San Antonio Spurs vs. Chicago Bulls: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Entering Thursday night, the Chicago Bulls had lost six of their last eight contests. However, behind a dominant effort from Derrick Rose, the team trounced the San Antonio Spurs 104-81 and put forth a remarkable defensive effort despite playing without Joakim Noah.
After an unexciting first quarter, Chicago first began to pull away in the second period, though Kawhi Leonard's brilliant effort to close out the half delayed Chicago's big run which came in the third quarter.
Ultimately outscoring the defending champions 31-20 in the third frame, Chicago delivered one of its best and most balanced two-way efforts of the season to turn around the team's recent slump.
| Derrick Rose | A+ |
| Pau Gasol | A- |
| Jimmy Butler | B |
| Taj Gibson | B+ |
| Rest of Team | C |
| Tim Duncan | C |
| Kawhi Leonard | B |
| Tony Parker | C+ |
| Manu Ginobili | D+ |
| Rest of Team | D+ |
Chicago Bulls
Derrick Rose: A+
Rose was an absolute madman out of the gate, pacing Chicago's offense with 15 first-half points and four assists. He was the lethal from long range and attacked the rim with the intensity present prior to his string of injuries.
He carried that momentum into the third quarter, when he led Chicago as its offense embarrassed that of San Antonio.
Finishing with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting and five assists, he set the game's pace and made Tony Parker—one of the best 1s in the league—look average.
It was one of Rose's best games of the season, and the Bulls picked up on his energy. The win was a team-wide effort, but it all started with the success of their floor general.
Pau Gasol: A-
After NBA.com announced Pau Gasol as an All-Star starter earlier on Thursday, he delivered an All-Star performance.
He—alongside Rose—led the team in the first half during which he scored the bulk of his 12 points. He also posted 17 boards in his 31 minutes of action, with nine coming in the third quarter.
He contributed on the defensive end as well, where he logged a pair of blocks and helped Taj Gibson keep San Antonio's interior duo quiet all night.
Overall, Gasol proved to be a reliable source of scoring. With that said, Chicago ultimately found other options, thus keeping the big man from exploding on the offensive end.
Still, he missed just one of his six shot attempts and was one of the primary driving forces behind the Bulls' second- and third-quarter dominance.
Jimmy Butler: B
Jimmy Butler struggled in the game's opening half, hitting just one of his four attempts prior to the midway break and getting into early foul trouble.
He set the tone for the third quarter with a three and two foul shots to open the half, eventually finishing with 17 points—though more than a few came in garbage time.
He played a crucial role as a ball-stopper and helped solidify the win. However, his stat line exaggerates his offensive contributions.
Taj Gibson: B+
With Noah still out, Taj Gibson got another opportunity to prove himself in an increased role.
Behind a third-quarter surge as Chicago began to pull away, the power forward combined with Gasol to form a two-pronged interior attack, adding 15 points, nine rebounds (four of them on the offensive end) and four blocks on the night.
San Antonio's post tandem was relatively silent, and Gibson was a major reason why. He anchored Chicago's defense and had Splitter as well as Duncan struggling inside whenever he was clogging the middle.
A dynamic force on the boards, Gibson ultimately out-hustled and outplayed the Spurs' big men as Chicago walked away with a defense-inspired victory.
Rest of Team: C
Tony Snell filled out the starting lineup and Aaron Brooks played a crucial role off the bench, but the rest of the Bulls' second unit made a limited impact—even in garbage time.
Snell scored 12 but struggled with his shot, missing all six of his three-point attempts.
Brooks was more efficient, going 4-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-3 from deep. He finished with 15 points, scoring over half of the team's bench points.
San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan: C
Tim Duncan played just 23 minutes as head coach Gregg Popovich pulled his starters after the Bulls pulled away in the third quarter. Duncan didn't exactly take advantage of his limited time.
He managed seven shot attempts and had more of his shots (three) blocked than he had go in (two). He did grab seven boards but ultimately lost the rebounding battle as Chicago's bigs dominated him on the glass, as well as on both ends of the court.
He's the team's most reliable source of production in times of crisis, but Duncan was noticeably absent on both ends of the floor when his team needed him the most.
Kawhi Leonard: B
Kawhi Leonard struggled to score out of the gate and ultimately finished the night shooting under 50 percent. However, he was the heart and soul of San Antonio's defense and offense in the second quarter and singlehandedly prevented Chicago from jumping out to too large a lead.
Scoring 14 of his 16 points in the period—the rest of San Antonio combined for just four points in those 12 minutes—Leonard was dominant both as a shooter and a slasher and scored his team's final 11 points in the period.
Afterward, though, he went silent. Scoreless in the second half, Leonard seemingly left it all on the floor in the second quarter and had nothing left to offer as the Bulls made their third-quarter run.
Things might have gone differently for Leonard had the team found another established offensive option in the first half, but he was ultimately unable to carry the team after his perfect execution in the second quarter.
Tony Parker: C+
Like Duncan, Tony Parker played limited minutes and failed to make a statement while on the court. Not that he was a detriment while on the court, but Parker failed to ignite San Antonio's offense after the first quarter.
He scored nine points (4-of-9 FG) and registered three assists without committing a turnover.
However, even with a respectable stat line, he failed to show up when the team needed him the most. Leonard stepped up as the the squad's offensive backbone to slightly delay Chicago's big run, but Parker never found his groove as the Bulls eventually ran away with the big win.
He's had worse games, but he did little to stimulate the team's stagnant offense or put pressure on Rose on the other end.
Manu Ginobili: D+
Manu Ginobili may have had the pass of the year, but it was an otherwise awful night from the third member of the Big Three.
He can usually stir the pot as a bench spark when the offense gets hampered, but he struggled to get anything going offensively on Thursday night.
He scored just one basket, going 1-of-6 from the floor and 0-of-3 from long range, and failed to log another assist after a nifty behind-the-back dish. Much like his fellow veterans, Ginobili should have no problem forgetting this game.
Rest of Team: D+
Patty Mills and Cory Joseph may have added 33 points off the bench, but they did so on a combined 7-of-18 shooting. As two of bench's leaders, they failed to get anything going in the second unit and were as much a part of the problem as the team's starters.
Tiago Splitter pulled down seven rebounds and Danny Green had a strong first quarter, but neither contributed much when the rest of the team went silent.
Meanwhile, Boris Diaw finished with perhaps the worst night, as he shot just 1-of-9 and turned the ball over twice in the 22 minutes in which he appeared.
Up Next
San Antonio (27-17) next draws the Los Angeles Lakers at home on Friday—a foe far less imposing than the talent-filled Chicago squad. It will be the third and final meeting between the two Western Conference teams that dominated the 2000s, with the series split at one win apiece.
Los Angeles currently has the last laugh with a two-point overtime victory in late December, but it'll face a steep uphill battle with ESPN.com's Baxter Holmes and Ramona Shelburne reporting that Kobe Bryant is set to miss an extended stretch with a torn rotator cuff.
The Bulls (28-16) will play the second half of a back-to-back on Friday, when they'll take on another Texas playoff team in the Dallas Mavericks. Chicago, a defensive-minded squad, will have its work cut out against one of the league's most balanced and high-scoring offenses.
