Saturday afternoon, the Chicago Bulls hosted the Indiana Pacers for NBA Playoff action. In the words of late-Bull Norm “Stormin’ Norman” Van Lier, “It takes 48 minutes of intensity to win a game!” On this afternoon however, it took about 4:52, all the fourth quarter, to win 104-99 and lead the series 1-0.
With 4:52 remaining in regulation, Derrick Rose was fouled hard Tyler Hansbrough as he was driving the lane, by hard, I mean, forearm to the face, missing the ball almost completely. Teammate Luol Deng wouldn’t have any of it. He had some words for Hansbrough and got called for a technical foul. After Darren Collison missed the tech, Deng motioned to the 22,956 fans at the United Center to get louder. Deng played 41 minutes and chipped in 18 points and 10 rebounds.
About 3:28 left, Bulls down by 10, Deng was fouled by Hansbrough driving in for the layup and two free throws, Bulls trailing 98-90. Joakim Noah then rebounded his own miss and tipped in the shot, he finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds (eight offensive) and three blocks. After a defensive stop by the Bulls, Rose found Noah wide open on the other end of the court for a dunk, bringing the Bulls withing four with 2:27 remaining.
Rose scored five straight points, including a jumper tying the game at 99 with 1:27 left. Kyle Korver then blocked Collison’s layup, Rose rebounded and as he drove in, forcing the defense to commit to him, he kicked it out to a wide open Korver for three, giving the Bulls their first lead of the game at 102-99 with 48.4 seconds left.
Rose led the way with 39 points, 10-23 on the floor, 0-9 behind the arc, and 19-21 at the free throw line, along with six, rebounds six assists and three blocks. Korver went four-for-four behind the arc with 13 points and three assists in 21 minutes.
Carlos Boozer suffered, as he couldn’t contain Hansbrough who finished with 22 points on a 10-for-19 shooting. Boozer had 12 points and six rebounds along with five fouls and four turnovers in 26 minutes.
The Pacers looked as if they were going to take this game, playing about 44 hard minutes. Danny Granger scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half, 10-for-20 on the floor including four-for-eight from downtown, and 6 rebounds. Collison went two-for-two behind the three point line, tallied 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds. The Pacers shot 46.4% on the floor and 55.6% from downtown (10-18).
The Bulls out-rebounded the Pacers 49-34, shot 43.9% on the floor, and went 26-32 at the free throw line; however they were forced into 15 turnovers. It wasn’t a pretty win, but the Bulls will look to turn their four-to-five minutes of intensity to 48 on Monday night.
Bulls Extras: Luol Deng celebrated his 26th birthday today with a win…Bulls host the Pacers for Game 2 at the United Center Monday night at 8:30 pm…Bulls Bench Mob outscored the Pacers bench 25-23…Kurt Thomas clocked in 24 minutes and went three-for-four, for six points and four rebounds.
