Great players find a way. Tonight, Derrick found a way.
After another night of turnovers and sloppy offense at times, especially the fourth quarter, Derrick Rose still wasn’t going to let anyone get in his way homecoming W tonight, especially not the Knicks.
The Bulls pulled out a 82-81 victory at the United Center tonight in Rose’s first home game in nearly 18 months. Rose finished with 18 points, with the last two coming with 5.7 seconds left in the game and would ultimately be the game winner. Rose only shot 7-23 from the field but still was able to drain a rainbow floater over Felton and Chandler that reminded me of good ole’ Ben Gordon in his hay day. Deng added 17 points and Noah grabbed 15 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony had 22 points in the loss for the Knicks.
What to take away from tonight: Obviously, it is the emergence of our superstar in the final moments against an Eastern Conference contender, plus it’s the Knicks, so any win against them always matters. The Bulls only had two field goals in the fourth quarter, both by Rose. Yet despite being atrocious on offense in the 4th, the Bulls relied on their tenacious defense to help them pull through for the first win of the year. Rose might not have shaken off all the rust quite yet, but if the game winner has any indicator, he’s going to be okay and safe to say, he’s back.
Moving forward the Bulls starting lineup of Rose, Butler, Deng, Boozer and Noah will continue to create chemistry between each other, only being their third game with each other. As a team, the Bulls need to cut down the turnovers and for heaven almighty hit one from downtown! You get my point.
Next game: The Bulls travel to play Philadelphia on Saturday.
-Goat
S/o to Mr. Michael Wood as he continues his quest into becoming an every night Bulls fan, don’t worry, they’ll eventually shoot a decent field goal percentage.
