Bulls Pass the Bucks 107-100, Joakim Noah Seen at Game

Today, the Bulls did what they've done every time they've come off a loss this season. They won. They beat the Bucks 107-100.

It was a game that wasn't their best performance overall, but it might have been their frontcourt's best, and that's a much needed encouragement coming off the loss to the Pacers and heading into Sunday's game against the Miami Heat. 

Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer were huge, combining for 35 points, 29 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks and 4 steals. It was encouraging to see them play so well together, particularly Noah who had his best, most complete game of the year. 

Derrick Rose added a season-high 34 points in what seemed like a personal affront to the notion that Brandon Jennings challenged him. Jennings capped off a 16-point first quarter with a seal off Rose and then scored off the turnover. Rose seemed to take it personally. 

From that point on, Rose outscored Jennings 28-9, with Jennings scoring only four points while Rose was on the court. Rose was driving to the hoop like he hasn't done most of the season. 

Generally, there are three things to take home form this game. 

First, Derrick Rose was really attacking the basket since he hasn't before he was injured in the playoffs last year. It was far and away his most aggressive game, which is probably more than a little to do with why he scored a season high. He'll need to be that Rose when the Bulls play Miami on Sunday. 

Second, Noah was that Noah today. He was aggressive, energetic and an absolute beast on the offensive glass with eight offensive rebounds. He was able to do this without disrupting Boozer, and that was huge as well. We'll need to see that for the Bulls to beat the Heat on Sunday as well. 

Third, the first-half perimeter defense was really suffering without Deng. During the second half, they got it under control for the most part though they started to relax a little again at the end. They'll need to keep their perimeter defense playing tight if they want to beat Miami on Sunday. 

As you might have guessed, right now, this is all about beating Miami on Sunday. Make no mistake about it. This game means as much to the Heat as it does to the Bulls. Dwyane Wade came back tonight for the Heat for a reason. 

There were parts in this game where as much as Tom Thibodeau talks about taking every opponent seriously, it was evident for him it was too. Some of the lineups he was trotting out there, such as having Rose, Kyle Korver and CJ Watson were clearly experiments to see how they might work against the trap the Heat employed last year in the playoffs to successfully defend Rose. 

The Bulls were without Richard Hamilton, who had a thigh contusion. It didn't sound like that was a serious injury, and I expect he'll be back on Sunday. He probably just missed this game to ensure he wouldn't aggravate the injury before Miami. 

Because, as you might have guessed, we'll need him to beat Miami.

We won't have Luol Deng though, in spite of some earlier rumors that he might play. In a pregame interview with Chuck Swirsky Deng stated that he was at least a week away from returning. 

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"It's a day by day thing," Deng told BullsTV. "I would say a week or more. It's hard to tell. It's definitely a bad injury, but I really believe I'll be back soon. I'm doing everything I can right now just to make sure that I'm back soon enough.

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This is normally the part where I say who the Bulls play next, but I'm guessing I don't need to do that here.