Ugly win, but Chicago Bulls will take it
Two nights after an impressive win over San Antonio, maybe this performance was predictable. The Chicago Bulls are still trying to put their game together, and consistency has been a missing ingredient.
On Wednesday night at the United Center, they trailed Denver well into the fourth quarter before Pau Gasol helped turn things around late and give the Bulls a 99-90 victory. Gasol finished with 26 points, 19 rebounds and 4 blocks.
The Nuggets were struggling badly heading into this one. Not only had they lost seven in a row, they scored 81 points or less in each of the three previous games.
"This is the type of game, you play against a team that's lost seven in a row and think you're probably going to win the game and it's not going to require your maximum effort and sometimes teams do fall into that trap," Gasol said. "For most parts of the game we kind of were in that place, but we snapped out of it well with enough time on the clock that we could make a run."
Coach Fred Hoiberg pointed out a baffling statistics after the game - the Bulls dished out 10 assists in the first quarter alone, then finished with 22. After doing all the right things early, they descended into a malaise that kept the game close.
"In this league, sometimes you've got to win ugly, and that's what I thought we did tonight," Hoiberg said. "We found a way. That is the encouraging thing, on a night we didn't play our best, we found a way to win."
Derrick Rose hit just 3 of 17 shots but still finished with 12 points and 9 assists. He shot mostly on the run, trying several of his midrange, moving bank shots, and they just bounced off the rim. Rose didn't miss by much, but he missed often.
Still, the assist total was important and it showed how the Rose-Gasol pick-and-roll has become a dangerous weapon. Denver won't put any of its big men on the all-defensive team, but the results still were impressive.
"When we run our pick-and-roll action, it's tough to cover because (Rose) is a great penetrator," Gasol said. "He dribbles the ball with force and explosiveness and my guy also has to be concerned with my pops and my shot outside, so we put them in a predicament and we make a lot of plays from there."
Jimmy Butler added 19 points, while Doug McDermott turned in his second straight game of double-digit scoring with 11 points. Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson grabbed 11 rebounds each off the bench.
Nikola Mirotic was lost at the 7:21 mark of first quarter when he contested a drive by Nuggets rookie Emmanuel Mudiay and caught an elbow to the left side of his face. Mirotic stayed flat on his back for a couple of minutes before heading to the locker room. He didn't return, with a diagnosis of concussion and facial laceration requiring stitches.
Denver played with plenty of confidence on this night, carrying a 72-68 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Bulls played from behind early in the fourth but finally made a surge against a lineup of Denver subs, taking the lead for good at 82-79 on a McDermott 3-pointer off a long offensive rebound.
After missing on their next three trips, the Bulls asserted a little control by stringing together a Butler 3-point play and a pair of jumpers by Gasol to go ahead 89-81 with 4:30 left.
"They're a great team, but I think it was all us," Rose said. "We went up by 12 or 13, let them back in the game, went up again. It's all about learning."
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