The post-Luol Deng era never promised to be pretty. Tonight's game against the Orlando Magic proved to be just that. Both teams were eager to pull away at various points, but ended up in a dogfight instead. Yet somehow, the Bulls pulled it off in triple overtime 128-125.
Derrick Rose made his first appearance on the bench since losing his crutches, looking as sharp as anyone at the Amway Center in an expensive suit. He's known for coming through in the clutch and some of that rubbed off on his teammates. Mike Dunleavy hit a three that sent the game into a second overtime. Joakim Noah made a tip shot late in that period before a three by Glen Davis forced a third extra session. Noah and Tony Snell had keep buckets which this time, proved enough to end the game and give the Bulls a 4-1 record since trading Deng.
Helping the Bulls to overcome Victor Oladipo's career-high 35 points and Jameer Nelson's 31, Noah registered a thrilling line of 26 points, 19 rebounds and six assists. Not far behind were Carlos Boozer with 23 and Jimmy Butler, who played in a franchise regular-season record 60 minutes, with 21. Butler and Dunleavy each tied Noah in the assists column, but finished behind D.J. Augustin, who had nine dimes off the bench and added 19 points for good measure. Snell, becoming the rare rookie who's thriving to an extent under Tom Thibodeau, scored 15 and grabbed seven rebounds. That was impressive, but Snell couldn't match Taj Gibson's boards total of 11. Contributors were aplenty tonight.
I know after the previous game, I said the Bulls were not a team that thrives on getting into shooting contests with opponents. That's largely true, but when you're battling an inferior team like the Magic, whose losing streak reached nine tonight, it's easier to find those ways to beat them. The Bulls shot 12-of-33 from three-point range. Dunleavy, Augustin and Snell evenly split nine of those. All three are mainly shooters, so if there was ever a game for them all to put those skills to good use, this was it. I don't know if we'll see that kind of game from this trio again this season, but at least we got to see what they could do when they all peaked.
Games against lesser opponents are not going to come as easily as before. Deng provided a scoring punch that would have brought tonight's contest to an end in regulation. I know that sooner or later, we're going to have to let this deal go, but everyone will continue to bring it up until enough time has passed that it falls out of the news. Perhaps next week.
Regardless of who comes along, the Bulls are still going to make the other team earn their wins. I know it's easier to write them off against Miami and Indiana now, but they've beaten those teams with less of a packed punch before. The difference now is this team is weaker by design in addition to injuries. The Magic thought they had this game won, but the Bulls continued to battle and in the end, said no to mercy for Orlando. They're continuing to battle hard and that makes true basketball fans around Chicagoland happy as can be.
The Bulls will have a chance to avenge their Monday loss to the Washington Wizards Friday in our nation's capital. Fatigue might play a little bit of a factor after tonight's never-ending win, but at least they have a day to rest up before going all out for another 48 minutes. That's the mentality of this team and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Weak or strong, the Bulls can go long, even 63 minutes.
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