It may be an indicator that Derrick Rose has arrived in the NBA. Teams are trying to get the 20-year-old guard in foul trouble. And it has worked.
Rose was in foul trouble the entire game, making cameos in every quarter. He fouled out of the game, along with Andres Nocioni and Ben Gordon.
Which made for an easy Detroit Pistons 104-98 victory over the Chicago Bulls Tuesday night.
Allen Iverson went down with a shoulder injury and Rodney Stuckey came off the bench to put together a career-high 40 points. No surprise, given that the Bulls typically make stars out of people on a weekly basis (like Kendrick Perkins last Friday).
It's also important to note that the Pistons operate much more smoothly under Stuckey than Iverson, who has directly affected the promising young sophomore's minutes.
Nevertheless, this was not a meeting between defensive juggernauts from two years ago. We saw some hostility between the two teams, but the Bulls hardly seemed up to task and, at times, confused.
There was one play in the fourth quarter when not a single teammate called out a screen for Lindsay Hunter who was blasted with a blind-side pick at the half-court line as the game wound down.
The Bulls have been especially bad on defense when on the road and Tuesday night was no exception. While Tyrus Thomas made a return, after sitting out two games with a concussion, he was hardly making any impact on defense.
And Joakim Noah still seems late on rotations. I'm not even sure what the team's defensive system is at this point, considering they struggle mightily with rebounding and help defense.
On another note, has anyone noticed that Nocioni is now a better player than Luol Deng? And that's not a compliment to Nocioni; rather it's a slap at Deng, who has regressed in nearly every facet of his game in just two short years.
His shot is not falling with any kind of consistency, his defense is woeful and now he seems to turnover the ball whenever he attempts to dribble. It could be a confidence thing, or a new system, but my guess is that Deng had a career year at the right time and really benefited from Scott Skiles when they advanced into the second round of the playoffs.
He tries. He seems to make a better effort on the offensive boards, but it appears that the Bulls and their fans are more comfortable when Nocioni is in at the end of the game.
It's amazing what $72 million contract buys you in the NBA.
On some lighter notes:
Did I see Tyrus Thomas hit a three--an important one, with the team closing in at the end of the fourth quarter? Make no mistake. That was among the worst things that can happen to him or the team. Thomas is so easily fooled by his ability, that he'll start taking open looks from 23 feet.
I still think Vinny DelNegro needs to take some marker and draw a semi-circle that is six feet from the rim, and make Thomas play a whole scrimmage where he's not allowed to go outside of it.
"No...no...no...remember, outside of the circle is fire. Inside is water. Water is good. Water is good, Tyrus....that's it. Good."
Then again, maybe Skiles already tried that.
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