Dec. 11--Derrick Rose's 23-point night in the Bulls' 105-80 victory over the Nets on Wednesday didn't start smoothly.
He missed a 3-pointer. He committed a turnover and two personal fouls, the second producing enough ire for the normally stoic guard to draw a technical foul. When Rose sat just over midway through the first quarter, the only positive was that he appeared in his eighth straight game.
"I was just mad," Rose said. "Sometimes, that brings the best out of me when calls like that don't go my way. It kind of boosts me up a little bit."
Indeed, by the time Rose finished his sixth straight game, the positive signs were in abundance.
Rose attacked. He knocked down 3-pointers later after softening the defense. And what he and others said afterward may have been the best development.
"I just feel great. My body is healthy. My mind is good. My spirit is good," Rose said. "Just trying to keep it going and know that when I have bad games like last game, they're going to happen. So just try to get it out of my mind and stay positive."
Coach Tom Thibodeau had implored Rose to attack the rim more after shooting multiple 3-pointers in previous games since returning from a left hamstring injury. Six of Rose's first nine shots were inside the paint. Only later did Rose start taking 3-pointers, knocking down 3 of 5 in the second half.
"He had a good balance going," Thibodeau said "I think the aggressiveness going to the basket helped set that up. They were sitting back a little more. He had a good flow to his game. He was into the rhythm of the game by attacking.
"We've seen flashes throughout. What I liked tonight was the stuff he was doing away from the ball. I saw a lot more activity. And for us, that's great."
As good as Rose's offense looked, his teammates' defense of him afterward sounded even better.
"He's the same player I think," Taj Gibson said. "You guys are so critical of what he does. You have to understand, he's playing with hamstring injuries. That stuff is tough. Track runners sit out after getting their hamstrings hurt. He's still out there playing through all that stuff.
"I just see that the game is coming. Thibs had the game-plan of what we wanted to do. We were trying to work it to Pau (Gasol) down low, get it to me down low a couple of times, and [Rose] was just being patient. He was just trying to work the game, and once he started figuring out he could drive the ball, he started to drive the ball. I thought he was real good."
And Rose continues to insist he will get better.
"I told you: Y'all are the ones that are going to be surprised by the way that I'm playing. Just give me a little minute. I know where I'm going to be. I know how good I am," he said. "I'm very confident with my craft and how good I am period.
"It's there. Like I said, it's just trying to pick and choose what I'm going to do. You have so many offensive threats on this team, you tend as a point guard to try to get them going a little bit. That kind of takes away from what I'm doing as far as me being a scoring point guard. Just trying to mix and mingle everything together and see what works. (Wednesday), we won. Who knows? Next game, it may be something different."
