Dec. 26--The Bulls improved to 20-9 with Thursday's home victory over the Lakers. Here are three observations:
The defense can't rest.
Sure, the new, high-scoring Bulls are fun to watch. They have scored 100 or more points in 20 of 29 games and feature plenty of depth, talent and versatility offensively.
But how important is the defense? The Bulls are 15-2 when they hold opponents under 100 points and 5-7 when they don't.
"Just because we can score the ball doesn't mean that defense isn't important," Joakim Noah said. "We're going to have to count on our defense when the block gets hot."
The bench is on a roll.
Aaron Brooks is making high-degree-of-difficulty shots. Nikola Mirotic is playing, and earning, fourth-quarter minutes. Even E'Twaun Moore has entered the mix, making solid, subtle contributions.
The Bulls' reserves outscored the Lakers' 39-26 and have outscored their opponents' in five straight games during this five-game win streak.
"We're very deep," Noah said.
The rebounding has rebounded.
The Bulls continue to put those early-season rebounding woes behind them. With a whopping, 57-39 edge against the Lakers, that's four straight and nine of 10 opponents they've outrebounded.
That's no coincidence, then, that they've won eight of nine. Again, for all the offense that has sprouted from last season's low-scoring messes, rebounding and defense win playoff games.
"The green arrow is up," Noah said.
