Rose trumps the Zen master in 88-84 Bulls win
No one knew better than Joakim Noah that the Bulls had built a seven-game losing streak against the Los Angeles Lakers.
He was on the court for every loss and never experienced a win.
Until Friday, that is. The Bulls recovered from an early onslaught, got the requisite late-game heroics from Derrick Rose and held off the two-time defending champions 88-84 at the United Center.
“Coach always says it's the next game on the schedule. I don't believe that,” Noah said. “I think when you're playing the back-to-back champs, you've got that much talent on the floor, you've got one of the greatest players in Kobe on the court, all the history with Phil Jackson it was an unbelievable atmosphere out there and we beat the Lake Show for the first time in my career. I'm very happy.”
The Bulls (13-8) won their fourth straight game and have a chance to build on their record in the coming weeks.
Starting Saturday when Minnesota visits the United Center, 15 of the Bulls' next 18 games are against teams that were below .500 through Friday.
“We kind of needed that after losing to Boston and Orlando,” said Luol Deng, who added 14 points for the Bulls. “Those are the kind of teams we want to test ourselves against.”
Rose finished with 29 points and 9 assists, while Lakers star Kobe Bryant scored 23. A big difference was long-range shooting. The Bulls went 8-for-17 from 3-point range, compared to the Lakers' 3-for-13.
The early part of this game was the same old story for the Bulls great one quarter, terrible in another.
This time, they went scoreless for nearly six minutes in the first quarter and trailed 22-12 after one.
At the start of the contest, the Lakers pounded the ball inside, and the Bulls couldn't stop Pau Gasol (21 points) or Lamar Odom (18).
The Lakers ended up winning point in the paint 52-30.
“It felt terrible,” Noah said of the slow start. “There's no feeling sorry for yourself. We definitely got knocked in the mouth at the beginning of the game. But that's the strength of this team is we stick together and we're resilient.”
The defense settled in and limited the Lakers to just 10 second-quarter points.
Once the Lakers took an 18-6 lead at the 4:45 mark of the first quarter, they hit 6 of 23 shots (23 percent) the rest of the half and were outscored 30-14.
The 32 points in the first half easily beat the Lakers' previous season-low of 41.
The Lakers took the lead a couple of times in the third quarter. But Rose knocked down a 3-pointer to break a tie with 3:22 left, starting a 17-9 run that left the Bulls up by 8 heading into the fourth quarter.
“This team has no quit in them,” said forward Carlos Boozer, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds. “We got down early in this game. We looked in each others faces and said, ‘Yo, we're going to fight back and we're going to be in this game.' And we did.
“One thing you're going to be learning about this team is we're not going to give up. We may be down by 15. We may be down 20. But we're not going to quit.”
The Bulls built a cushion, starting when Rose hit an impressive corner jumper after the ball was slapped loose from his hands on the way up. It was called a 3-pointer at the time, then changed to a 2 a few minutes later after referees reviewed the replay.
When Kyle Korver followed with a 3-pointer and then 2 free throws, the Bulls' largest lead of the night was 81-69 with 4:38 left.
The Lakers (16-7) came back with 8 straight points, closing within 81-77 on Bryant's jumper with 1:45 remaining. Rose responded with a smooth lane drive and lefty lay in.
“I saw a lane and I just went,” Rose said. “I guess they were just tired. The whole game, they were closing down the lane, making sure someone was in front of me. At that time, I saw that I could get there.”
After Derek Fisher's 3-pointer made it 83-80, Rose calmly drained a 17-foot jumper to essentially seal the win with 25.2 seconds on the clock.
Mike McGraw's game tracker
<P>Bulls 88, Lakers 84</P>
<P><B>False beginning: </B>The basic story line to this game was how the Bulls fell behind 18-6 early, then produced an impressive defensive effort to hold the Lakers to a season-low lowest point total.</P>
<P><B>Rose for another win</B>: Derrick Rose finished with 29 points and 9 assists while scoring the two biggest baskets of the game in the final two minutes after the Lakers trimmed a 12-point deficit to 3.</P>
<P><B>Long distance dedication: </B>The Bulls went 8-for-17 from 3-point range, while the Lakers were just 3-for-13. “They beat us on 3-point shots. That's the difference in the game,” coach Phil Jackson said.</P>