Honestly, it wasn’t even that close.
One of the great strengths of the Bulls this year is how extraordinarily deep they are. Evocative of the Bench Mob 3-4 years ago (and headlined by the same player), the combination of Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic, Aaron Brooks, and Tony Snell are going to bury second units all year. It’s the sort of unit that allows a smart coach to cede an extra 3-5 minutes a game to the second unit to rest the starters over the long season. Thibodeau is a great coach, but that’s not his style (and it’s the one thing that infuriates me).
The story of this game was basically how Taj Gibson dominated the Knicks backups for 20 minutes (and the starters for another 8). Gibson shot 10-12, and 2-4 from the candy stripe for 22 points. He plugged in 8 rebounds for good measure, including 3 offensive boards that resulted in 3 easy putbacks. He more or less imposed his will on Quincy Acy, as you’d well expect him to. Add a relatively error-free performance from Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic (both of whom were really aggressive on the defensive glass), and the reserves far outpaced their counterparts and cruised to a win.
McDermott and Mirotic have serious defensive questions, but they played their parts well last night. McDermott tailed J.R. Smith all night, holding the weirdo to 6 points and a 25% FG. Mirotic was slightly more of a turnstile, but he wasn’t so bad you couldn’t stand to have him on the court. Against a team that actually makes the next pass, these two are going to get exposed, as they sell out when they think a shot is going to be taken, leaving their man pretty much wide open.
The first unit didn’t look too shabby either. Derrick Rose looked extremely rusty with his finishing touch, missing some spot-up 3s rather badly. However, he slashed more-or-less like the old Rose, and created several fast break opportunities. When McDermott and Rose are on the floor together for 20 minutes a game, I can imagine that the duo will be devastating on the fast break. Pau Gasol was a force on both sides of the floor, and the combination of Gasol and Noah is going to be a nightmare on opposing big men. Noah (and Dunleavy) didn’t have a great game, though Noah (benefitting from Gasol’s presence, no doubt) was able to block 3 shots, all clean.
I’m not in love with Hinrich off the ball, which is where he’ll play when Rose is on the court, but he made the most of his limited opportunities. He somehow took 7 3’s (it didn’t seem like it during the game).
Frankly, if you shoot 50.7% from the field, you should blow out your opponents. They Bulls did, and they did. They dominated every offensive facet of the game, from points in the paint (42-28) to FG% (50.7 to 36.5) to Free Throws (30 to 17).
Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that my man E’Twaun Moore played the last 3 minutes of the game (badly). Moore is a cool story; he played his high school ball at East Chicago, and played his college ball at Purdue. He’s bounced around the league, finding some minutes last year with the Magic, but he’s strictly a champagne cork for the Bulls (once you pop him, it’s time to celebrate). Still, it’s pretty cool that he was able to play the end of a game for his hometown team. I imagine he’ll remember this for a long, long time.