Chicago Bulls keep ball rolling, top Pistons
A rough week for the Chicago Bulls ended with a likely season-ending shoulder injury to Joakim Noah.
There remains more than half of the season, though, and the Bulls sent a reminder Monday that they still might be a pretty good team.
The Bulls shared the ball well, got a big game from Pau Gasol and defeated Detroit 111-101 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Bulls (24-16) had dropped four of their previous five games and were 0-2 against the Pistons this season.
Gasol finished with a season-high 31 points, along with 12 rebounds, and hit 13 of 18 shots from the field.
But the real story for the Bulls was ball movement.
Simply put, when they share the ball, they can score pretty easily. Gasol fits into that plan because he's a reliable spot-up shooter. The Bulls finished with 28 assists, not quite matching their season high of 32, led by Aaron Brooks with 10 and Jimmy Butler with 9.
“I thought our guys made the right plays; we made simple plays,” coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters after the game. “I thought our bench turned around the game for us and they got us back into it.”
The Bulls started slowly, falling behind 26-13 late in the first quarter. They made their last 7 shots of the quarter and pulled ahead 39-38 at the 7:16 mark of the second quarter.
Derrick Rose added 20 points, Butler scored 16 and Doug McDermott hit 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range for 11 points. This is how the Bulls need to play, with Rose attacking the basket, Butler getting his shot or setting up teammates, while shooters like Gasol and McDermott wait for the kick-outs.
That's how the Bulls played when they won six in a row after Noah suffered his initial shoulder injury Dec. 21. There's no reason to believe the Bulls are better off without Noah, even though they are 9-2 when he doesn't play. More likely, Noah's injuries gave his teammates a better sense of urgency.
“I'm not going to say that we're over him or we don't need him. We need him for sure,” Rose said in the locker room. “But we're professionals. We know that once someone goes out, somebody has to step in and do that job, and we believe in everybody on this team.”
The Bulls got indirect encouragement from ex-coach Tom Thibodeau, who happened to be sitting in the ESPN studio Monday.
“Jo's the heart and soul of the team,” Thibodeau said. “He's the anchor of the defense. He's a leader. He brings a lot to the team.
“But they have great quality depth. They can get this done and they've played without Jo before, so I think they understand what they have to do. They're going to lose some rebounding with that, but that will be a team responsibility now.
“This team has been through a lot of injuries in the past and I think they have a good understanding of how to do that. They can't do it individually; they have to do it collectively.”
The Bulls are familiar with Thibodeau's message, because they've heard it before. And it works when they share the ball the way they did Monday. The Bulls' formula for success can be relatively simple — make the right play and don't care who scores — but they've gotten off track frequently.
• USA Basketball released 30 finalists for the 2016 Olympic team Monday. Butler made the cut, Rose did not. Butler has his work cut out, since the finalists include most every NBA star.
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