Derrick Rose

Magic-Bulls notebook

THE FACTS: Derrick Rose scored 39 points and forced Orlando's Jameer Nelson to take a game-tying shot a tenth of a second late, leading the Chicago Bulls to a 102-99 victory.

The Bulls' 60th victory was accomplished against a Magic team playing without center Dwight Howard, who was serving a one-game suspension for getting his 18th technical foul.

Ryan Anderson, starting at center for the Magic, scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

The final 50 seconds of the game included three replay reviews, including a look at Nelson's final 3-point shot, which left his hand a fraction of a second late after Rose's defense forced an extra move.

QUOTABLE: "I just wanted to make sure I contested (Nelson's shot). That was the biggest thing (coach Tom Thibodeau) was saying was to make sure you contest, but not foul him."
-- Rose, on Nelson's split-second-too-late jumper at the end.

THE STAT: After outrebounding the Magic, 50-30, in their last meeting on March 4, the Bulls had a modest 37-33 advantage in this game.

QUOTABLE II: "In the last game, we rebounded the ball great and they had Howard. Tonight they spread us out and the only people I saw on that board, fighting for it, were the Magic."
-- Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.

TURNING POINT: When a replay review gave the ball to the Magic with 49.7 seconds left, they were down 97-96 and working for a shot. The ball went out of bounds again with 32.3 seconds left, and this time a review gave the ball to the Bulls, who never gave up the lead.

HOT: Having earned the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed in spite of mediocre 46 percent shooting for the season, the Bulls shot 60 percent against Orlando. Rose shot 13-for-17 and made all 10 of his free throws, stretching his streak at the foul line to 29.

NOT: The Magic's Brandon Bass and Gilbert Arenas shot a combined 4-for-19.

QUOTABLE III: "Because Dwight (Howard) wasn't in the game, guys had to create a little bit more to fill in for him. We obviously had to get to the offensive rebounds more. When he's out you have to work extra hard, and today I think we did a great job fighting the whole game."
--Ryan Anderson

IN THE ARENA: Not the Magic's Dwight Howard or Quentin Richardson, who were serving one-game and two-game suspensions, respectively.

QUOTABLE IV: "We played hard, we tried to win a game, we didn't get it done. Other than taking another loss, I don't know what meaning there is to this."
-- Magic coach Stan Van Gundy

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Rose, who leads NBA guards in points plus rebounds plus assists per game at 37.0, raised his average with 39 points, five assists and three rebounds.

ROOKIE WATCH: Bulls center Omer Asik had two points, one assist and one block in 14 minutes.

NOTABLE: The Bulls have won 49 of their last 61 games . . . This is the sixth time the Bulls have won 60 games in a season. They went on to NBA titles after each of the the first five times, most recently in 1997-98 . . . The Magic are 1-3 without Howard, who has been suspended for two games and missed two more with the flu.

UP NEXT: For the Bulls, Tuesday @ New York, Wednesday vs. New Jersey, then a first-round playoff series against Indiana. For the Magic, Monday @ Philadelphia, Wednesday vs. Indiana, then a first-round playoff series against Atlanta.

http://www.nba.com/games/20110410/CHIORL/gameinfo.html


Friendly Foes

It was a welcome to the League of sorts for Derrick Rose when back in 2009, as a rookie, he averaged 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists during an epic seven-game series against the reigning champion Celtics.

Two seasons later, former Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau is leading the Bulls, who just clinched the No. 1 seed in the East.

Rose spoke about the ironies of the Bulls-Celtics connections a few weeks ago, saying, “Yeah, it’s kinda weird. (Laughs.) Definitely weird. [Thibodeau will] say something about [the Celtics], how good they are. It makes you think about it. We’re kind of like the same team where we both over-help on the defensive side, where usually people do that in college. That’s not normal NBA defense, I would say, where most of the time NBA teams leave you out on the island, and us, we just help everywhere and we depend on each other.”

On his former assistant’s success, Doc Rivers says, “I just love that he’s doing well…I don’t love the fact that the Bulls are doing well because they’re in our way and we’re in their way, but the fact that he’s doing well makes me feel great.”

Entering Sunday, the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls are ranked one and two, respectively, in points allowed. For the Bulls, it is an approximately eight point defensive improvement from last season, as Thibodeau has transformed the team into one of the League’s elite defenses.

On his former coach, Rajon Rondo says, “He’s very focused. I haven’t been around a lot of coaches but I’m sure he’s one of the hardest working coaches in the league. He watches hours and hours of film, he’s very prepared. He’s going to be a good coach for a long time.”

“He helped us a lot,” says Rondo when asked about Thibodeau’s defensive principles implemented during the 2007-08 season. “We believed in him, we bought into the system. Defense is why we won the championship that year,” he says.

Rondo confirmed the hours he saw Thibodeau spend in his office preparing for games. “You never could beat him to the gym,” he says.

While the Bulls have claimed the top spot in the East, they have a long road ahead to get where they want to be. Thibodeau knows what it takes to get there.

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2011/04/friendly-foes/

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