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Bulls played a uva game. It is what it is. Spurs still best in the NBA!!!
GO SPURS GO!!!!!
Some post-game quotes.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=310217004Bulls nip Spurs for fourth straight win
CHICAGO -- Derrick Rose grabbed the microphone and thanked the fans for making him Chicago's first All-Star starter since Michael Jordan in 1998. Then he went out and showed why they made a wise decision.
Rose had a career-high 42 points and the Bulls headed into the break with an impressive 109-99 victory over the NBA-leading San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
Luol Deng had 19 points and Carlos Boozer finished with 15 for Chicago, which shot 54 percent in its fourth consecutive win. The Bulls improved to 38-16 after winning 41 games last season.
"We have a lot of confidence right now, knowing we can beat some of the best teams in the NBA," Rose said. "We just have to keep it going."
Once again hearing "M-V-P! M-V-P!" chants, Rose was at his best when San Antonio challenged Chicago in the fourth quarter. He had 13 points in the final period, answering Spurs baskets with acrobatic drives and long jumpers.
"What's great about him is that he seems to love the pressure," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "He loves putting the team on his back so to speak."
Rose's long jumper as the shot clock expired with 3:21 left gave Chicago a 101-90 lead and took the steam out of one San Antonio rally. He also finished with eight assists and five rebounds.
"That was some performance," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "It was great leadership."
Tony Parker scored 26 points and All-Star Manu Ginobili added 16 for San Antonio, which had won six of seven. Reserve Gary Neal made four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points.
"We were not having our best defensive night," Ginobili said. "We didn't move the ball well. We didn't penetrate and kick the way we usually do."
Chicago led 83-75 after three quarters and grabbed control early in the fourth. Ronnie Brewer kickstarted a 11-2 run with a dunk and finished it off with a jumper that made it 94-80 with 8:08 remaining.
Tim Duncan had 14 points and nine rebounds hours after Popovich announced he would replace Yao Ming in the Western Conference's starting lineup for Sunday's All-Star game in Los Angeles.
Duncan enters the break with career-low averages in points and rebounds, but is a key reason why San Antonio leads the NBA with a 46-10 record.
"It's a great honor," Duncan said. "I didn't expect to be there this year and I definitely didn't expect to start, so definitely a great honor."
The Spurs trailed for much of the night in the finale of their annual rodeo road trip but challenged Chicago with several bursts. Rose and the Bulls had an answer each time while improving to 25-4 at home in their best start at the United Center since 1997-98 championship team won 25 of its first 27 home games.
Duncan hit a running hook and Parker converted a three-point play to help San Antonio pull within two with 4:49 left in the third. But Deng stopped the spurt with a 3-pointer and Boozer had three straight points to make it 79-71.
"The third quarter was huge and then D. Rose took the game over," Boozer said. "All we had to do was get him the ball."
Even with the loss, it was a banner first half for San Antonio, which set several franchise records for fastest starts. The Spurs went 6-3 on their nine-game trip and open the second half with a three-game homestand.
"To date we have a good record but nothing of importance has been accomplished yet," Popovich said.
Rose slithered through San Antonio's stout defense for 21 points in the first half, making eight of 12 shots from the field. He scored Chicago's last six points of the second quarter, connecting on a nice runner, a jumper and two free throws to give the Bulls a 58-51 lead at the break.
Game notes
Parker said he dinged his right knee but was fine. ... Rose also was selected by the fans to participate in Saturday's NBA Skills Challenge against Golden State's Stephen Curry, Washington's John Wall, Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City and New Orleans point guard Chris Paul. ... The Spurs and Bulls split the season series. San Antonio rallied to beat Chicago 103-94 on Nov. 17. ... Deng was shaken up with 9:40 left but stayed in the game. ... Jordan celebrated his 48th birthday on Thursday.
Bulls played a uva game. It is what it is. Spurs still best in the NBA!!!
GO SPURS GO!!!!!
Chicago Bulls 109, San Antonio Spurs 99: Popovich singing Thibodeau singing Popovich
by Timothy Varner
48 Minutes of
Over at the Daily Dime (Friday morning edition), I make an argument that tonight’s Bulls game might well have been an NBA Finals preview. And if that’s the case, the Spurs will need to figure a few things out between now and June.
The most obvious place to start is Derrick Rose, who torched the Spurs for an MVP-worthy 42 points.
“He’s taken a monster leap this year,” said Gregg Popovich after the game. “What’s really great about him is that he seems to love the pressure of putting his team on his back. He has the character and the demeanor to do that. Superstars have that character and leadership gene.”
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Looks like the break comes at a good time.
I wouldnt worry too much about this loss, you could see the energy wasnt there. If you look at the quarter by quarter breakdown, we stayed pretty much even through each one. It took a career night for Rose to beat us, IF it came to a 7 game series that isnt going to happen each game. I'd be more worried about boozer, he seems to always have our number. But we made him shoot from the outside, he was just dropping them, not much you can do with that.
In the end it was about rebounds, they needed to outrebound us just to have the same amount of field goal attempts, of which they made more. Thats good news for the spurs, but bad that we got outrebounded by a smaller front line.
Great match for Bonner 26 minutes, 4 fouls 3 points 3 rebounds 0-3FG 0-1 3PT 3-3FT
Anyone else notice that we play fatigued with two days off? One day off is when we seem to do well.
The truth is, while it would've been great to win last night, the Spurs did not have to win that game. The Bulls are the hottest team in the East right now, so no shame in losing to them, especially in Chicago with Rose going off like that. We're still up 6 games on the Mavs and 8.5 games on the Lakers. We have some easy games coming up after the ASB. We'll be fine. HCA is still ours, no worries.
I fervently hope the Bulls spill your plums all over Old Town.
So, you think it's gonna be Spurs and Bulls in the Finals, eh??? I'll take it.
So, you think it's gonna be Spurs and Bulls in the Finals, eh??? I'll take it.
No surprise here. 6-3 on Rodeo Road Trip is good with me.
I was hoping for a better RRT, all things considered, but it's preferable to 4-4
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