The
Bulls charged out
of the gate, dominate the Pacers in a 116-89 rout
The
Bulls sent a message to the NBA tonight….we’re ready to rumble.
By
Dan Peters
It
may have looked like the previous games were close in score, but in
reality, it just showed the basketball world that the Bulls earned
that number one spot for a reason. Championships are won by total
team effort.
Rose
drove, hit jumpers, found the open man and was just a thorn for the
Pacers, particularly during the stunning third-quarter run; helping
the Bulls clear their first hurdle in what they think could be a long
playoff run.
“Don’t
jinx it,” said Rose. “It’s great, man, especially being on a
team with these guys. My teammates, they’re great. It feels good to
be back on a winning team. I haven’t been on a winning team since
college. The front office did a great job of picking the right guys.
Our mindset was great from the beginning.”
You
can hear the fans chat.. “MVP, MVP” but Derrick Rose stays
focused at the tasks at hand. The MVP award should come later. And
their superstar point guard gets a few extra days to rest, too.
After
the game, Rose was asked how it felt to win his first playoff series.
“I’m speechless, it’s unbelievable, I can’t believe it. I’m
happy for my teammates, coaching staff and just want to keep it
going. My teammates are great. It feels great giving back on a
winning team. I haven’t had that since I was back in college. The
front office has picked up the right guys and Coach Thibs is doing
the right things. It just feels great now.”
A
Total Team effort
On
this Bulls team, any one of several players could earn that MVP
title. The top-seed Bulls can breathe a little easier after a
dominating win that came on the heels of four close games, and not
set focus on the Eastern Conference semifinals and a matchup with
either Atlanta or Orlando.
Raining
“3’s”
The
Bulls hit 14 of 31 3-pointers, including five by Keith Bogans (15
points) and three each by Deng and Rose. Deng also had seven assists
and six rebounds.
Joakim
Noah added 14 points and eight rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls won a
playoff series for the first time since they swept Miami in the first
round in 2007. It was clearly their most impressive performance of
the postseason even though Carlos Boozer scored just two points and
again found himself in foul trouble.
The
coach was looking at the big picture after his first playoff series
win. “All year long, we’ve focused in on going step by step,”
Thibodeau said. “I think once you start skipping steps and looking
at all the other stuff, that’s when you get lost. So we knew we
were capable of playing better, although when you look at the series,
to be up 3-1, you’ve got to do a lot of things well, too.”
Not
Setting the Pace, but frustration
The
Pacers Danny Granger scored a team high 20 for the Pacers but had
some strong words afterward for Noah. He accused Noah of throwing
elbows that ultimately led to a technical foul for A.J. Price after
an altercation with Tyler Hansbrough and an ejection by Josh
McRoberts later in the game.
Things
took a nasty turn in the closing seconds of the third when McRoberts
threw an elbow at Noah and got ejected.
The
two were starting to run the other way after a missed 3-pointer by
Rose. McRoberts said he was elbowed in the throat by Noah and was
retaliating when swung his right elbow. That blow missed, but
McRoberts got called for the flagrant foul 2 and got tossed.
“I
was trying to shove back to defend myself,” he said.
Noah,
who hit both free throws with 2.5 seconds left to make it 84-65,
said: “I wasn’t dirtier than anyone else. It was a battle down
there. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. I was just trying to win.”
“He’s
a dirty player, honestly,” Granger said.
“Everyone
knows in the league Jo is not dirty,” Luol Deng countered.
Derrick
Rose added: “It’s the playoffs. They tried hard to keep me from
the basket with hard fouls. I’ll just continue to go back there as
that’s just part of the game.”
“I
thought it was physical.” said Hansbrough. “We were frustrated.
We were down big. The game was getting a little chippy, but I don’t
think it was getting out of hand. We made some aggressive plays and
were frustrated.”
The
Pacers Hansbrough had 14 points and 11 rebounds, but they trailed the
entire way and committed 21 team turnovers.
Hansbrough
talked about Rose and the Bulls after the game: “It’s tough to
contain Rose. We did so many things. We changed up, we tried trapping
him, we tried regular blitzing, we tried giving him different looks.
But as a team, they’re one of the more physical teams. They
definitely can rebound. That was a challenge for us, keeping them off
the offensive boards. And keeping Noah out of there.”
Now
the Bulls can take a day off, set their sights on the next round..And
you know those teams will be seeing red when they play these Bulls.
