Rose, Thibodeau keep Bulls rolling
The Bulls began the second half of their season with a thoroughly forgettable 83-82 loss to Charlotte at the United Center on Tuesday.
But the finish of the first half was impressive. They won at Memphis without Carlos Boozer or Joakim Noah to post a 28-13 record after 41 games.
Stop and think about that for a few seconds. Even with the toughest part of the schedule at the beginning and with the full complement of players for just nine of those games, the Bulls are on pace to produce a 56-26 record.
“We're doing a good job,” Luol Deng said after Tuesday's game. “We've faced a lot of adversity so far. We've got a deep enough team where guys can step up. Games like this really hurt. We really felt like we played great (at Memphis) and we wanted to come out tonight and show up.”
Did anyone foresee that kind of a record for the Bulls this season? An unofficial search of preseason Las Vegas odds had the Bulls over-under win total between 46 and 48.
“Nobody would have thought that we'd be right here,” Derrick Rose said. “We're still playing hard. We lost tonight, but we've still got a lot more games to go.”
There is no guarantee they'll be able to keep this up, but the Bulls have shown remarkable resiliency. Remember back in November, they played at Denver without Rose or Boozer and only lost on a Carmelo Anthony shot at the buzzer.
They've gone 7-9 against opponents with a winning record. But again, it's tough to tell how good the Bulls might be if they finally keep the full lineup together.
Here are two conclusions that can easily be drawn from the opening 41 games: Rose is the NBA's first-half most valuable player, and Tom Thibodeau is the first-half coach of the year.
As of Wednesday morning, the Bulls had the NBA's fifth-best record. Three of the teams ahead of them have multiple dominant players — San Antonio (Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan); Boston (Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett); and Miami (you know who). The defending champion Lakers are the fourth team, and they've probably underachieved.
San Antonio's Gregg Popovich might be the other top contender for coach of the year, since the Spurs have run away with the league's best record after stumbling last season.
Despite the injuries and some individually poor defensive players, Thibodeau has the Bulls ranked first in defensive field-goal percentage at .426.
Another strong coach-player combo is New York's Mike D'Antoni and Amare Stoudemire. Those two have the Knicks on pace to produce their first winning since 2001. But New York was just 4 games above .500 as of Wednesday morning.
On the TNT studio show Monday, analyst Charles Barkley raved about the Bulls' performance
“People keep talking about the elite teams, but they keep forgetting the Chicago Bulls,” Barkley said. “I love (Utah point guard) Deron Williams, he's been the best point guard in the NBA, but you have to move him down to No. 2. Derrick Rose is the new best point guard in the NBA.
“Derrick Rose is balling right now. He has really improved his shooting. He made more threes this year than he did his first year in the league. When they get healthy, no one is going to want to see them in the playoffs.”
Rose has improved in most every category this season, including defense. He ranks seventh in scoring (24.7 points) and 10th in assists (8.0). But producing victories has been Rose's best quality.