Rose helps keep Hawks’ Crawford in check
The Bulls added one more task to Derrick Rose’s to-do list in Game 2 against Atlanta.
He took on the assignment of guarding Jamal Crawford, who had been the Hawks’ leading scorer in the playoffs. It worked out well, as Crawford hit 2 of 10 shots for 11 points and the Bulls evened the series with an 86-73 victory at the United Center.
In Game 1, when Atlanta dominated the fourth quarter with its three-guard offense, Rose stuck to defending point guard Jeff Teague. Kyle Korver had trouble staying with Crawford, who scored 22 points.
So those matchups were switched Wednesday, and maybe it didn’t matter all that much since Teague led Atlanta with 21 points. But the Hawks count on Crawford to be a crunchtime scorer. Teague didn’t play a whole lot until Kirk Hinrich injured his hamstring.
“All of our guys have to be ready to guard every one of their guys on the perimeter,” coach Tom Thibodeau said Thursday at the Berto Center, “because you have to do a lot of switching against this team.”
The bottom line was impressive. The Hawks scored 30 fewer points in Game 2 than they did in Game 1. The other important change was Luol Deng challenging more of Joe Johnson’s shots.
“There are things we’ve still got to get better at,” Deng said. “He (Thibodeau) is happy we got better. We made strides, but we’re not where we want yet.”
Will Atlanta regain its confidence when the series shifts to Philips Arena on Friday? Hard to say. The Hawks scored 103 points in Game 1, but in their other four games against the Bulls this season, the averaged 78.3 points.
That’s a strong trend — playoffs, regular season or pickup game in the park. The Hawks deserve to feel confident heading home, but the Bulls have reason to believe this series will work out fine as long as they bring their best defensive effort.
In Thibodeau’s view, it’s not that simple.
“Sometimes you can play great defense and they can make,” he said. “Other times maybe you’re playing poor defense and they can be missing. The big thing is we have to be consistent.”
The Hawks are primarily a jump-shooting team, though. Getting a hand in the face of their best shooters, Johnson and Crawford, will go a long way to keeping the score low.
“In the first game, I think it was the loose ball and second shot that hurt us more than anything else,” Thibodeau said. “If you give them confidence early, and we did in Game 1, they’re hard to slow down. You’ve got to keep challenging their shots. If they make a tough shot, you’ve got to be ready to do it again the next time.”
Thibodeau was asked questions ad nauseam Thursday about Carlos Boozer and whether he should sit down with an injured right big toe.
Boozer is not playing at his usual level, but he’s still rebounding well and giving the Bulls a respected post presence. Taj Gibson may be healthier right now, but he’s not likely to draw a double-team in the lane.
“It’s one of those things, when you say it’s a toe, it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s an annoying injury,” Deng said. “I know he’ll get his rhythm. For us, he really played well. I know fans and you guys want to see more. But as long as we win, that’s enough.”
Boozer has averaged 11 points and 9.5 rebounds in two games against the Hawks. Needless to say, Thibodeau isn’t planning any lineup changes.
“We need him out there,” Thibodeau said. “His rebounding is critical for us, post presence. People collapse on him, so it opens up a lot of things for everybody.
“He’ll handle it fine. This guy’s been a big-time player in this league for a long time. He knows what he has to do.”