Rose 24 Butler 19 Gasol 17 Noah 13 Brooks 10 Bulls 49-46 rebounding edge. Gasol 15 Noah 14 Rose 7 assists Noah 6 Gasol 4 Hinrich 2 steals Gasol 4 blocks MDJ 2
Nice win. A good look at what this team is going to do when all the pieces come together. Noah still does not look close to 100% to me. Gasol and Noah playing together seems cumbersome. Rose really played within himself tonight. It was great to see. Bulls finally won the rebounding battle. Curious to see Gibson on the bench in the 4th. 23 minutes for Gibson, 35 for Pau. That has to eat at Taj. 5 minutes each for Dougie and Mirotic. Thibs was asked about this after the game. He basically said that's just how the game was. Snell gets a DNPCD. No development minutes going on here.
When Niko and Taj were in together Drummond and Monroe got a few offensive rebounds...I think it made Thibs skittish. He basically abandoned the bench in the second half figuring you can't get away playing Mirotic at PF against a big frontcourt like the Pistons. I think Thibs might be trying to platoon all 3 of Taj, Noah and Gasol in the fourth. Maybe for strategic reasons, maybe for political ones. The team played really well tonight though. 6-2. The offense looks goods. Pau looks good. Rose looks good when he plays. Jo's actually rebounding, blocking, stealing, and assisting at about the same rates he was last year. It's mostly his scoring that's down, which I think is natural given our new roster. He does look a little slow out there though. Hesitant to take guys off the dribble and not very springy around the basket. The Raps are a tough game on Thursday though. They also have a more european style roster, so I wouldn't be surprised to see both Doug and Niko get more burn.
Thibs kept Gasol in the game down the stretch. He subbed in Noah for defense and Taj for offense. It was sorta unexpected. You'd think he'd want Gasol and Taj out there for offense possessions and Noah and Taj out there for defense.
Thanks for writing that as it crystallizes what I'm seeing as well. The stat line from Jo was pretty good last night, save for the FG%, but he just doesn't look the same as last year.
Rose returns, helps Bulls beat Pistons 102-91 Derrick Rose said everything he wanted to say about his health on the court. Rose had 24 points and seven assists in his return to the lineup, and the balanced Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 102-91 on Monday night. Read more http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400578393
Rose was healthy. If Rose is healthy, the Bulls are very dangerous. The Bulls are a force again. Yes. Sent from my Venue 8 Pro 5830 using Tapatalk
It seems hopeful that we might see our full lineup play on a regular basis, but it's a work in progress. Either that or Detroilet is a much better team than last season.
