Positive signs abound for Bulls
The obvious question facing the Bulls as they try to complete a winning road trip with a victory tonight in Dallas is whether their success will continue or if it's just false hope created by a fortunate schedule.
Well, the answer should be visible on the court, because three challenging games stand between the Bulls and the all-star break.
After Dallas, they'll return to the United Center to face two teams sitting above them in the standings, Detroit and Miami.
There are some tangible signs of improvement from the Bulls, who are 4-2 on the seven-game "ice show" road trip:
• Center Joakim Noah has produced just six double-figure scoring nights all season. Four of them have come on this trip.
• Forward Tyrus Thomas has recorded four double-doubles in the past five games, boosting his season total to nine.
• After suffering through a slump for about three weeks, rookie Derrick Rose has shot 60.9 percent from the field in the last three games while averaging 19.7 points.
• Luol Deng has averaged 17.9 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 51.7 percent since coming back from an ankle injury on Jan. 12. That's a vast improvement from his putrid November numbers of 12.4, 5.1 and 39.0.
• The defense has improved with the return of Deng and Kirk Hinrich. Since Jan. 14, the second game back for those two players, the Bulls have given up 98.9 points per game. That's slightly better than their season average of 101.9, although the average was brought down when the Los Angeles Clippers scored 75 points and Sacramento 88.
• All this improvement has come without Drew Gooden, the team's only veteran big man. Before the hot streak began, the Bulls were 4-12 in games Gooden missed.
Accusations of a soft schedule on this trip are obviously true. The Clippers and Kings are as bad as it gets in the NBA this season, while Phoenix's mid-30s lineup is starting to wear down and New Orleans played without all-star point guard Chris Paul.
On the other hand, all four victories were decisive. The average margin of victory in the four games was 16.5 points, which is how a quality team should be winning.
When the Bulls and Dallas met on Nov. 13 at the United Center, the Mavericks jumped to an early 24-5 lead. But the Bulls responded with a 36-point turnaround before finishing off a 98-91 win.
The key to that game was obvious: Guards Ben Gordon (35 points) and Rose (16 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) ran circles around their older Dallas counterparts, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd.
It helped that Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard both had poor shooting nights. There have been few examples of the Bulls slowing down Nowitzki during the past decade, though they did win in Dallas during the 2004-05 season.