No Need to Panic: Bulls Gain Control

I'm recovering from oral surgery as I'm typing this. Specifically, I've got gauze where my wisdom teeth once were and an ice pack on my mouth. My face has swelled up. But all that didn't stop me from catching some of tonight's game against the 76ers in between my all-day March Madness marathon.

It looked for awhile like the Bulls were in danger of dropping two in a row for the first time all season and two in a row at the United Center for the first time in two years. I was going to write about how the Bulls truly need Derrick Rose, who sat out again tonight, in that lineup. I wanted to talk about how your superstar can only miss so much time before the team starts to look lost and out of sync on the court. Fortunately, a third-quarter comeback saved me from having to give that lecture. I still might at some point, but in the meantime, let's just be glad the pesky 76ers left Chicago with an 89-80 loss.

For the second time in three games, a point guard from the Bench Mob rose to the occasion. In his green St. Patrick's Day uniform with the rest of his teammates, C.J. Watson was the hero tonight. He countered Jrue Holiday's 30 points with a 20-point performance of his own, shooting 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. Another double-double for Joakim Noah consisted of 13 points and 11 boards. There were 11s across the scoring column from Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson and Kyle Korver.

Much has been made lately about how strong a rebounding team the Bulls are. It was a factor against Miami and it happened again tonight. They outboarded Philly 53-39 overall and 17-9 on the offensive glass. I know the phrase "defense wins championships" is used a lot, but it wouldn't be if it weren't so true. Basketball is about controlling the rock and using it to create possession time in your favor. There have been many times this season that the Bulls have gotten an offensive rebound and instead of forcing up a putback or a bad shot, they just kick the ball out to the point and reset the offense to hopefully create a better opportunity the second time around. They'll be tough to beat in the playoffs if they protect the ball by all means necessary.

After a day off, real or imagined, the Bulls will play the Magic in Orlando. Now that Dwight Howard is in that city to stay for at least the time being, maybe some stability has been created there. We'll find out more on Monday. And hopefully for me, I'll have stopped bleeding inside and my face will have shrunk a bit.

Oh, and before I forget, I direct you to the retweet I received from Bill Wennington during halftime tonight: https://twitter.com/#!/gfclark89/status/181183339565285376