For Bulls, the 2010s was a decade of broken dreams
It's not hard to pick a theme for the Bulls of the 2010s.
The decade of "What Could Have Been." Or maybe "The Long Downhill Slide."
The two dominant moments were Derrick Rose collecting his MVP award on May 3, 2011 and then Rose collapsing to the court with a torn ACL on April 28, 2012.
It's pretty easy to get on board with the lost greatness theme. Imagine the 2011 Bulls team that lost to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals, but with Jimmy Butler at shooting guard instead of Keith Bogans. See what I mean?
The Bulls got one legitimate run at the NBA Finals with Rose, which is a shame. They did get to the second round of the playoffs a couple of other times - in 2015 when Rose finally returned, and in 2013 when Nate Robinson stepped in as the heroic point guard.
The all-decade team is pretty obvious: Rose, Butler, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and Taj Gibson, the lineup that should have had a five-year run. Maybe Pau Gasol or Carlos Boozer for sixth man is debatable.
The playoffs may seem like a distant memory now, but the Bulls qualified seven times in the 2010s. They had four head coaches in the decade, moving from Vinny Del Negro to Tom Thibodeau to Fred Hoiberg to Jim Boylen.
And there were plenty of other positive moments. Like, well, Joakim Noah's "What's cool about Cleveland" monologue during the 2010 playoffs was fun.
The bad moments, there have been quite a few. Let's keep it positive for now and unveil the 10 best Bulls games of the 2010s:
10. Rose over Dragic
Bulls fans already knew Rose was special, but his ladder-climbing, two-handed dunk over Phoenix guard Goran Dragic on Jan. 22, 2010 really drove home the point. Rose scored 32 points in the 115-104 win and don't forget to credit Tyrus Thomas for the assist.
9. Vinny's historic streak
That Phoenix game also started an unprecedented streak. When the Bulls beat New Orleans on Jan. 29, 2010, they become the first team in NBA history to win five straight road games against teams with winning records. The Del Negro Era never got better than that.
8. Triple OT in Atlanta
Everyone loves scoring, right? So can't leave out the 168-161 victory in Atlanta on March 1, 2019, in four overtimes. LaVine led the way with 47 points in 56 minutes and Otto Porter has never been the same.
7. Thibs returns
There haven't been many highlight in the rebuilding era, but Hoiberg got an impressive win on Feb. 9, 2018. The Bulls beat Minnesota 114-113 in the first trip back to the UC for Thibodeau and Butler.
6. Carolina miracle
OK, one more from the rebuild. The win at Charlotte on Nov. 23 might count as the best comeback of the decade. The Bulls trailed by 8 with 45.4 seconds left, but won it with a late steal and LaVine's clutch 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds on the clock.
5. Giannis gets angry
Remember when the Bulls made Giannis Antetokounmpo so angry he ran across the court to tackle Mike Dunleavy Jr. into the seats at the Bradley Center? Maybe the Bulls will make Giannis angry again someday, but the 120-66 blowout on April 30, 2015 completed the Bulls' last playoff series victory.
4. Attack mode in Atlanta
The 93-73 victory over Atlanta on May 12, 2011 was pretty routine. But it sent newly-crowned MVP Rose and the Bulls to the conference finals for the only time since the championship era ended.
3. Streak broken
Just when people thought the Lakers' 33-game streak was in grave danger, the Bulls ended Miami's win streak at 27 games at the United Center on March 27, 2013. A short-handed Bulls squad won 101-97 behind Deng's 28 points. They can always say they owned the Heat's "Power Trio" in the regular season.
2. Rose bank shot
Rose still had some magic left when he returned from the injuries and banked in a game-winning 3-pointer to beat Cleveland 99-96 on May 8, 2015. The clutch basket put the Bulls up 2-1 in the second-round playoff series. But LeBron James answered in Game 4 and it was all downhill from there.
1. Up a game on Miami
The decade peaked early when the Bulls clobbered Miami 103-82 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on May 15, 2011. Gibson's monster dunk probably still echoes in the United Center, but the rest of the series, and decade, didn't go quite as well.
• Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls
Bulls top scorers of the decade
<b>Most points in the 2010s</b>Player Points
1. Jimmy Butler 6,208
2. Derrick Rose 6,100
3. Luol Deng 4.630
4. Taj Gibson 4,545
5. Carlos Boozer 4,347
6. Joakim Noah 3,987
7. Nikola Mirotic 2,774
8. Zach LaVine 2,687
9. Pau Gasol 2,633
10. Lauri Markkane 2,519