‘Legend’ Rose finds new life with Pistons
Ex-Bull performed well but couldn’t lift Pistons to victory
The Bulls built a comfortable, 16-point third-quarter lead Friday night against the Pistons. They blew it again but this time rallied for the win.
“We’ve been battling,” Bulls coach Jim Boylen said after his team’s 112-106 victory, “but we haven’t finished. What I told the team is sometimes the clouds come out.”
The clouds?
“Well it’s this, it’s that,” he said. “We’ve played good enough offensive basketball to win. We haven’t played good enough defensive basketball to win. We got those clouds out of the way and I thought we were better defensively.”
The Bulls snapped a three-game skid and improved to 2-4 after Zach LaVine scored a game-high 26 points and made back-to-back 3-pointers down the stretch.
“We want to start winning in front of these fans,” LaVine said. “I know we got off to a disappointing start. I think our record should have been 4-1 to start. We’re a good team; were just trying to figure it out.”
Here are three takeaways from the win:
1. Derrick Rose? He’s still got it.
At 31, he’s finally healthy and as explosive as ever. He finished with 23 points and seven assists in 24 minutes.
Rose entered the game midway through the first quarter and three minutes later blew past Kris Dunn, pump-faking and finishing with his left hand for a three-point play.
After he nailed the free throw, fans hollered “MVP!” “MVP!” — reminiscent of his last visit. He had the United Center rocking in December during a 24-point, eight-assist night with the Timberwolves.
“I felt the love out there,” Rose said. “I wish we could have gotten the win, but coming here is always special. Playing here all these years was special.
“I didn’t cherish the moments like I was supposed to, but you live and learn. Feeling the energy tonight, it was something to hold onto.”
Rose scored or assisted on 14 of the Pistons’ final 17 points of the first half.
“He’s a legend,” LaVine said. “You heard how much the crowd and the city love him. You can respect a dude like that because he has gone through so much. You see how elite he is.”
Boylen also was effusive in his praise, saying: “He was dynamic all night. He’s as tough a cover in the league as there is right now with his ability to split, to burst, to sneak, to shoot the ball. I’m really happy for him.”
2. Otto Porter Jr. finally looked like Otto Porter Jr.
He scored 22 points on just 12 shots, hitting eight and drilling 3 of 4 from 3-point range. He thrived in the third quarter after the Bulls looked for him to make plays.
“He was aggressive and confident,” Boylen said. “He has a size advantage at the 3 (small forward spot) with ball skills.”
Porter got off to a brutal start this season, averaging just 8.8 points on 31.8% shooting, raising concerns about a hip injury. He and Boylen talked it out in Cleveland.
“He was frustrated,” the coach said. “We all were frustrated. Sometimes you’ve just got to bear down and play every possession as hard as you can. And he did that.
“What I love about Otto is that he’s the guy in the huddle talking: ‘This is the stop we need to get.’ He’s a coach out there.”
Porter said he grew to be vocal from being around teammates in Washington, such as John Wall and Paul Pierce.
“I try to take what I learned and apply it to this team,” he said.
And as for his chat with Boylen, Porter said: “We just tried to figure out how I could help the team more — being vocal, setting the example for the young guys.”
3. Lauri Markkanen is fine.
The Bulls forward exited the game after scoring 14 points in 25 minutes, wincing with discomfort on his left side.
“I’m good,” he said. “I don’t really know what happened. I don’t remember any specific play. I haven’t really gotten it checked out yet.”
He must be getting old.
“Yeah, must be,” he said. “I’m 22.” Boylen said he wasn’t sure about the injury and that trainers told him: “He’s OK if you want to give him a shot.”
Boylen stuck with Thaddeus Young instead. Young finished with eight points and nine rebounds.
LaVine was the key player down the stretch. He lost the ball with a silly pass out of a timeout, allowing the Pistons to take a 100-99 lead, their first since the game’s first minute. Tony Snell — remember him? — hit a layup after Rose saved the ball from going out of bounds.
Then LaVine saved the day with those back-to-back 3s.
“You know, I’m not scared to take any of those shots,” LaVine said. “It should have been three in a row. I missed the wide-open one, the easiest one.
“I wanted to make up for those mistakes; I was throwing the ball everywhere. I felt like idiot. At least I made up for them.”