DRose drops 17 in the final stanza.
by Maurice Bobb / @reesereport
PREGAME
The Chicago Bulls (5-3) kick off a seven-game road trip with a stop in Houston against the injury-depleted Rockets (3-6), who were without Yao Ming, Aaron Brooks and Chase Budinger. Sharpshooter Kyle Korver was listed as questionable up until game time but made Coach Tom Thibodeau’s active list prior to tip-off. Houston is riding a two-game winning streak, while Chicago has won three in a row.
FIRST QUARTER
Coach Adelman goes with a starting five of Shane Battier, Luis Scola, Brad Miller, Kevin Martin and Kyle Lowry. Coach Thibs goes with Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah, Keith Bogans and Derrick Rose.
Best buds Brad Miller and Joakim Noah share a friendly embrace before the jump ball.
Almost a minute passes before Scola goes to the free-throw line and hits the first two points o
f the game before Rose nails a wing trey and a 20-footer to go up 5-2.
K-Mart drains a J at the top of the key to put the Rockets up 6-5 with 9:18 remaining.
Ex-Bull Miller gets on the scoreboard with a long jumper before Bogans gets his second foul (offensive) on the other end.
Battier nails back-to-back triples to give Houston a 14-7 advantage.
Bulls are keying in on Scola on the block but he still makes a pretty move to hoop for a deuce, Rockets up 18-11 with 4:31 left.
Rose does a Flash impression, moving the ball on the break, connecting on a layup on the other end and closes the gap to 21-16 with 2:47 to go.
Jordan Hill enters game with 2:08 left and gets two quick rebounds before Battier sinks his third three-pointer.
Hill gets fourth rebound and hits a nifty hook shot.
End of first. Rockets up 26-19. Bulls’ D collapsed on the blocks, but Scola was able to work his way down for 9 first quarter points.
SECOND QUARTER
Chuck Hayes checked in for the Rockets and connected on a reverse lay-up, while Kyle Korver follows with a long three ball. Rockets lead 28-22.
Bulls catch Rockets slipping on D and feed Asik for the two-handed slam to cut the lead to 1.
Bulls take a 29-28 lead on a beautiful Korver behind-the-back pass to Brewer for the lay-up at the 8:48 mark. Adelman calls for a breather.
Korver gets hacked by Lee and hits both freebies to go up 33-32 with 5:57 left.
Asik cleans the glass for a dunk and Korver comes off a screen to bury another J to go up 37-36.
Battier steps to the line and misses both. Adelman is not pleased.
Brewer pads his off-the-bench point tally to 9 with another two-handed stuff. Bulls up 41-36.
Scola manufactures a slick move to the basket for two and Gibson hits a 20-foot jumper to give the Bulls an 8-point lead with 17 seconds left.
HALFTIME
Bulls head to the locker room with a 49-41 lead. Rockets bench committed 4 turnovers in five possessions and allowed Bulls’ subs to go on 10-0 run.
THIRD QUARTER
Both squads begin the third quarter with original starting lineups.
Scola hits a eight-foot bank shot with 10:54 left and Martin nails a wing three-pointer to close Bulls’ lead to 49-47.
Martin to the line shooting two, hits first, hits the second. 51-49 Bulls, 9:07.
Rose rises and drains an 18-foot J to stretch Bulls’ lead to 53-49 at the 8:58 mark.
Miller steps to the charity stripe and swishes both freebies.
Rose nails another jumper to go up 55-51.
Martin at the line and hits both FTs and Scola connects on a jumper to tie it up at 55 with 7:41 remaining.
Rose draws a foul from Scola, but misses both and Rockets retake the lead on a nice entry pass to Miller down low for the lay-up. Rockets up 57-55 with 7:07 left.
Rose connects on a reverse lay-up and Bogans hits a three ball to go up 60-57. Rose nets his 4th foul on Lowry and sits with 5:31 left in the quarter.
With Rose on the bench, Rockets make a move and go ahead 65-63 on a driving reverse by Lowry.
Rockets end the third up 71-63.
FOURTH QUARTER
Rose re-enters the game and immediately hits a three. Rockets up 71-66.
Rose hits another three to close gap to 71-70 with 10:32 left.
Lowry hits a desperation three as the shot clock wound down, but after reviewing the play, officials rule that the three is no good.
Rose, obviously in takeover mode, makes a strong move to the cup and gets the shooter’s roll and ices the and one to go up 76-71.
Rose penetrates the lane and connects on a beautiful runner in the lane. Bulls up 78-71 with 8:07 left.
At this point, the Rockets are out of sync on O, causing a shot clock violation.
Rose then nails another J from behind the arc to lead by 10.
Miller stopped the bleeding with a lay-up and three-point bomb to close the gap to 81-76 at the 6:11 mark.
Scola broke out the fancy footwork once again under the basket for two before Rose hit a lay-up on the other end. Bulls up 84-78.
Miller hits two FTs to keep things interesting but Korver pulled out a three-point dagger to put the Bulls up 89-80 with 4:21 left.
Noah finally back in game at 3:21 mark after a long stint on the bench with 4 fouls.
Brewer stepped to the FT line and missed one, missed two, and, due to a lane violation, loaded up for a third attempt and bricked that one, too.
Lowry hit another buzzer beater, this time a lay-up, but the 2 points were repo’d after review.
Miller drained a turnaround J to cut the lead to 3 with 1:05 left to play.
Rose missed a shot and the Rockets got it back with 50 ticks left, but Lowry hoisted an ill-advised shot before Noah drained the nail-in-the-coffin FTs to go up 91-86 with 22 seconds left.
Scola added a quick 2, but Deng hit both free-throws to stay ahead 93-88.
KMart ran off 4 points to get within 2, but Rose hit one of two FTs to seal the deal. Bulls win, 95-92.
POSTGAME
All eyes were on Rose. After sitting out the last five minutes of the third quarter, Rose checked into the game and was a one-man wrecking crew, pouring in 17 of his 33 points in the final 12 minutes.
“It was so frustrating. I knew I had to sit, but I was hoping we could keep it close. They put me back in the game and I knew I had to do something. I guess I did what I was supposed to do.”
Coach Thibs really liked how Rose put his stamp on the forth period: “When he’s attacking like that, he’s impossible to guard. He was very, very aggressive and made up a lot of ground.”
Thibs also felt that Korver was a huge spark off the bench, finishing with 10 points, including 2-2 from behind the arc. “He was terrific. He did a lot more than just shoot the ball,” Thibodeau said.
The Bulls also got a little help on their W when Lowry’s two buzzer beaters were overturned. “He hit some crazy shots,” Rose said. “I’m happy they did that.”
“That’s a lot of points,” Battier said. “I never had that happen before. That’s the beauty of technology. [Laughs] We almost had ‘em.”
Scola finished with 27 points and Miller added 21 for the Rockets, who had their winning streak snapped at two. Deng added 16 points and 10 boards for the Bulls, who extend their winning streak to four.
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