The 76ers relied heavily on the 3-pointer all night and for awhile, it worked. They had a one-point halftime lead, thanks in part to taking advantage of some holes in the Bulls' defense, especially on the perimeter. Their rebounding was also aggressive, which made the home crowd a bit nervous. Point guard or no, they were looking for any possible way to win.
Finally, the Bulls decided enough was enough. Led by Derrick Rose, especially down the stretch, they played smarter and found open shots without shooting further than they had to. They fought for the ball and helped each other out when somebody was being played tightly. Basically, it was the sign of a true playoff team.
Pau Gasol achieved his latest double-double of 24 and 13 to wrap up the double-doubles title in the NBA (he has 52). After this game, he'll be the oldest player to ever achieve that at age 34. It seemed he felt he had to do a lot of the work down low just to keep his team in the game.
Rose showed flashes of his MVP form late and finished with 22 points to go with a game-high eight assists. What more could he do to show his value to this team as they prepare for the playoffs? He's back to driving and making good passes. The chronic 3-point shooting remains an issue, but he still knows how to do just about everything else well.
Jimmy Butler hit the deck quite a few times, but he survived and scored 15. Mike Dunleavy and Taj Gibson each had 13, Gibson getting his last four in the final 30 seconds to put the game away. Although Tony Snell didn't get to play until late in the third quarter, he led the Bulls with three 3-pointers, totaling 11 in the points column. Remind me how he's had trouble finding minutes again?
If the Bulls had lost this game, it would have been another example of letting a bad team walk all over them in their building. It nearly came down to that, which isn't encouraging for a playoff contender. The poor effort we saw for the majority of the game is why many people are quick to predict this team will have a first-round exit. It's far from the first time we've seen it too.
But the win happened and we got a reminder of how dangerous this group can be. The talent has been there, just not completely healthy most of the time. The effort is always possible, even if we haven't seen it as often as we'd like. If both of those elements can come together, the Bulls might surprise some folks.
For all we know, the Bulls are truly saving most of their energy for when the playoffs arrive. It's hard to fathom a Tom Thibodeau team entertaining such a notion, but the NBA can be unpredictable. Regardless, we need more signs that these Bulls can match up with Cleveland and maybe make Atlanta sweat.
Toronto's win over Miami Saturday keeps them in the third seed over the Bulls, who have two games left to change that. The first of those comes Monday against the Brooklyn Nets. While they're at it, why not cripple their playoff chances just as they did to the Heat Thursday? Every win should have some sort of bonus attached to it after all.
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