2011 NBA Playoffs: Chicago Bulls Beat Indiana Pacers 88-84, Go Up 3-0
In another tightly contested battle the, Chicago Bulls once again came through down the stretch and pulled out another win over the Indiana Pacers 88-84.
In a game that was far from Derrick Rose's best he was still able to do what was necessary and get by with a little help form his friends as Luol Deng scored 21 and Kyle Korver took advantage of being guarded by Darren Collison to score 12 of his own, including eight key fourth-quarter points.
With 18 seconds on the clock, Rose split a trio of Pacers defenders to hit a left-handed lay in to put the Bulls ahead by two, the eventual game winner. After the Pacers missed on their next possession, Ronnie Brewer got the rebound and was fouled with 1.8 seconds left. He sank the free throws to seal the game.
After a horrible first half, the Bulls only committed three turnovers in the second half. They made their shots down the stretch. They executed their defense down the stretch. They did the kinds of things they needed to do to win playoff games. That's why they won.
Now Derrick Rose is one game away from sealing his first postseason series.
Quarterly Report: 1st Quarter
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For the first time in the series the Bulls came out looking looser than the Pacers and as a result they played better.
Most of the first quarter saw the Bulls with a lead between one and five points in spite of Derrick Rose only scoring one three-point shot late in the quarter.
The main reason for the Bulls' early lead was Luol Deng, who had seven points, four assists and three rebounds in the first quarter.
The other early developments were Roy Higgins and Carlos Boozer each grabbing two fouls and having to take an early seat.
Quarterly Report: 2nd Quarter
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The story of the second quarter was fouls, fouls and more fouls, except for the fouls that weren't fouls. By the end of the second quarter, Noah, Deng and Rose all picked up their second fouls, adding to the fact that Boozer had two in the first quarter.
In all through the first half the Bulls had four of their starting five with a pair of fouls each and had 11 total fouls compared to the four for Indiana.
By comparison, the Pacers had four as a team. The Bulls also had 12 turnovers through the first half to the Pacers five, but five of the Bulls turnovers were due to offensive fouls.
In spite of those deficits, the Bulls were able to stay in the game on the strength of three-point shooting as the Bulls were 5-for-11 from beyond the arc through the half.
The Pacers were still doing a much better job of containing Rose than previously as he had only nine points on nine shots and only one assist with four turnovers.
On the other hand, Luol Deng had 14 points and five assists.
For the Pacers their strength was the traps they were running on Rose, and their bigs taking away the roll on the pick and roll which was enabling the traps to frustrate Rose.
Offensively the Pacers struggled, but Danny Granger had nine points, as did Josh McRoberts off the bench. As a team the Pacers weren't hitting their shots though as they were only shooting .415 from the field.
Quarterly Report: 3rd Quarter
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The third quarter opened up with what can only be characterized as horrible field goal shooting on both sides of the court. The Pacers only made two of their first 12 attempts, but that was twice as good as the Bulls who only made one of their first 11.
Eventually the game started to settle into a rhythm—a very physical rhythm, particularly on the Pacers side. Twice Jeff Foster delivered hard fouls involving elbows to the head. First on a Derrick Rose drive he threw up his hands, knocking Rose in the forehead which could have been called a flagrant but wasn't.
The second time Foster bit on a Deng fake and jumped. On his way down he dropped an elbow to the top of Deng's head and that really should have been a flagrant but wasn't.
Rose continued to struggle scoring only 15 points. Deng continued to step up though as he had 21 points through the first three quarters. Keith Bogans also had nine points on the strength of three three pointers made.
The biggest struggle on the Bulls side was Carlos Boozer who only had two points and was one for nine from the field.
The other noteworthy thing that begin in the third quarter was that Dahntey Jones was brought in to guard Derrick Rose. Combining Jones and George seemed to do a pretty good job of containing Rose, or at least keeping him from taking over.
Quarterly Report: 4th Quarter
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Starting off the fourth quarter, the Pacers played well, scoring the first six points of the final frame to give the Pacers a five-point lead. Then, in the third edition of the most unpopular series in the state of Indiana, Derrick Rose and Kyle Korver took over again.
The Bulls went on a 10-0 run with Korver and Rose scoring 9-of-10 points and Noah the other from the stripe.
Hansbrough answered with a little four-point run of his very own.
Korver went on a five-point run. Then the game went back and forth a bit and Rose closed out scoring six points in the last 2:35 including the eventual game winner with 18 seconds left. Brewer followed up with a pair of free throws to give the final score.
Gleanings from the Game
5 of 6Going into the big question regarding the Bulls was what happens if you slow down Rose. Rose was only 4-of-18 from the field (which is something I can almost assure you a certain 1st-and-10 host will be bringing up tomorrow morning.)
Well Rose did struggle, but through the first three quarters Deng was there and in the fourth quarters the Bulls won. Deng and Korver really stepped up. Carlos Boozer did not.
The other thing that should be considered is that while some have pointed to the fact that Indiana was supposed to get buried in the series but instead have really challenged the Bulls in every game as a negative, there's something positive to be taken from this as well.
First, it's worth noting that Indiana has played well. Whatever their record is, they've played well so it's really not as horrible as some have made it sound that Indiana is competing. There is a difference between competing and winning though.
Second, the Bulls have been executing very well down the stretch and doing what it takes to win games. It's the same thing that has been the difference in the Celtics series. It's probably more important than how many points they are winning by.
Third, Carlos Boozer is on a $75 million contract. He didn't get that for his defense. He sure didn't get it to go 2-for-10 from the field. Boozer needs to step it up.
Fourth, Joakim Noah is starting to get back to being Joakim Noah in terms of his conditioning. He started to look like he did before the thumb surgery for the first time tonight. If he can get going in time for the next series, whether it's against Atlanta or Orlando, that would be great.
Finally it will be worth keeping an eye to see if the NBA takes a look at the two fouls Foster had. The one above was the lesser of the two. The flying elbow drop isn't available on YouTube yet.
Looking Ahead to Game 4
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Frank Vogel has been holding himself pretty commendably and come out with great game plans each and every game while getting his team to play hard and challenge the Bulls. In spite of that and the team executing nearly flawlessly the Pacers have come away without a win.
As well as Indiana has played and as well as Vogel has coached, the reality is that Chicago is just a better team. They have the opportunity to close out the series this Saturday and be the first team to move to the second round. Expect Thibodeau to have them ready.
While Chicago will probably win the fourth game in the series and get the sweep the interesting thing in Game 4 will be whether Indiana comes out with the same heart and intensity they did the firs three games. While the Pacers fought harder tonight, the Bulls actually seemed to have the upper hand most of the game.
If Indiana doesn't show up with the same intensity considering it's just a matter of time before they go home, it could be blowout. If they show up trying to back up Granger's promise that they are going to "shock the world" and avoid the sweep, look for another tightly contested battle.
