Rose not upset with official
Following Sunday's loss in Atlanta, referee Bennett Salvatore told not only a pool reporter that he made a mistake late in the game, he also spoke to Derrick Rose directly.
“He's a good official. He just messed up a call,” Rose said. “Everyone's not perfect. I talked to him after the game about it. He told me he messed up and that's the only thing he can tell me.
“But it's over with. You can't go back in time and shoot the free throws. Hopefully next time, whoever is in that position, hopefully they make the right call.”
The play in question occurred with 2:27 left and the Bulls trailing 90-84. Rose pump-faked Jamal Crawford into the air, tossed up an errant 3-pointer and the whistle sounded.
The Bulls thought Rose was headed to the line for 3 free throws. Instead, it was ruled an inadvertent whistle and the teams were brought to center court for a jump ball, which the Bulls lost.
Salvatore's statement after the game read like this: “I didn't think it was a foul. Having watched the replay after the game, it was a foul and I should have called it. I made a mistake.”
That wasn't the only controversial call late in the game. Coach Tom Thibodeau said after the contest he wanted to watch replays of Rose's drives to the basket to see if he was fouled. Rose shot no free throws in the final five minutes.
“He's got to continue to drive with force,” Thibodeau said Monday. “I think if he continues to do that, he'll get calls. There's a lot of stuff going on in the restricted area. He's got to keep going.”
Added Rose: “I think I was taking the ball extremely hard; I guess they weren't fouling me. That's all I can do is go in there and try to get a foul. Now I have to focus on really making the layup.”
Noah gets defensive honor:Joakim Noah was named to the NBA's all-defensive second-team in a vote of league coaches. This was the first such honor for the fourth-year center.Derrick Rose just missed making the second team. He was the next-leading vote-getter. The Bulls actually thought Luol Deng was their all-defensive candidate, but he finished in a three-way tie for the 14th-most votes.#8220;In my eyes, Luol deserves to be first team,#8221; coach Tom Thibodeau said. #8220;I think Joakim played well and Derrick has certainly improved quite a bit. Luol to me, he's an all-league defender.#8221;The all-defensive first team included Orlando's Dwight Howard, Miami's LeBron James, the L.A. Lakers' Kobe Bryant, along with Boston's Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett.Besides Noah, the second team featured Memphis guard Tony Allen, New Orleans' Chris Paul, Dallas' Tyson Chandler and Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala.Rose will keep shooting:After Derrick Rose went 12-for-32 from the field in the Game 4 loss, there were questions about whether he took too many shots.#8220;Most of them were very good shots,#8221; coach Tom Thibodeau said. #8220;He missed some layups he normally makes. He's attacking. He's getting into the restricted area and there's contact. Unfortunately, he didn't get the calls yesterday.#8221;Longtime Bulls fans might remember a player named Michael Jordan being a high-volume shooter during the championship years.#8220;I was just missing shots,#8221; Rose said. #8220;Looking at the film, I missed a ton of layups. Layups I don't normally miss. It wasn't like I was taking a whole bunch of crazy shots or a whole bunch of jump shots. Those are shots I normally make. My confidence is still high. My teammates, they still have trust in me.#8221;Bull horns:Taj Gibson on returning home for Game 5: #8220;It seems like when we play at home, there's a lot more pressure.#8221; #8230; Last year in a first-round playoff series, Atlanta lost Game 5 at home to Milwaukee but recovered to win the next two contests and take the series.