Bulls vs. Pistons: Chicago Bulls Come Up Roses Again Against the Detroit Pistons

For the eighth time this season the Chicago Bulls made a shot to tie or take the lead with less than 24 seconds remaining in the game. For the eighth time this year they won the game in which they did so. For the fifth time this season it was Derrick Rose who made the shot. 

Previous victims of Rose's clutch time play include the Milwaukee Bucks, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Atlanta Hawks and the New Orleans Hornets. Other than Rose, Luol Deng has made two such shots and C.J. Watson has made one. You might remember that. 

With 15 seconds left in the game the Bulls were down by two and called a timeout. However, they were unable to get the inbounds pass as Luol Deng was not able to see Rose wide open under the basket. As a result the Bulls were whistled for five-seconds and the Bulls turned it over. 

The Bulls then fouled Rodney Stuckey on the ensuing inbounds play and Stuckey went and split the free throws, making the first and missing the second. With neither team having a timeout, Rose took the ball up the court, stopped outside the three-point line and with six seconds left, sank the three-point shot. 

Rose had been 0-of-3 from deep prior to the basket, missing badly on two of his previous attempts and a few two-point shots as well. He was clearly still shaking off the rust from his return. He wasn't as bad as he was on Thursday night against the Heat when he was only one of 13 from the field, but he missed several shots badly. 

However, he made the most important shot of the game as though he hadn't missed a beat all season long. He pulled up and drained with perfect precision and confidence. 

The game was reminiscent of Thursday night, when LeBron James split a pair of free throws where two makes would have iced the game and C.J. Watson hit a three which eventually sent the game to overtime. As with Thursday night, the Bulls pulled away in the extra period and won the game. 

I'm not sure when, if ever, a team has hit three-point shots in back-to-back games to send a game to overtime on their final possession. If it has happened I'm assuming it's a fairly rare occurrence. It certainly lends to the feeling that there's something magical about this team. 

Rose scored 24 points on 22 shots on the night, and added nine assists, four rebounds, two steals and two blocks. While the field-goal percentage was not what you want to see it was certainly a step in the right direction. His passing for the most part was better, but he had some issues there too, as he committed seven turnovers. 

He's not "back" but he's a step closer to back and he made the most important shot of the game. 

Rip Hamilton added in 13 points but seems to be still on the 20-minute shackle. Joakim Noah was enormous, scoring 20 points and adding 17 boards, 13 of those were offensive. Carlos Boozer had 15 points and nine rebounds.

Kyle Korver had 13 points, including hitting on two of his four three-point attempts. Korver is now hitting .580 from deep during the month of April and .490 since the All-Star break. He also continued to show his improved defensive play as he had a key stop defending Tayshaun Prince one-on-one on a critical possession. 

The only Bull who was really problematic was Luol Deng, who arguably had the worst game of his season, going only 1-of-8 from the field and making several mistakes during the game which included not getting that inbounds pass into play with 15 seconds left.

That being said he came up with some key rebounds down the stretch. Everyone's entitled to a bad game now and then. If anyone has earned a bit of goodwill this year it's Deng. 

For the Pistons, Rodney Stuckey, apart from missing the free throw that would have iced the game, was their biggest star as he scored 32 points on 19 shots. 

The Bulls "magic number" is down to four now, meaning that any combination of four Bulls wins or Heat losses would give them the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls can clinch the Eastern Conference top seed this week if they win one of their games against Washington and Charlotte and beat the Miami Heat though, as if they beat the Heat in Miami they would clinch the tie and the tiebreaker, thereby making the number three as they could clinch with a tie. 

Should Miami and Chicago split and tie though, the Heat would have the tiebreaker because they would have the better Eastern Conference record if they are tied as the Bulls have already clinched the better Western Conference record. 

The Bulls are also inching towards clinching the best overall record in the NBA. Since they lose the tiebreaker to the Thunder as a result of losing the only game, the magic number for them over Oklahoma City is five. Against San Antonio it's only four as they have the tiebreak over them because the Bulls won the only contest. 

The Bulls will have a good opportunity to trim those numbers down in their next two games against Washington and Charlotte, the two worst teams in the NBA. After that things get a little trickier as they will have the aforementioned Heat game, a road game against the Pacers and a home game against the Mavericks on their docket. 

They can still win the overall top seed with a loss to either the Wizards or the Bobcats, but it's better that they don't. In essence they have a "loss" in the bank. It's better to not "waste" it on a game that is so winnable.