Even as the Chicago Bulls wrapped up another impressive victory, the question that has dogged them remained unanswered: Will Derrick Rose be ready for the playoffs after fighting through injuries all season? Rose, last season's league MVP, finished with 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting to help the Bulls defeat the Indiana Pacers 92-87 on Wednesday night.
Nice game. Korver shot the ball great as did Boozer. Rose and Hamilton were off, but were moving well. Noah and Asik beasted on the boards. 29 assists vs the Mavs and then 27 last night...nice.
My dad (much more into football than basketball) used to say in the long run you can only count on being as good as your second string player at any position. The Bull have done an outstanding job with their MVP player out or doing limited minutes hurt. If he can pull it together by playoff time it makes things easier but the Bulls have definitely given a lesson in the importance of maintaining a deep, productive bench -- not just in terms of injury compensation but in terms of momentum when starters rest against the opposing second team players. The Bulls have flexibility and diversity to adjust to opponents and I like their chances. I'd like our chances a bit better with all of the starters completely healthy but The Bulls will give any team they face in the playoffs fits -- hopefully resulting in wins -- but no matter what the health situation is The Bulls will not be an easy series against anybody, IMO.
If Rose were healthy I'd say we'd be the favorites. If he's so-so, I'd say our chances are as good as anybody else's. Luckily for us, we should be able to get into the middle of the second round without too much of a problem with a so-so Derrick Rose, so he should have about 3 weeks to get himself right.
