The Bulls played by far their best, most complete game of the early season tonight, defeating the Portland Trailblazers at home by a final score of 110-98. I was a little worried about this game coming in, mostly due to Portland's frontcourt, which is very good. However, the Bulls got a career performance out of Luol Deng, and strong performances from Rose and Noah as well.
Luol Deng finished with a career high 40 points. He was aggressive offensively from the get go, and Derrick Rose did an outstanding job of getting him the ball in rhythm with wide open looks. Deng looked sluggish on the offensive end the first two games of the season, so it was good to see him bust out in a big way. Now he needs to be more consistent. The Bulls don't need him to average 30 points a night or anything, but they do need him to score the ball consistently, especially while Carlos Boozer is out of the lineup.
Derrick Rose had a more typical point guard line in this game. He finished with 16 points, 13 assists, and 5 rebounds. Alot of people have been saying that they don't think Rose is one of the top point guards in the game right now because his assist numbers aren't very high. That isn't all his fault though. Many times he gets the ball to open shooters who just miss the shots. Well, they hit those shots tonight, and Rose's assist numbers were terrific. The thing that impressed me about Rose in the game tonight was the fact that he didn't press when Portland decided to roll an extra defender his way. It would have been easy for him to do that coming off of a game in which he scored 39 points, and single handedly willed the Bulls to a comeback win. Instead, Rose did alot of pick and roll, and drive and kick offense, drawing defenders and hitting the open man for plenty of wide open looks. He only took 11 shots tonight, but made 6 of them, which is a very efficient offensive game. When you factor in the 13 assists, that is alot of offensive production from a point guard who is one of the best in the league.
Noah had a decent night, although he was plagued by foul trouble. He finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. He had a couple of blocks thrown in, and a couple of steals as well on the defensive side of things. Joakim had a tough night guarding LaMarcus Aldridge, who posted 35 points for the Blazers. Without Aldridge's scoring tonight this game is an absolute route. I think Noah needs to get more touches offensively. The only thing truly missing from his game is the threat of consistent offense. He doesn't need to have 20 shots per game or anything like that, but give him 5-7 post opportunities each game to let him develop in that area as well. If he could score in the post a few times per game, that would open things up alot more for the Bulls. Imagine the possibilities when Boozer is healthy as well. Rose, Deng (if he shoots consistently), Noah and Boozer all on the floor at the same time will pose many problems for good defensive teams.
Overall this was an important win for the Bulls. They beat an up and coming team and gave them their first loss of the season. It is vital for the Bulls to get off to a great start at home. They play 4 of their next 5 at home before going on that ridiculous 7 game Western Conference road trip, which they never do well on. Up next for the Bulls are the New York Knicks on Thursday night at the United Center, then a big test on the road in Boston on Friday night. Good start for the Bulls, who are now 2-1. Go Bulls!
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