Bagging Bucks

to the contact and the pace of the game.”

The Bulls have played some great basketball without Rose, like the night against Miami when their third-string point guard, John Lucas, made everything he threw up against Lebron James. But then there are times when Rose’s supporting cast is anemic, and Scottie Pippen, sitting six seats down from the Knick bench, looks like a pretty good alternative.

Tuesday was a night when Hamilton and Korver and Rose’s replacement, C.J. Watson, did the job. Fine. But it’s on the Knicks that they didn’t get this game when they did not have to contend with Rose’s drives and allaround excellence. They talked about being “flat” and “undersized.” Hello? Chicago didn’t have Rose.

This could end up haunting the Knicks in their quest to get the best possible playoff positioning.

“I’m waiting to hear what they want me to do,” Rose said out on the court about an hour before tipoff. ou knew what the answer would be. The Bulls did the smart thing and sat him down rather than risk having him make the injury worse. The stakes are high for the Heat game Thursday. It could go a long way to determining whether the Bulls take the No. 1 seed into the playoffs for the second straight season.

First place — that’s a long way from where the Knicks find themselves today.

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