Rose on threshold of super-stardom, playing like an MVP
Last year, we celebrated Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose for becoming the first Bulls All-Star since Michael Jordan in 1998. The confetti and blow horn sales will remain high in Chicago because Rose is about to add his name to another accolade: NBA MVP.
I understand this is a brash statement early in the season and the NBA is full of players who are contending for the award, but by the time the trophy has been molded to shape and the name plate inscripted, Rose will clarify himself as the best player in the league.
Rose led the Bulls to a 9-6 record in the first 15 games of the season and was on top of each box score in everything but rebounds and blocks, although he has those on his season stat board as well. Since then, Chicago is the third best team in the Eastern Conference with a 16-9 record, including a seven game win streak.
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Back in the game
After a two-day hiatus from making NBA game picks, Bullshome is back in the game.
Wednesday’s match-ups begin with the Chicago Bulls playing the second game of their “Circus Trip” as ESPN likes to call it. In the the road trip the Bulls will play seven west coast teams in 12 days including five of the seven top eight teams in the Western Conference. Wednesday finds the Bulls in San Antonio against the Spurs.
Tim Duncan and company are 8-1 which puts them in a three way tie for the best record in the league with the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns are going to see who can past 6-4 as they meet in a battle of the disappointments. Miami’s big three of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are not living up to the hype while the Suns, last year’s Western Conference Champions, are extremely inconsistent, mainly because they don’t have an inside presence. Oh, almost forgot, Robin Lopez, the Suns only valuable big man, is out with a knee injury.
What other games are Wednesday night?
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Chicago gets above .500 to help me stay above .500
Wednesday’s 4-6 showing on NBA game picks had to get better somehow and it did with the Chicago Bulls dominating the Golden State Warriors to help confirm an above .500 record for Thursday.
Luol Deng led the way with a double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds, as all five starters scored in double-digits and had at least one steal and block. In general, the Bulls bone stomped the Warriors in every aspect of the game.
In other games around the NBA on Thursday, the Boston Celtics manhandled the Miami Heat once again. The final score was 112-107, but it only became close in the late minutes with a Heat run, but other than that, the Celtics owned the Heat from the time the ball was jumped. Boston’s Ray Allen scored 35 points including his gift to hit seven three-pointers , while Rajon Rondo dished out 16 assists as he continues to lead the league in assists per game with 14.9.
Boston’s record doesn’t matter, but the Heat who put together a superstar threesome in Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh fell to 5-4 to have all my co-workers, Facebook pals and other bloggers laughing at Miami.
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Maybe Deng should stay in Chicago
After the first two or three games of the season, I was ready to ship Luol Deng to the Philadelphia 76ers for Andre Iguodala whether the potential for the three-way trade for Denver Nugget Carmelo Anthony was an option or not.
Deng was zombie-like on the court producing minimal with body language asking “what should I do” ?
In the last three to four games he has been playing as if he wants to be part of this team by producing big numbers and coming to the court with some energy letting Bulls fans know he still knows how to play basketball. For a week, I thought he forgot.
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Indiana Surprises the World
Tuesday, the Indiana Pacers went off in the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets, shooting 20-of-21 from the field and scoring 54 points. They would have broken a record with a 20-for-20 perfect quarter, but Josh McRoberts missed a three-point basket late with 40 seconds left on the clock.
The Pacers tore it up, but unfortunately, I thought the game would go the other way for the Nuggets because no one would ever think the Pacers would shoot as good as they did. Mike Dunleavy had 24 points in the third quarter alone and finished with 31 points for the night.
Lets see how the rest of the night went around the League.
