NBA Scores And More: Derrick Rose Shows Complete Repertoire As Chicago Bulls Open Road Trip Well
Derrick Rose showed a complete offensive game for one of the first times in his career to lead the Bulls to a key road win over Houston. Also, led by Shannon Brown, the Lakers’ bench is a force again.
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No, Derrick Rose won't score 17 fourth-quarter points in the way he scored 17 points against the Houston Rockets last night. Rose hit three straight three-pointers, which won't happen, and the Rockets got a hand up on most of those shots. But it was still a significant moment in Rose's development into a superstar, because he was able to score in so many ways.
Here’s how Rose’s 33 points in the game break down:
- 12 on four three-pointers.
- Eight on on four mid-range jumpers
- Eight on four layups
- Two on one floater
- Three on free throws
That’s a pretty nice variety right there. Toss in seven assists, and you can see just how complete Rose’s game could be. The problem with Rose has always been that he hasn’t displayed this kind of diversity in his offensive game. He can certainly drive, and he has become a better mid-range shooter, but he’s struggled at times scoring at the rim, and he certainly hasn’t showed three-point range. He tends to jump off two feet too much when driving, which allows the defense the split second they need to recover and bother his shot. Tonight, he jumped off one foot, and he was able to finish extremely well.
Again, it’s just one game, but it was a huge step for Rose in his all-around development. Even if he hits just one or two of those threes a game, that’s still a lot of points scored in a lot of different ways in a low-possession game (88 possessions).
It was also a huge win for the Bulls because it got their annual Circus Trip started well. The Bulls traditionally go on a long road trip in mid-November out West while the United Center is leased out to the circus, and it’s been a disaster for them. The last time they had a winning record on the trip was when No. 23 played for them. The Rockets are not a great team, but the first game of this trip for the Bulls has always been a problem. Thanks to Rose, they got by it on a night where they didn’t play all that great.
One thing that was great, as usual, was the Bulls' defense down the stretch. They fronted Luis Scola, cut off the baseline drives and contained Kyle Lowry effortlessly. Better yet, they did it without Joakim Noah in the game for long stretches. It's been just a few games, but already, these guys are playing like a Tom Thibodeau-coached team.
Scola had 27 points, but just four in the fourth quarter. Lowry really needs to take the jumper sometimes to keep defenders honest, even if it’s not his strength.
Play of the Game: Let’s just marvel at Rose.
From the blogs: Blog a Bull writes that Rose played like a franchise player, while The Dream Shake writes that the Rockets’ bench came up short.
Los Angeles Lakers 118, Milwaukee Bucks 107
When the Lakers won the title in 2008/09, they got a lot out of their bench. When they won it last year, they didn’t, and there were many regular-season games where they paid the price. This year, they are getting a lot from their bench, which makes them even more dangerous.
Tonight, the Lakers pulled away with guys like Matt Barnes, Shannon Brown, Steve Blake and Luke Walton leading the way. Those four players shared the court in the late-third and early-fourth quarter and beat up the Bucks starters, forcing turnovers, getting open shots and knocking them down. Brown had 21 points on nine shots, and while he was on the team last year, he wasn't trusted like he is this season. Brown has made over 50 percent of his threes this year, as he's taking -- and making -- good shots.
In general, the Lakers just carved up Milwaukee offensively. They scored nearly 127 points per 100 possessions, against one of the top defensive teams in the league. When we envisioned the Lakers last year, we envisioned a team with this kind of offensive potential. Kobe Bryant was efficient, Pau Gasol got the ball, and the complimentary players made their shots.
Milwaukee didn’t play that badly, but an inability to get to the free-throw line doomed them. They shot 27 free throws, but that figure is a bit misleading since they had so many offensive rebounds (19). That gave them more chances than the Lakers to get to the line. In reality, they took just 18 free throws per 100 shot attempts in the game, which isn’t very good. Throw in some untimely turnovers, and they just weren’t able to control the pace of the game.
But this game isn’t about Milwaukee. It’s about the Lakers and how scary good they can be. Milwaukee played a very good game, at home, and they still lost by double digits. Wow.
Play of the Game: Kobe’s legs aren’t what they used to be, but this was amazing.
From the blogs: Silver Screen and Roll writes that the Lakers need to fix their defense at some point, while Brew Hoop writes that the Bucks paid the price for getting into a shootout.
Denver Nuggets 120, New York Knicks 118
Right now, the Knicks are playing with almost no confidence. Players were passing up shots they'd normally take, and at the same time, a lot of the players look like they are forcing it. Danilo Gallinari, for example, tried hard, but he can't get away with taking 10 three-pointers in a game. Raymond Felton's stat line looked great (19 points, 11 assists and just one turnover), but he too often put his teammates in tricky positions with passes early in the game. It was as if he was trying to jam passes into space when it wasn't there, like he was Steve Nash. Ronny Turiaf tried hard, but was way too aggressive and fouled out in 12 and a half minutes. Toney Douglas had decent looks, but missed all four of his shots. Stuff like that. They played hard, and they never gave up, but they definitely were pressing a bit.
The Nuggets played well, save for a typically uninspired finish where they settled for jumpers and didn't get back on defense. That stuff just can't happen. Luckily, they built enough of a cushion, but George Karl has to be livid about that.
Here's a bold statement: Landry Fields was the best player on the court tonight. Twenty-one points, 17 rebounds, 8-15 shooting and some outstanding defense on Carmelo Anthony all game, all without you noticing. Melo eventually finished with 26 points, but Fields made him work for every single one of them. He's a keeper, along with Amare Stoudemire. Otherwise? Nothing special here, move along.
Play of the Game: “It’s Ronny Turiaf poster night at the Pepsi Center.”
From the blogs: Denver Stiffs writes that this looked like last year’s Nuggets-Knicks game, while Posting and Toasting writes that Landry Fields is the truth.
It took a year longer than we expected, but we have a shots distribution problem in Memphis. Despite going up against overmatched opponents a lot (Portland put Marcus Camby on Zach Randolph), Marc Gasol had just six shot attempts. Meanwhile, newly-paid Mike Conley had 14 shots, hitting just five. For long stretches, the offense ran better with rookie Greivis Vasquez in the game, and that's despite Vasquez shooting 1-8. O.J. Mayo, meanwhile, touched the ball once in the final four minutes, and committed a turnover. Not sure how that happens.
Portland's depth was the difference again. Andre Miller always seems to step up with Brandon Roy out, and Wesley Matthews showed a diverse array of skills in scoring 30 points. Last year, Matthews was mostly a spot-up shooter in Utah. Portland tried to sell their decision to give him a big contract by talking up his versatility and ability to score in many ways. I guess they were on to something.
Kind of an ugly game though. Right now, I think both teams are not playoff teams in the West.
Play of the Game: Vasquez doesn’t give up on this play.
From the blogs: Blazers Edge writes that this was an early-season character gutcheck for the Blazers.
Washington Wizards 109, Toronto Raptors 94
Just a disgraceful performance by the Raptors. The Wizards didn't have John Wall, and Andray Blatche was gimpy with a bad knee, and they still ran circles on the Raptors' defense. Toronto allowed the Wizards to score 118.5 points per 100 possessions, and it could have been worse if the Wizards didn't call off the dogs late.
I mean - Hilton Armstrong had three dunks. Kirk Hinrich had two layups off the dribble. Trevor Booker had eight points. Blatche dropped an efficient 22 points on 13 shots. How can a professional team allow all that to happen against them?
Credit the Wizards for showing up, but that’s really all they did. Because the Raptors didn’t bother to care, it was enough for a 15-point win that was much more lopsided that the final score indicated.
Play of the Game: See, Armstrong shouldn’t be allowed to do this.
From the blogs: Bullets Forever writes that Nick Young’s shot selection was bad, but the shots were falling, while Raptors HQ writes that the Raptors didn’t show up.
GAMES I MISSED:
- Atlanta Hawks 102, Indiana Pacers 92: A rare slow-paced game involving the Pacers (85 possessions) saw Josh Smith dominate with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots. It was shades of last year for him.
- Cleveland Cavaliers 101, Philadelpha 76ers 93: Eleven players scored between 10 and 18 points in this game. FEEL THE STARPOWER!
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