Bulls tame Knicks on Derrick Rose Night |
CHICAGO - Saturday night was a very special night at the United Center as the People's Champ, Derrick Rose, returned home for Derrick Rose night. Throughout the process of making this night a reality, it was later revealed that the Bulls would be retiring his jersey next season, a deserving gesture from this organization.
Although most, if not all, of the attention was directed to Rose most of the night, there was still a game that needed to be played as the Chicago Bulls (16-19) welcomed in the New York Knicks (24-12). Leave it to the Bulls to play down to their opponents and come away with a loss against Washington, only to step up their game on Saturday. You have seen that a lot from the Bulls this season, as they have had a tendency to play down to their opponents a lot this season only to up their game when the competition is better. Despite trailing by nine at the half, where the Bulls allowed 71 first-half points, this was Rose's night, and there was no way the Bulls were going to lose on his night as Chicago picked up a massive 139-126 win against one of the Eastern Conferences best. This game was ultimately decided in the fourth quarter. The Bulls not only came out guns a-blazing on the offensive end with 41 points, but defensively, they were equally as outstanding, holding the Knicks to just 17 points in the quarter. Take the third quarter out of the equation, and the Knicks outscored the Bulls in all three of the other quarters, so you can see the importance of that massive quarter. A big reason for the Bulls strong third was the play of Zach Lavine and Coby White, as they put together some of their better showings of the season. Not only did both of them come away with 33 points to lead the Bulls, but they combined to knock down 12 triples, with White going 9-11 from long range. Those two accounted for 60% of the Bulls made triples as they made 20 of their 37 total attempts and shot better than 50% from deep. While they were the main cogs leading to the Bulls overall success, Chicago had plenty of production to go around, including another big night from Nikola Vucevic who added 22 points with 12 boards. Speaking of double-doubles, Josh Giddey continues to go about his business on the court, adding 15 points and 10 rebounds to post another double-double. Giddey added eight assists to fall just short of his third triple-double this season. Those four not only led the Bulls offense from start to finish, but they provided a large chunk of the Bulls total production as nearly 100 points came from their starting five. Jalen Smith did add 10 points off the bench for Chicago as the Bulls managed to come away with a massive win against a great team. When the Bulls announced that this would be Derrick Rose night, it made a ton of sense, as the current New York coach was Rose's coach in Chicago while Rose finished his career with the Knicks. It made too much sense for this night not to happen when you look at his connection with both teams. A big reason for the Knicks strong start this season has been the play of Karl Anthony-Towns who was acquired as part of the Julius Randle trade this offseason. Towns gave the Bulls issues from start to finish, but he single-handedly put the team on his back in the fourth quarter and tried to will them to victory. Towns led all scorers with 44 points for the game and pulled down 16 boards. Twenty-four of his 44 points came in the fourth quarter before exiting with a lower-body injury. While Towns did his thing in the second half, it was the Jalen Brunson show in the first half, as the G was on a heater early. Brunson added 33 points to give the Knicks a potent 1,2 combo and dished out eight assists to set the tone for the offense. Even with them being the only real consistent scorers for the Knicks, New York did benefit from a quarter of starters in double figures, which is why they managed to stay in the game as long as they did. Mikal Bridges overcame a 0-5 night from distance to finish with 18 points and had he knocked down some triples; this could've been a different result. OG Anunoby rounded out the starters with 12 points, as those were the lone double-digit scorers for the Knicks.
DEFENSE SETS THE TONE IN BULLS WIN OVER THE LEGENDS
In the second game of a back-to-back against the Texas Legends, the Windy City defense set the tone as Chicago managed a weekend split with an 89-88 win. To say this was an ugly offensive showing would be an understatement, as the offense was tough to come by from both sides.
Even at that time, Windy City still had several players who scored in double figures, with Alex Schumacher leading the way with 16 points. He was one of three starters to score in double figures, joining Adama Sanogo with 13 points and Marcus Domask with 10. Sanogo was also a force on the boards, grabbing an additional 13 rebounds to go with those 13 points.
Windy City also saw Jordan Hall add 15 points off the bench, with Ben Coupet adding 10, as those were the main offensive threats for Windy City. Going up against his former team, newly acquired Emanuel Miller was in the starting lineup but struggled to get going and finished with six points.
Despite their offensive struggles, two players accounted for nearly half of their points, and Tyson Walker and Jarod Lucas combined for 41 points. Walker led all scorers with 22 points, accounting for 25% of the team's total points. Lucas added 19 points as those were the only two starters to provide anything, with Teafale Leonard adding 12 points off the bench in the loss.
