A few hours later, you and your fellow brethren have taken over the building, cheering on a 105-89 victory. You leave with an understanding you might be seeing an emerging superstar in Jimmy Butler. You realize this could have been the game Nikola Mirotic needed to start a journey to the All-Rookie team. That's a night well spent.
After the teams played equally in the first quarter, former Bull Jamal Crawford led the Clippers on a nice run during the second to get the home crowd into the game. It helped that the Bulls went cold from the field, resulting in a 14-point lead with less than 3 1/2 minutes to play in the half. At this point, Bulls fans had to hope this was just a bad stretch of basketball and the tide would turn soon.
Fortunately, that became the case as the Bulls cut the deficit to two at halftime. Then, they truly took over by outscoring the Clippers 31-14 in the third. They kept it going in the fourth and even fought off a late Clippers rally in which the lead was cut to eight. Before it was over, the home fans were headed for the exits and the visiting fans made their presence known.
All five starters scored in double digits, led by Butler's 22. The fourth-year man from Marquette led everybody with eight assists and made life miserable for Chris Paul (12 points) on defense. He drove whenever he wanted and wanted to be wherever the ball was at any given moment. If you didn't think he was a go-to option on offense before, you better start thinking so because he's not going away.
Taj Gibson, starting in place of Gasol, proved he's regular starting material again by scoring 20. Mike Dunleavy and Kirk Hinrich had 19 and 14 respectively while burying four three-pointers each. Joakim Noah, knowing Gasol couldn't earn a double-double, earned one of his own with 11 and 16. He nearly made it a triple-double, but capped his assist total at six.
Mirotic led the shorthanded bench by totaling 12, three of which came from downtown. There was a lot of talk on Twitter during his 18 minutes of play that this was the game in which we could see what he truly is. His defense leaves something to be desired, so we'll have to wait and see on that. For now, we'll take the message that he shouldn't be messed with as we get deeper into the season.
The Clippers are a tough task these days, so starting the circus trip against them should have meant dread for a team rattled by injuries. Instead, the Bulls showed how even without their two most talented scorers, they're deep enough to handle any team anytime. Butler has the top scoring average so far at 21.3, so his presence is proving just as valuable. If they find good looks for each other, limit turnovers (just eight in LA) and keep up their trademark defense, they'll continue to add to that 6-0 road record, which ties the 1996-97 Bulls for the best start away from home.
The Bulls will play their second game on this long trip Thursday in a nationally televised tilt with the Sacramento Kings. At least one of Rose and Gasol is expected back by then, which should tilt the odds further towards the Bulls favor. Tune in to hopefully see a win and a team-record 7-0 beginning outside of Chicago.
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