Imrem: Prepare for Game 4 roller derby

Seriously, the Bulls and Cavaliers really did play basketball on Friday night.

It wasn't hockey. It wasn't bullfighting. It wasn't professional wrestling.

The game just seemed that way, and you can throw a stock-car demolition derby into the mix.

The question was whether the Bulls could win a rough-and-tumble game like this (with the emphasis on tumble) against a team like this (with the emphasis on rough).

After all, LeBron James is the face of the Cavs and he's like an immovable force and immovable object all at once.

The face of the Bulls is Derrick Rose, still rounding into game shape, much less fighting shape.

Well, the answer is yes: The Bulls can win a game like this and in fact did.

The guy still getting into game shape? Rose banked in a 3-point shot with time running out for a 99-96 victory.

"That is Derrick's greatness," Bulls' coach Tom Thibodeau said. "There are not many like him."

The other guy? James scored 27 points but missed 17 of 25 shots from the field to get there.

In a hectic, frantic, man's man's game, the Bulls dominated all the man's man's statistics: 54-39 in rebounds, 18-9 n offensive rebounds, 18-7 in second-chance points and 44-28 in points in the paint.

"Gang rebounding," Rose called it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this NBA playoff game wasn't for, well, ladies and gentlemen. It was more for mobsters and their molls.

From the time the game officials declined to blow a whistle in the opening minute, the winner in the end was going to have to survive.

Every player on each team understood the tone. Compete in hard hats, some hard feelings, myriad hard fouls.

"It was a hard-played game," Cavs' head coach David Blatt said.

The Bucks played physically during their first-round series against the Bulls, but that was a basketball welterweight against a basketball heavyweight.

The Cavaliers are NBA heavyweights in every sense. So are the Bulls. Let the chips, and bodies, fall where they may.

The United Center was up for the rough stuff, with 22,246 fans howling their approval and encouragement from the start.

The crowd shook the building like something was at stake here and the two teams played it that way.

By winning, the Bulls went ahead two victories to one in the best-of-seven series. In playoff terms, that made the night pivotal, if not decisive.

Whatever it was, the physicality and intensity and aggression were turned up to 20 on a scale of 10.

The game wasn't dirty. It was simply nasty. A sequence in the third quarter showcased the attitude.

James and Bulls' center Joakim Noah exchanged words and glares. A few seconds later James dunked on Noah, taunted him and received a technical foul.

"The word (Noah) used with me was disrespectful," James said. "I got the T. I earned it."

James already was being booed every time he touched the ball. He didn't exactly respond like the world's greatest basketball player, right up to missing a makable layup in the final minute.

Overall in this hard-played game every board of hard court was precious turf, every ounce of sweat was dripped with purpose and every iota of energy was expended.

Now they do it again on Sunday. Can this series possibly become more intense like playoffs usually do?

Fasten your seat belts and don't be surprised if Game 4 resembles roller derby.

mimrem@dailyherald.com