Chicago Bulls Cavalierly Beat Cleveland, 112-91

The Chicago Bulls came into Cleveland and beat the Cavaliers with such ease that you could almost call it cavalier. Their offense was firing smoothly through the entire game, scoring 112 points on just 91 possessions for an offensive rating of 124.8. 

The Bulls were incredibly effective from the field hitting on 47-of-89 field goal attempts and 10-of-20 from deep. Their effective field goal percentage was .584 on the night. 

Luol Deng was the leading scorer, racking up 24 points on just 14 shots in just 33 minutes of play, which for Deng is like having the game off. He added six boards and four assists as well. 

Derrick Rose also played well scoring 19 points and dishing nine assists in only 28 minutes.

On one particular play, which few in the league could manage, Rose was knocked to the ground, but while on the ground he got the steal, sprang to his feet, and led the fast break beating the entire Cleveland team down the court to get the assist to Joakim Noah. 

Carlos Boozer had 13 points, Rip Hamilton added 10 and C.J. Watson also scored in double figures for the Bulls. And of course, the man, the myth, the legend, the White Mamba, Brian Scalabrine, hit from deep to amass three points. 

It was the third time this season that the Bulls had at least 31 assists in a game this season. They also had 13 offensive rebounds. That makes this a good game to highlight why the Bulls are the third-best offensive team in the league in terms of efficiency. 

In terms of both offensive rebounding and passing, they are the best team. They get 31.4 percent of all rebounds on the offensive end, which is tops in the league. They also lead the NBA in both assists with 23.1 per game, and most likely in assist rate after tonight's game, though they've been neck and neck with Philadelphia most of the season. 

There are only four teams to have multiple games with at least 10 offensive rebounds and 30 assists, and the Bulls have the most with five. They also lead the NBA in games with 25 assists and 10 offensive rebounds with 12. And yes, it was their 20th game with at least 20 assists and 10 offensive boards. They are 18-2 in those games. 

So why does this matter? It's how the Bulls offense is so good. First, they don't have a lot of players who are high-quality shot creators so they create their shots through passing. It's actually a much more effective way of creating offense as no matter how fast you are, even if you're D-Rose fast, you can't run as fast as a pass. 

The Bulls team is composed of exceptional passers for their positions. Joakim Noah is arguably the best passing center in the game, and had a triple-double with 10 assists this year. He is third among NBA centers in assists. 

Carlos Boozer, for all the abuse he takes, is actually a very good passing power forward. He has the fourth most assists among power forwards this year.

Luol Deng has two games this year with double-digit assists. Rip Hamilton has been exceptional when he is in the game. The Bulls average three more assists per 48 minutes while he is on the court. 

And then Derrick Rose is of course, Derrick Rose. 

When you have five players on the court at the same time, where all five can shoot and all five can score, you can create a lot of good shots.  Then if the shots don't go in, then you can have the rebound to start over again. 

That particular combination makes the Bulls a highly efficient offense that scores the ball on 50.6 percent of all their possessions, trialing only Oklahoma City (50.7 percent) and Miami (51.8 percent)  in that regard. 

I bring all this up because in three of their five 30/10 games, they have had both Hamilton and Deng on the court, which makes up three of the eight total games they've played together. 

In other words, when the Bulls have Deng and Hamilton are on the court at the same time, they become an extremely effective passing team. They go from good, or even very good when they have one or the other, to being great. 

Both Hamilton and Deng move exceptionally without the ball. With the two together they create confusion for defenses.

Then you combine that with Boozer's and Noah's ability to both execute in either the pick-and-roll or the pick-and-pop and combine that with Rose's tremendous ability to drive the lane, and what you have is an offense that is very hard to defend. 

The Bulls are able to use Deng and Hamilton to cause opponents to blow defensive assignments, and then with the personnel they have, they are able to exploit whatever opening there is. 

This offense is just getting going. It will get even better as Deng and Hamilton have more time to work together and the rest of the starters have time to get used to them being on the court at the same time. This offense, when clicking on all cylinders, should be even faster than Miami's defense. 

So the moral of the story is, don't worry about the trade deadline. The Bulls aren't, won't be and shouldn't be looking to make any trades. They are just fine the way they are.

We just haven't had a real chance to see them all in action yet,. From what we have seen though, this team can be highly explosive. Just ask the Cavaliers.