Eking It Out

Heading into Tuesday, the Bulls hadn't defeated the Portland Trail Blazers on the road since 2007, longer than any current player's tenure with the team (no, I'm not counting Kirk Hinrich's two-year sabbatical).  Though they led wire-to-wire, it was never really a runaway.  In fact, the Trail Blazers tied it twice in the final quarter.  Fortunately, they could never make that one basket needed to go in front and the Bulls won 93-88.

The defense had a few questionable possessions, particularly one where Mason Plumlee went wire-to-wire for a dunk off a rebound.  And at times, the offense looked like it had trouble countering with the Trail Blazers' quick tempo.  But it culminated positively when Joakim Noah blocked C.J. McCollum's potential game-tying three in the final seconds.  Further evidence that what you do doesn't matter as much as when you do it.

Jimmy Butler made most of his eight free throws in the fourth quarter and led all scorers with 22 points.  While Butler was the main man the Bulls needed on offense, Derrick Rose, back after missing two games, complimented his backcourt mate by scoring 17 to go with a team-high six assists.  Nikola Mirotic's shooting improved with a 4-for-8 night from the field, resulting in 13 points.  Pau Gasol made some keys as part of a double-double (12 points, 14 rebounds) and the final two points of Taj Gibson's 10 iced the game with 1.8 seconds left.

The Bulls wrap up the Western portion of their circus trip with a 2-1 record.  Nobody's beating Golden State right now, but taking care of Portland and Phoenix let the rest of the East know they still have a chance to make some noise.  Okay, you really can't judge a team with a new strategy much less than a month in.  Still, with virtually the same roster from a year ago, the talent is also unchanged and that's reflected their 9-4 record, tied with Miami for the second best record in the conference.

The circus trip continues Friday against the Indiana Pacers.  There's a team that's gotten off to a nice start many people didn't see coming.  Some might consider this a trap game, but the Bulls have played well together with this roster longer than the Pacers.  A sure-to-be split crowd in Indianapolis should help them out too, though it's still up to them to take care of business.