Jimmy Butler scores 33 in Bulls' win
Anthony Davis ran into some strong competition Saturday night for his perceived title of NBA's top rising star.
Davis was brilliant in his United Center pro debut, finishing with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks. The Chicago native missed games here the past two years with injuries.
Jimmy Butler provided a strong response, though, and continued his push for an all-star selection by scoring 33 points in the Bulls 107-100 victory over New Orleans, the team's sixth straight win.
This was Butler's third 30-point game in the last 10 days. Despite the presence of Davis, the league's best shot blocker, Butler knocked down 12 of 18 shots from the field.
"We play the same way no matter what," Butler said. "Just because you have shot blockers on the other team, doesn't change anything. You go in there and you make them do their job."
With this game, Butler's season scoring average is up to 22.0 points per game, which ranks in the top 10 in the league. And he's shooting 49.1 percent from the field.
Heading into this season, Butler's career scoring average was 8.9 points with a .425 field-goal percentage.
"Jimmy's a stud," teammate Joakim Noah said. "Not only is he a great scorer, but he's a top defender, like defensive player of the year-type defender, and it's huge. I'm just happy he's on the Bulls."
After the game, Davis was asked if this was an emotional night for him.
"Kind of, but I don't get into all that," he said. "I just want to win. My whole goal coming in here tonight was to win this basketball game and we didn't. So we have to go back to the drawing board, see what we did wrong and try to get ready for our next game."
Butler was the star of this game, but once again, the Bulls' bench played a significant role in the victory The Bulls had three double-figure scorers off the bench: Aaron Brooks with 15, Taj Gibson with 12 and Nikola Mirotic with 10.
After the Pelicans (15-15) took a brief 3-point lead in the third quarter, Butler led the Bulls (21-9) on a 19-7 run. Then early in the fourth, Mike Dunleavy was the only starter on the floor when Brooks, Mirotic and E-Twaun Moore helped boost the lead to 16.
Coach Tom Thibodeau mixed up the rotation again. This time he used Moore down the stretch in the fourth quarter and subbed Gibson for Gasol in the final minutes.
"We've asked everyone to sacrifice for the team," Thibodeau said. "Whatever is going to give us the best chance at winning, that is what we are going to do. Tonight it was one way; the next game it could be another, That is the beauty of our team. We have a very unselfish team."
Derrick Rose had another efficient game, scoring 19 points. Gasol scored just 8 points but led the Bulls in assists with 6.
The Bulls won the rebounding battle 45-37 and have outrebounded their opponent in 14 of the last 15 games. They got off to a slow start this season in that category.
"We're loaded up front," Noah said. "Every night, I think it's going to be different. Everybody has to be ready. Everybody has to play for the team. I think if we have that mentality, it's on."
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