That part, he did very well Friday against Portland. On a night when two Trail Blazers — Damien Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge — scored 35 points, Rose still managed to steal the show.
Scoring on a wide variety of one-handed runners and bank shots, Rose scored 31 points and led the Bulls to a 115-106 victory at the United Center. Rose hit 14 of 24 shots overall, which included no makes from 3-point range out of 2 attempts and just 3 free throws.
“When he's aggressive like that, there's no one like him,” Thibodeau said.
A case could be made that Rose was better than ever Friday. He was efficient, made difficult shots look easy, rarely took a hit on the way to the basket and added 5 assists.
After the game, Rose was asked if Thibodeau's constant urging to aggressively drive to the basket played a role in this performance.
“He tells me that, but at the same time, I've got to listen to my body and listen to myself and just learn how to play with my teammates by myself,” Rose said. “It's something I've got to figure out. Every game, I'm getting more and more comfortable with it.”
There were plenty of interesting aspects to this game, starting with Aldridge, who poured in 21 first-quarter points while hitting 10 of 12 shots from the field. Bulls fans hate being reminded that their team drafted Aldridge with the No. 2 pick in 2006, but traded him to Portland for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa.
Portland (17-6) grabbed the early lead, but the Bulls went on a 19-2 run when Aldridge went to the bench late in the first quarter. The Bulls never trailed after that. Their bench was a big factor in this game, with backup guard Aaron Brooks scoring 17 points and rookie Nikola Mirotic adding 15.
In the fourth quarter, Thibodeau played Rose and Brooks together for one of the first times all season and the results were promising. The two guards scored 20 straight points for the Bulls during the bulk of the fourth quarter.
Brooks also attacked the basket, twice getting past 7-foot center Chris Kaman. Brooks also tossed in a very Rose-like one-handed runner.
“It was fun,” Rose said. “You don't have to worry about dribbling the ball, handling the ball and the way that he creates, people have to respect him.”
The Bulls matched a season-low with just 8 turnovers and snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Blazers.
Defense, who needs it? This was the Bulls' eighth straight game scoring over 100 points.
“I think we played a pretty complete game,” said Pau Gasol, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds. “It's the kind of game we want to play, especially when two players on the other team have such big nights. To still win the game, I think is a good sign.”
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