McGraw: Bulls have enough to get by in overtime
Playing without starters Jimmy Butler (bereavement) and Mike Dunleavy (foot), the Bulls used their ninth different starting lineup of the season Saturday night against Boston.
But it was tough to tell if the missing starters made this game such a struggle, or the Bulls were afflicted with another case of the mediocre-opponent doldrums. The Bulls already lost a home game to the Celtics on Nov. 8 and haven't been great at the United Center all season.
The Bulls ended up shooting just 37 percent from the field but pulled out a 109-104 overtime victory by pounding the boards and getting to the free-throw line.
With Pau Gasol piling up 29 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks, the Bulls won the rebounds 59-45 and the free-throw attempts 40-11.
"It was a weird game," Joakim Noah said in the locker room.
It hasn't always been pretty this week, but the Bulls (24-10) have won 12 of their last 14 games, with two more dates left on this five-game homestand, beginning Monday against Houston.
Coach Tom Thibodeau pulled a somewhat surprising move by starting 6-foot-10 rookie Nikola Mirotic at small forward in place of Dunleavy. Kirk Hinrich, who turned 34 on Friday, started at two guard for Butler.
Mirotic had been playing power forward almost exclusively this season. But his 38 minutes of action Saturday were all at the small-forward spot. He hit just 2 of 10 shots but produced a respectable 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
"I thought overall (Mirotic played) very, very well," Thibodeau said. "He didn't shoot the ball great, but I thought he made a lot of good plays. He spaced the floor well.
"He'd probably played about 10 minutes at the three prior to tonight. He's been working on it in practice, though. You can see he's developing confidence there. But I thought he made a lot of good plays to help Pau get going, too. Pau kicked it out, he reposted, and that helped us get established inside."
One reason for reluctance is Mirotic had to guard Boston's top scorer, Jeff Green, most of the night. It wasn't a great matchup on paper, but Green finished with 11 points and hit 4 of 18 shots.
"It's not only Jeff Green; it's all the switching you have to do against this team," Thibodeau said. "Basically, you have to guard everybody on the floor. I thought he did that. I thought he communicated well. Overall, I thought Niko was terrific."
Derrick Rose struggled again with his shooting accuracy, going 5-for-18 from the field, but he hit a number of big baskets. Late in overtime, he crossed over Avery Bradley and hit a driving bank to make it 107-103 with 24.4 seconds left.
The Bulls never trailed in overtime, taking the lead for good about a minute in when Mirotic stepped in front of Green for a steal. He missed the fastbreak bank shot, but Hinrich hustled downcourt to follow in the miss.
In the fourth quarter, Gasol's jumper with 1:43 left broke a 95-95 tie. The Bulls squandered a few chances to put the game away, and Taj Gibson missed a free throw with 22.7 seconds left to keep the margin at 2 points. On the other end, Gibson nearly stole the ball from Green, but the Celtics forward picked it off the ground, missed a shot and teammate Jared Sullinger followed it in with 2.6 seconds on the clock.
The Bulls managed to get Aaron Brooks (19 points) an open look for a corner 3-pointer, but he misfired at the buzzer.
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