Hamilton passes his first Bulls test
Most people expected Richard Hamilton to add scoring to the Bulls’ attack. Who knew he’d be such a distributor?
Making his Bulls debut Tuesday night at the United Center, Hamilton had the ball flowing. He was credited with 6 of the team’s 30 assists as the Bulls beat Indiana 93-85 in their preseason finale.
The veteran shooting guard, who joined the Bulls after agreeing to a contract buyout with Detroit, finished with 13 points and hit 6 of 12 shots.
“This is my 13th season,” he said after the game. “Basketball is basketball. Once the ball’s thrown up, when you’ve got good guys on your team like I have here, they help me through the whole time.”
Hamilton delivered one of the best passes of the night, a behind-the-back bouncer to Taj Gibson under the basket for a dunk in the fourth quarter.
Earlier in the game he tried a fastbreak lob for Derrick Rose that didn’t quite connect. He also executed a perfect pick-and-roll with Joakim Noah that didn’t result in an assist only because Noah was fouled.
“I tell Noah and I tell (Carlos) Boozer, ‘If you hit my guy (on a screen), your guy’s going to help and I’m going to make the pass,’” Hamilton said. “If you can get your big guys easy baskets, get them flowing, they want to set screens.”
Boozer led five players in double figures with 24 points. Rose finished with 9 assists and just 12 points but didn’t mind a bit.
“Anything to win,” Rose said. “If that’s me passing the ball, that’s just what it is. If anything, I’d love to have a game like this every night. With the players we have, we can make the game very easy.”
Wearing his trademark clear face mask and headband, Hamilton was the fourth player introduced, just before Rose. He received a nice ovation, not surprisingly, from a full house at the United Center.
He looked no different from when he used to run Kirk Hinrich through 15 screens on every possession while wearing the blue and red of the Pistons. One significant change, though, is Detroit was primarily a half-court team. On Tuesday, the Bulls piled up an 18-4 advantage in fastbreak points.
“I haven’t played with a guy as fast as (Rose),” Hamilton said. “Usually, I’m the guy outrunning everybody.”
So the Bulls looked pretty good while sweeping two preseason games against Indiana, which played the Bulls tough in the first round of last spring’s playoffs. The season starts for real Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“You can’t get carried away with this. This is preseason,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “They’re looking at a lot of guys. We’re not going to get too excited about a preseason win.”
Tyler Hansbrough played well for Indiana, producing 24 points and 13 rebounds. Besides Boozer, Hamilton and Rose, Luol Deng (14 points) and Ronnie Brewer (11) scored in double figures.
The Bulls kept up a comfortable lead most of the night, leading by as many as 18 points.
mmcgraw@dailyherald.com