NBA scores: The Bulls win in Toronto but Derrick Rose gets hurt

The Bulls keep winning, but their MVP still can’t stay on the court. Plus, other thoughts on a busy night in NBA.

Nov 14, 2014, 1:00 PM UTC

Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

It was all going so well for the Chicago Bulls and that's where we'll start. For the first 46 minutes of their eventual 100-93 win over the Raptors in Toronto on Thursday, the Bulls looked like a team that could, like so many predicted, win a championship this season.

There was the defense, which completely shut down the Raptors' explosive offense. Coming into the game Toronto was third in the NBA in offensive rating, scoring 109.1 points per 100 possessions. The Bulls held them to 39 percent shooting. DeMar Derozan was hounded by Jimmy Butler all night and hit just three of his 17 shots. Kyle Lowry had to work for his 20; he shot just 8-19.

But the defense has always been there. This is, after all, a Tom Thibodeau team, and Tom Thibodeau could probably squeeze a league average defense out of a bunch of Division III castoffs. What made this night different was the offense. There was Pau Gasol hitting 12 out of his 19 shots and finishing with 27 points. Nine of those makes came at the rim (shot chart below). Carlos Boozer might not have had that many in his entire tenure with the Bulls.

Then there was Jimmy Butler hitting seven of his 10 shots and finishing with 17 points. He’s shooting over 50 percent from the field this year and has hit 39 percent of his 3s.

And of course there was Derek Rose, the one who makes it all go. With him on the court the Bulls morph into a juggernaut and against Toronto he reminded us why. Rose didn’t shoot well (5-14 for 20 points), but he looked athletic and spry. He attacked and pressured the Raptors’ defense in a way that no other Bull, and few players around the league, could.

With less than two minutes left, the Bulls, despite allowing Toronto to go on a 14-1 run, still led by five points. They were on their way to a road win over the best team -- by record -- in the Eastern Conference, a team that coming into the evening had won seven of its eight games entering the night.

And then Rose went down. Again. No one hit him; he just crumbled, like a stack of Jenga blocks when one of the bottom pieces is pulled out. Rose didn't receive any medical attention on the bench -- but he also never returned to the court. The Bulls are saying it's a left hamstring injury -- a new one for him -- and that Rose will get an MRI on Friday. After the game Rose said he had cramps.

The Bulls are now 7-2. Derrick Rose has played in five of those nine games. Maybe it was just a tweak or something small and Rose will be on the court Saturday in Chicago when the Bulls take on the Indiana Pacers. Or, perhaps, he won't be. With him, we just never know anymore. Thursday night showed us everything the Bulls can be. It also showed why there's a good chance they never reach their peak.

Rose's injuries

Joakim Noah tells everyone to 'chill the f*** out'

Three other things we learned

The Sixers might actually be worse than we all thought. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but the Mavericks beat them by 53 points Thursday night. At one point the score was 54-14, which, for some reason, seems more ridiculous than the 123-70 final score. Last season the Sixers won just 19 games; it’s looking like this year they won’t get that many. They’re waking up Friday morning 0-8 and now there’s stuff like this going on:

MCW didn't get back on D. Brown yelled at him to get back then went to talk to him during stoppage. MCW appeared to point to scoreboard
— Bob Cooney (@BobCooney76) November 14, 2014

Sadly, it looks like things in Philly are only going to be getting worse.

The Kings have a lot of trouble holding on to big leads. Tuesday in Dallas the Kings jumped out to a 24-point lead over the Mavericks, only to eventually lose the game, 106-98. At one point Thursday night the Kings led the Memphis Grizzlies by 26 points. They ended up losing, on a Courtney Lee buzzer beater, 111-110. The Kings are still 5-4, which is a better start than anyone, except perhaps Vivek Ranadive, could have expected. And DeMarcus Cousins looks like he's just about there. (He scored 22 points and pulled down 12 rebounds against the Grizzlies' talented front line, and drew, and hit, two free throws by driving to the basket with less than 10 seconds left in the game. The shots put the Kings up 110-109.) But blowing 20 point leads is not a good look, nor is it something that foretells a productive season from the Kings. Sacramento has already proven itself to be feisty; if it wants to truly compete, it's going to have to figure this stuff out.

The Warriors are capable of taking care of the ball. Coming into their Thursday night matchup in Golden State against the Nets, the Warriors were averaging 22 turnovers a game, the worst margin in the league. Earlier in the week Steve Kerr said that his team was making “six to eight plays of insanity per game.” Against the Nets, though, the Warriors only turned the ball over 10 times. The Nets aren’t exactly defensive juggernauts, but they have been forcing about 15 turnovers per game, which puts them right in the middle of the league. The Warriors only shot 45 percent from the field on Thursday, and they missed 23 of the 34 threes that they took. So how’d they pull off a 107-99 win? By taking care of the ball, and swinging it around (30 assists). This wasn’t the explosive Warriors we’re used to seeing, but they were effective. The tricky part will be to see if If Golden State can figure out a way to hold onto the ball while maintaining their aggressiveness. .

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Play of the Night

This is how Memphis capped out its 26-point comeback over the Kings. The play design here is awesome, but it also helps when you get the full five seconds to inbound the ball. Not exactly sure what Sacramento was doing, either; with 0.3 seconds left, it was obvious that the ball was going to be thrown somewhere near the rim. The shot also gave the NBA an opportunity to put the new replay center that we’ve all heard so much about on display. It appears that the replay officials, and the refs, got this one right.

Also, looks like Courtney Lee has been working on his end-of-game alley-oop catches.

Five fun things

Obviously a much better way to spend your time, BUT... why’d they bring the paper with them in the first place?

My favorite moment from the Sixers-Mavs pic.twitter.com/klZnhmq6Yk
— Erik Gundersen (@blazerbanter) November 14, 2014

Tony Allen was so eager to get into the game he forgot to take off his warmup shirt. Perhaps better than the image of Tony Allen checking into the game with a warmup shirt on is how Tony Allen decides to punish Tony Allen for making a mistake.

This is what Derrick Rose looked like before his legs stopped working again. When healthy, he really is just awesome and so much fun to watch.

Here’s Stephen Curry hitting a shot from the tunnel during warmups. What’s most incredible about this video is that many probably won’t find it surprising. That’s how awesome a shooter Curry is. This stuff is expected.

Hulk Hogan took over the Warriors’ Twitter account? Hulk Hogan took over the Warriors’ Twitter account!

.@NBAonTNT @SHAQ The 24-inch pythons & the Shaq Attack are on the same team. Together we are the ultimate superpowers brother. #HulkTakeover
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) November 14, 2014