Bulls continue to roll!

The Chicago Bulls won their 4th straight game, and 22nd overall on the season as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-91 at home earlier this evening.  It was their third straight home game, all against weaker Eastern Conference opponents.  Their previous two games were victories against the Milwaukee Bucks (90-77), and the New Jersey Nets (90-81).  The wins haven't been pretty by any means, especially offensively.  In two out of those three games the Bulls shot less than 40% from the field.  However, the Bulls have made up for any offensive shortcomings with much improved defense.

Tonight's game really didn't start or end well for the Bulls, even though they did get the victory.  The Bulls came out flat, which isn't all that surprising since they played yesterday as well.  They let the Cavs shoot 56% from the floor, and score 61 points in the first half.  The Bulls themselves scored 53 in the first half, and normally that would be good enough for a double digit halftime lead, but the Cavs came ready to play, and shot the ball extremely well in the first two quarters.  Then came the third quarter.

The Bulls outscored the Cavs 33-9 in the third quarter.  The Cavs settled for every outside shot they could get, and the Bulls challenged them on the perimeter to force several missed shots.  Rose dominated the quarter as well, scoring 12 points and dishing out several assists in the pick and roll game as well.  Rose and Boozer are starting to look like a great pick and roll tandem, possibly one of the best in the league.  Boozer put up 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Rose added 28 points and 11 assists.  Rose is starting to put up double figure assists regularly, and hopefully he'll start getting more foul calls when he drives to the rim.  The officials can't seem to officiate him correctly.  He gets to the rim so easily, and there is contact on a good percentage of plays, yet Rose still only averages about 6 foul shots per game.  That number should be much higher.

The Bulls ran their record to 22-10, which is the highest over .500 that I can remember them being since 2005, when they went 49-33.  They still have a relatively weak schedule for the next couple of weeks, although they do have games coming up against the Celtics and Heat.  It'll be interesting to see how the Bulls play against those two teams, and the Heat in particular.  Hopefully the Bulls can keep racking up wins against the weaker teams until Joakim Noah gets back.  Go Bulls!