Moore Fun

Thursday's contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder featured two big storylines, neither of which involved the Bulls.  Russell Westbrook was coming off four straight triple-doubles, which hadn't been done since MJ in 1989, and the return of TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager after battling cancer.  In the end, Sager interviewed not Westbrook, who scored 43 points, but E'Twaun Moore, who made the biggest shot in a 108-105 stunner.

Moore, one of the Bulls who had to deal with Westbrook in the backcourt, turned in a career-high 19 points.  His final bucket came with 2.1 seconds left on a trey off a Pau Gasol assist, giving the Bulls a two-point lead.  Westbrook took the subsequent inbound pass, but stepped out of bounds before he could attempt a shot.  Nikola Mirotic then split two free throws to finish off the game and his team-high 26 points.

Gasol and Mike Dunleavy, both of whom will be counted on heavily in March, turned in twin 21-point performances.  That wasn't enough for Gasol, so he achieved yet another double-double with 12 rebounds.  Joakim Noah crashed the boards for that total and nearly had his own double-double, but was still pleased with a game-high nine assists.  With no Derrick Rose, he's going back to being the offensive facilitator he was for most of last year.

Hopefully, grinding out these wins against good teams won't make the Bulls too tired to go deep in the playoffs.  For now though, we should enjoy wins that aren't even supposed to happen.  Plus, the Bulls finally seem to recognize that it's going to be a tough fight to the finish, especially with fewer offensive weapons at their disposal for the moment.  So just maybe, this recent string of major injuries which aren't season-ending was a blessing in disguise.

As for Moore, we can't anticipate to see him have these games all the time because Tom Thibodeau really only goes to him if guys are unavailable.  For one night though, he proved he's worth the two-year deal the Bulls signed him to in September.  Even on average nights from him, it's still more than what we've been able to say about Nazr Mohammed, Cameron Bairstow and (ugh) Doug McDermott this season.  Clearly, Thibodeau trusts him more than any of the others to fill in, even if they all have different natural positions.

The Bulls will have to come down from this high quickly when they travel to play the Indiana Pacers Friday.  No, I will not be going to Indianapolis as I did in December, but I'll still be praying the Bulls show their hosts they don't belong in the playoffs, even in a weak conference like the East.  That they're even in contention shows how the postseason needs to be reevaluated, but that's for another day.