Chicago Bulls Massacre Memphis Grizzlies: How Much Does It Mean?

The Chicago Bulls didn't just beat the Memphis Grizzlies 104-64, they pulverized them.

They now have a bear-skin rug welcoming you into the United Center. It was a massacre, a destruction of monumental proportions. It was so bad that even though it was a 40-point win, truthfully, it wasn't that close. At one point the lead was at 46. 

The Grizzlies didn't surpass the Bulls' halftime score until midway through the fourth quarter. Not a single starter scored in double figures. They shot just .310 for the game, and that went up in the last couple of minutes.

Perhaps nothing says "blowout" like the Scalabrine chant—which in Chicago Bull tradition means the crowd is summoning its 12th man, Brian Scalabrine—which started with more than five minutes left. In the third quarter. 

It was the 12th 40-point win in Bulls history and the third in the last two seasons. 

But what really can you take out of a game like this? The truth is not too much. Some of it was due to the fact the Grizzlies were without their starting point guard, Michael Conley, and they lost their starting power forward, Zach Randolph, in the last minute of the first quarter (though, to be fair, they were already holding a double-digit lead at the time).

Still, there is one very encouraging thing that can be taken away from this game: The defense is back, and back in a major way. The 68 points yielded was the fewest in the Bulls era. The Bulls defensive rating fell from 105.7 to 99.2. Their opponents' points per game decreased from 96.2 to 89.8. 

They were amazing covering their rotations. The Grizzlies simply could not get a shot off anywhere near the paint. Even the shots from the perimeter were challenged. The Bulls had 12 blocks and 10 steals, forcing 16 turnovers on the night. 

They disrupted passing lanes, discombobulating Memphis on seemingly every possession. The Grizzlies had just 13 assists on the night. 

After forcing bad shots, they were back to dominating on the boards in the last year's fashion. 

And this return to dominance came without sacrificing any of their new offensive prowess. In fact, they raised their offensive rating to a league-high 111.6 and their average scoring output to 101.0.

While Friday's game against the Clippers featured a clinic on playing point guard by Derrick Rose, Sunday night he only played 25 minutes, grabbing bench midway through the third quarter. He played well enough in his limited action, posting 16 boards and six assists, but the scoring was distributed evenly. 

In fact, the only Bull to not score was Scalabrine. 

In all, the Bulls shared the ball extremely well, not just Rose. They had 24 team assists on 39 total field goals.

In the absence of Richard Hamilton, Ronnie Brewer showed off the offensive skill he spent the summer developing, scoring 17 points, dishing five assists and grabbing seven boards. 

Carlos Boozer had a double-double before halftime and finished his night after just 24 minutes with 17 points and 11 rebounds. He was "Utah-esque." It was the most energized performance he's had with the Bulls. The conditioning he worked on in the offseason. 

The Bulls are still working some things out, but they are showing tremendous offensive improvement this season. Having the NBA's best offensive rating is probably not something that will hold up through the year, but it's a significant step up from last year. 

Luol Deng has shown huge improvement so far this season. He's moving better with the ball. He also seems stronger. There has been some question about who the Bulls' "second star" is. Deng has begun to emerge as a player with All-Star potential. 

Since the merger only one team has won an NBA championship without a second-best player who had a PER of at least 17. On last year's team there was not one rotation player other than Rose who had a PER over 17. 

This year Deng has raised his to 19.1 In fact, this year there are seven Bulls after Sunday night's game with a PER over 17. Ironically, none of them is the newly signed Richard Hamilton.

Of course, some of those numbers are going to come down, but it still indicates that the Bulls offensive improvement is not the result of a single player being added or improving. It's the result of the entire team improving. Those incremental improvements combined make the Bulls offense much better than it was last year. 

If they can maintain a top five offense while retaining last year's top-ranked defense, this is a team that could present a very real challenge to the presumed champion Miami Heat (who, incidentally, "only" won their game by 39 points tonight).