Cooling the Suns

Be honest, Bulls fans.  Who honestly had an amazing feeling about the team's chances against the Phoenix Suns?  They were just coming off a bad loss to the Kings and the Suns have been one of the better teams in the NBA recently.  I can't read faces of people I can't see, so I'm going to guess none of you were overly optimistic.  That's why a 101-92 win in a game that never saw them trailing was as refreshing as we could have asked for.

The only instance that saw this game tied was 2-2.  The Suns were able to maintain a respectable deficit for much of the game and even got it to as close as four with 2:09 remaining.  Each time however, the Bulls answered back and kept that trend going until the clock reached zero.  They shot 45 percent from the floor less than a day after turning in one of the worst shooting games of the season in Sacramento.

The good Carlos Boozer showed up in the desert, turning in his latest double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds.  Joakim Noah joined his fellow frontcourt teammate with 14 of each in the aforementioned categories.  D.J. Augustin, who likely still can't believe how much he improved after signing here, scored 18 off the bench, including three three-pointers in the fourth quarter.  It was the first half of that frame that saw him put the offense on his shoulders.  Jimmy Butler scored 18 too, going 7-of-8 from the free throw line.  Mike Dunleavy put whatever feud he has with DeMarcus Cousins in the back of his mind, scoring 11.

This Bulls team has done some amazing things, but one that might be overlooked more often than not is how short a memory they have.  In a season that is seemingly focused on everything wrong with the franchise, including blowing a chance to get into this year's draft lottery, you can see why few people think about this.  To lose badly to an inferior team one night and play a solid game against a much better one is a sign of how seriously opponents still have to take the Bulls.  As long as Joakim Noah is emotional and Tom Thibodeau is the captain, this is what we'll see over the course of a season.

After a day off, the Bulls will make the latest national TV appearance against the Golden State Warriors.  That's a team I seem to recall appearing on TNT and ESPN a lot recently, but then again, the national outlets love to promote the best of the NBA.  We've seen that with the Bulls over the past few years and hopefully, they'll be worthy of this treatment for quite a bit longer.