Chicago Bulls Squeak by Atlanta Hawks 76-74 in Ugly but Thrilling Game

If you're looking for a word to describe tonight's Bulls game against the Atlanta Hawks, probably "ugly" and "thrilling" would both work. In spite of a horrendous first 2.5 quarters which saw the Bulls fall behind by 19 points.

As I was composing in my head the most scathing Bulls review in my rather optimistic history, Omer Asik changed the tenor with blocks on two consecutive plays that sparked a four-point run for the Bulls, which at that time was pretty remarkable. 

Yes, that's how bad it was up then. The Bulls simply could not put the bouncy orange thing through the suspended orange thing. The Bulls were not making good decisions and weren't getting into any kind of rhythm. 

As Tom Thibodeau said in the televised press conference afterwards, the Bulls were shooting when they should have passed and passing when they should have shot. 

Through the first 34:03 minutes of the game the Bulls amassed 37 points. Over the next 13:57 they would score 39. 

Looking back it was ironically a Derrick Rose to Asik pass that started the run and Bulls scored the last five points of the third quarter. 

A moment there was a telling with 1:20 left in the third and the Bulls trailing by 16. Derrick Rose was fouled going to the rim and took his free throws. As he was getting the MVP chant a flicker of aggravation flashed across his face, as thought to say, "I'm three for 14, we're losing by 16 points, shut up with the MVP chant!" 

While Asik dominated the defensive end of the floor, Rose dominated the offensive end of the floor. By the time the Bulls had gotten to the 8:17 mark of the fourth quarter they had gone on a 19-2 run and they were only down by two, 59-57. 

It was about that that time that Atlanta woke up and decided it was time to start fighting back again. For a while the teams traded blows. When the Bulls finally evened it up with a Deng three to make it 62 all, Joe Johnson came down and put the Hawks back up three with a trey of his own. 

The Hawks followed that up with a two of their own, and the two teams swapped buckets for a while. 

Finally, with 57 seconds left in the game, Rose gave the Bulls their first lead of the game. Josh Smith came right back and scored on a magnificent alley-oop dunk to give Atlanta a one-point lead. 

After a Rose miss the Bulls were forced to foul Jeff Teague. Bringing flashbacks to the Lakers game Jeff Teague missed both free throws with the game on the line. 

Rose did not miss again Driving to the hole, he sank the go ahead shot with just 9.9 seconds left in the game.

Atlanta came back and as Deng was going under Hawks center, Al Horford, caught the ball and rolled out and into Deng. Inexplicably, Deng was called for the foul.

Horford split the free throws and the Bulls had the ball the game tied, and 7.7 seconds left on the clock. The inbounds pass came to Noah, and as every Hawk who is or ever was on the roster cascaded on Rose, Deng cut to the basket and Noah found him. 

Deng hit an easy layup for the eventual game-winning shot. 

It was without a doubt a thrilling game, but it it doesn't bring with it a lot of satisfaction. Much of the rhythm the Bulls had found the last few games and balance that was so promising was not seen. It fell back into last year's familiar pattern where Rose just decided it was time to win and the virtually single-handedly carried the team to victory down the stretch. 

While he struggled from the field for much of the game during the come back stretch he was five of nine form the field, including three of four from three. He also had three assists over the stretch. 

He also rallied the team during the intermission between the third and fourth quarter. 

Deng again showed that "second star" potential, scoring 21 points,  to go with two steals, two dimes and eight boards, as well as putting some outstanding defense on Joe Johnson late in the game. After Johnson's three, Deng guarded him the rest of the game and Johnson did not score again. 

As for Rose, after scoring 30 points to go with seven assists, and then strapping the team to his back and carrying them to victory, he was last seen leaving the United Center holding hands with his mom. Is there a more poignant story to define the MVP?