An interesting contrast in defenses vs. Rose, James

Derrick Rose missed Wednesday's practice because of a family emergency. He's expected to be ready Thursday when the Bulls and the Cavaliers play Game 3 of their first-round playoff series at the United Center.

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro answered a long string of questions at the Berto Center about how to slow down Cavs star LeBron James, who scored 40 points in Game 2 and couldn't miss down the stretch.

It has been an interesting contrast, though. The Bulls essentially left James alone, guarded by Luol Deng, because they were afraid the Cavs superstar would just find teammates for open 3-point shots if they sent a double team.

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, have doubled Rose relentlessly, especially when backup power forward Anderson Varejao is in the game. The Cavs send two defenders at Rose 25 feet from the basket and they generally stay there until Rose either passes the ball or tries to knife his way into the lane.

There was at least one time in Game 2 when Rose split two Cavs defenders at the top of the key, then got past two more in the lane to score on a driving scoop.

"Derrick's seen double teams all year. We've got to pick them apart with that," Del Negro said. "We've got to get Derrick in areas where it's harder to double team and open up the court and let him attack in the 1-on-1 situations, which I feel we've done a good job with.

"Derrick's got to pick his spots, but there's nothing they're throwing at us that we haven't worked on or haven't seen all year."

By employing this strategy, the Cavaliers obviously are leaving somebody open.

Whether the Bulls are taking full advantage is open to debate. They've hit just 5 of 20 attempts from 3-point range in the first two games of the series. At the same time, if Varejao is that far away from the basket, someone could be open inside.

"When the pick-and-rolls come, they try to contain-blitz him," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "Give the ball up and we have to make the right plays. When we hold the ball, we get in trouble."

Rose also is the Bulls' most effective scorer, so keeping the ball and trying to beat the double teams isn't a bad idea. Rose averaged 25.5 points and 9 assists in the two contests at Cleveland, while shooting a respectable 44 percent from the field.

"We need Derrick to be aggressive, even if the double team comes," Del Negro said. "Sometimes he can split it or turn the corner on some of their bigs.

"I want him to do that because that even opens things up more. When he does give it up, guys have to make plays, whether it's corner 3s or getting 2-on-1 on the weak side with the bigs."

When it comes to James, there's only so much the Bulls can do defensively. Keeping him away from the basket and eliminating transition opportunities are the basic goals.

"People in Chicago know, you had a guy here that was pretty good for a long time that wore 23," Del Negro said. "You know how that is: You can have all the great defenses you want, but some guys can just make plays over the top of you, whether you bring one, two or three guys."

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