The Chicago Bulls ruined the homecoming for Anthony Davis, led by Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler to make it a sixth consecutive win, beating the New Orleans Pelicans 107-100.
It’s no coincidence that the Bulls are putting together their longest win-streak of the season. All the key players are healthy, Derrick Rose is playing consecutive games and Tom Thibodeau can use the rotations and lineups he was always planning on. More than that, despite Gasol struggling against the younger, more athletic and simply better Anthony Davis, he’s getting a very special season from Butler.
There’s no use or need to keep telling how Butler is rising up to superstar level this season. If you’ve been following the NBA since November, you know. His 33 point game is not a rarity anymore. He led the Bulls as he once again proved to be very difficult to stop on his way to the paint, finishing with 9-of-10 from the line. Derrick Rose, mostly focused on scoring these days, had just one assist, but scored 19 points, including his first dunk of the season.
The bench was quite helpful once again, something the Pelicans didn’t have as Ryan Anderson was held to just 13 points. The Brooks-Gibson-Mirotic connection combined to score 35 points with Gibson needing only 22 minutes to pick up a double double (12 points, 10 rebounds). With their starters redefining the roles of each position as Noah and Gasol are the main passers again and again and the bench outplaying any unit it has been facing, it’s no wonder the Bulls have looked like the best team in the league for the last couple of weeks.
Anthony Davis played his first professional game in his hometown of Chicago, and looked very good, especially early on, while doing so, scoring 29 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. But that’s a given almost every night that Davis is going to pull off some impressive numbers. Getting almost nothing from the bench and key players like Omer Asik (a former Bulls player) is a bit more worrying and costly.
