THERE’S an enduring image from the 2011 Eastern Conference finals, the last Bulls playoff run Derrick Rose successfully navigated at full health.
It’s of Heat forward LeBron James switching onto Rose late in games and, more often than not, smothering the recently crowned Most Valuable Player and suffocating the Bulls offense.
If the Bulls advance to a likely second-round matchup with James’s Cavaliers—they took another step on Monday night with a 91-82 victory over the Bucks at the United Center—who knows if James will reprise his role.
This is for certain: The Bulls are a deeper offensive team with more options, late-game and otherwise.
The Bulls showed that again in a victory that was anything but artful. In a physical game that featured two skirmishes, seven technical fouls and one ejection, they shot 38.3 percent with 15 turnovers, although just four in the second half.
Rose missed his first seven shots and failed to score in the first half, a first in his postseason career.
But there was Jimmy Butler, leading the Bulls for the second straight game with a career-playoff-high 31 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. Butler scored 10 points and had a nasty dunk over Zaza Pachulia and three-point play in the game-changing 13-0 fourth-quarter run.
“That one dunk Jimmy had was definitely huge,” Joakim Noah said. “It gave us some confidence as a team. After he did that, he was really feeling himself. Everyone was pumped up after that one.”
There was Mike Dunleavy, sinking four three-pointers. Pau Gasol posted his sixth double-double in six regular-season and postseason games versus the Bucks. Nikola Mirotic scored seven straight points to close the first half at a time the offense truly scuffled.
Even Tony Snell got into the act, sinking a fourth-quarter three-pointer in the game-changing run.
“It may have seemed like a little thing, but it was big to have Derrick back for those last five games of the regular season,” Coach Tom Thibodeau said. “That gave us a chance to get comfortable. And now we’re starting to find a rhythm.”
Mirotic suffered a left quadriceps strain and limped to the locker room after tangling in the fourth quarter with Pachulia, who got ejected. He’ll be reevaluated on Tuesday.
“It’s playoff basketball,” Thibodeau said. “You’ve got the same teams going at it each day. A lot of it is will and determination, how badly you want it.”
The Bulls showed plenty in holding the Bucks to a 35.6-percent shooting. Noah did much of the dirty work, corralling a season-high-tying 19 rebounds to lead the Bulls to a dominant edge in that department for the second straight game, this time 64-48.
And Rose righted the ship enough to finish with 15 points on four-for-14 shooting, nine assists and seven rebounds. Rose also played 38 minutes as Thibodeau reiterated there are no restrictions in the playoffs.
“When you’re missing shots, you have to do other things to help your team—whether it’s defense or rebounding or making plays,” Thibodeau said. “And Derrick did that. Once he got lost in the game, he found his offensive rhythm.”
Said Rose: “First half, I was missing shots, just trying to get everybody into the game. The second half, it’s kind of like the restart button where you forget about the first half and just go out and play.”
Early on, Bucks Coach Jason Kidd got the defensive pace he wanted. The Bucks led, 16-11, after one quarter and trailed, 39-38, at halftime.
But in the end, the Bulls—who are 23-1 in playoff series when they win the first two games—had too many weapons. Butler just happened to be the biggest.
“Jo and Derrick were telling me to score, like literally telling me to shoot and not to pass up any shots,” Butler said. “So I was feeling it a little bit. And I just put the ball in the basket.”
In Oakland, California, Klay Thompson scored 26 points and Stephen Curry had 22 points and six assists as the Golden State Warriors regrouped from an early deficit to down the New Orleans Pelicans, 97-87, to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.
The top-seeded Warriors fell behind by 13 points in the first quarter after a strong start by the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon. A big burst before halftime pushed the Warriors ahead, and they did just enough in the closing moments to put away the pesky Pelicans.
Davis had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Gordon scored 23 points for the Pelicans.
By KC Johnson / Chicago Tribune
(With AP)
Image credits: AP