Bulls enjoy winning, but focus on improvement
According to Derrick Rose, there are benefits to winning the vast majority of your basketball games, besides just watching the Bulls rise in the NBA standings.
“I can sleep good at night. I don't have to worry about anything, the way we're playing,” Rose said Monday at the Berto Center. “Right now I feel blessed. I'm on a winning team. We're just trying to get better and our confidence is really high.”
The Bulls are 13-2 since Dec. 4, with more games against teams with losing records in the immediate future.
After completing a four-game homestand Tuesday against Toronto, they'll travel to New Jersey and Philadelphia before finishing a run of four games in five nights Saturday against Boston at the United Center.
Their 22-10 record matches the mark after 32 games of the last championship team (1997-98), which played without Scottie Pippen early in the season.
The Bulls played plenty of tough competition early this season and are now beating up on some weaker opponents, although they did knock off Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers last month.
“The focus for us is to continue to improve,” forward Carlos Boozer said. “But we like to win as we improve. That's what we're trying to do.”
The recent victories have been far from perfect, but the Bulls are faring well in a number of key categories. Here's a rundown:
ŸRose, Boozer and Luol Deng have provided consistent scoring. Rose and Boozer are on pace to give the Bulls their first set of 20-point scorers since Michael Jordan and Pippen did it in 1996-97.
ŸThe defense has been solid. The Bulls rank second in the league in defensive field-goal percentage (.428), seventh in points allowed (94.0), fourth in blocked shots (6.2) and ninth in steals (8.0).
ŸThe Bulls are in the middle of the pack in scoring points (99.4), but their .462 field-goal percentage would be the team's highest since 1996-97.
ŸRebounds and fastbreak points have dipped since center Joakim Noah was sidelined by thumb surgery Dec. 16, but the Bulls still lead the league in rebound differential at plus-4.0.
The bad news is mostly limited to poor free-throw shooting (71 percent) and too many turnovers (15.4). The bench scoring has been inconsistent lately, but as a whole, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, C.J. Watson, Omer Asik and others have been reliable.
Winning can be fragile in the NBA, though. The Bulls made history with 5 straight road wins over teams with winning records last January, then a few weeks later lost 10 in a row.
First-year coach Tom Thibodeau stressed the important of not feeling satisfied with success.
“The good teams in this league constantly improve,” he said. “I'll say this: I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty, so I'll take the win any time.
“If you're a quality team, you have to know and understand how to make those improvements when you do win, not feel good about yourself, (but) say, ‘Hey, this is not good enough. We have to correct this.'”