Derrick Rose Leads Bulls to Win over Raptors—and You've Got to See This Block

Derrick Rose was doing a little bit of everything tonight in leading the Chicago Bulls in a 113-106 victory over the Toronto Raptors, scoring 36 points, dishing 10 assists and blocking three shots. 

The blocks more than the scoring and assists were the most spectacular plays of the game.  On the first block, Reggie Evans set a pick on Rose to free up Jerryd Bayless for a 19-foot jumper. Now for some reason there's a myth out there that Rose doesn't fight through picks. Bayless will tell you that myth is not true. 

Bayless took one step stopped and popped, but Rose worked his way around Evans (who, let's face it, has some girth) and launched himself. Bayless was well into his shooting motion while Rose was a good two feet away, but Rose launched himself, and somehow caught him.

It wasn't so much the height of the jump as it was the acceleration of it. While Bayless actually started his jump first Rose propelled himself two feet forward and turned himself around to get in front of Bayless, (who must have been wondering where the heck Rose came from) right as he reached the ball. Then Rose had the presence of mind to not only block the shot, but tap it Omer Asik.    

On the ensuing possession Rose lost the ball on a turnover trying to split a double team in the paint. Rose nearly lost his balance and James Johnson, the former Bull started to take off down the court with the ball. 

When Johnson was maybe five feet short of the timeline Rose back foot was still on the three point line. Deng was ahead of them on the rig both on the play running out on the right to get out in front of Johnson.  

By the time Rose got to the timeline he'd cut the distance between them almost in half (and to his credit Barbosa who's something of a burner himself was keeping up). By the time Johnson hit the paint, Deng had gotten in front of him. 

Now what was incredible is that Rose saw everything and knew what was going to happen. He actually stuttered his step a bit to set himself up to go up for the block. Deng had gotten in front of Johnson and was trying to challenge the shot, but just wasn't in good position. Johnson had started his shot and was releasing the ball when Rose just absolutely rocketed into the air. Johnson and Deng were on their way down and Rose was on his way up. Way up. 

He must have gotten his full 40 inches on that one. Height wise he ball was roughly even with the shooting box on the backboard when Rose caught it and blocked it. It reminded me of the play when Jordan's chase down block of Mercer after he got his shot blocked. Rose has that same competitive fire.  

The 36 points on just 20 shots and 10 assists were nice, but that block might be number one on SportsCenter tonight. 

And oh yeah, there was more to the game than that! Carlos Boozer played well for the third consecutive game, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 boards. Luol Deng added 17 points, four assists and three boards.

Off the bench Taj Gibson had his best offensive performance in a long time. The last time Taj scored at least 15 points was on Jan. 4, against...you guessed it, the Toronto Raptors, when he scored 16. 

Kyle Korver also hit double-digits, and fortunately, ended his three-point drought, hitting on two of three. He started off missing his first shot, but then in one of those timeout shots where the player takes that shot before going to the bench Korver hit a practice shot three. It seemed to get him going. He hit his other three field goals and both his free throws the duration of the game. 

Offensively it was a great game by the Bulls, knocking down .506 from the field, .429 from the arc and .875 from the stripe. Throw in 10 offensive boards and you have a team offensive rating of 129.6. It might be enough to push them into the top 10 in offensive efficiency on the season. 

Their team defense however was bad. They might have gotten the win but I have a feeling that someone is gong to be using the next two days off to practice some defense if I know Tom Thibodeau. 

Still a win is a win, and on a game that was the end of a three in four with the three games in three cities, and the back end of a back to back on top of that you can expect energy to be down a bit.

The important thing is that the Bulls got their 56th win and inched closer to clinch the Eastern Conference. Their magic number over Miami is now three and their magic number over Boston is four. It's possible that Thursday's game against the Celtics could be to clinch a tie.

Weirdly the way the Bulls are pulling away from the other teams in the conference could actually be working against them, or at least against Thibs and Rose. Since there's no drama or chase, it's not getting the same attention as the Lakers closing in on the Spurs.

Then again 36-point, 10-assist, three-block nights tend to work for Rose.

Getting back to the Spurs the Bulls next game is against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night. The Bulls already own the tie-break against the Lakers, but a win over the Suns would secure the tie-break with San Antonio. 

It's not at all impossible that the Bulls could end the season with the number one overall seed and if they get that, they probably get both the Coach of the Year and MVP.