Vintage Bulls. The crowd in Chicago goes nuts. But not at the game. It’s Scottie Pippen sitting next to Arsenio on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno –  when Leno was only half a dork. The Bulls just beat Miami and Pip had 24. He talks about partying a bit too much. 6 rings? Couldn’t have partied that hard. Or maybe the Bulls were just that good.

(0-3)

L 92-116 — Wow, so the loss of Noah is going to hurt us more than we even thought.  I mean the Hawks are a better team than the Bulls and may have beaten us anyways, but when you get out-rebounded 63-37, you definitely aren’t going to win.  Rose had 24 points and Taj had 11 and 13, but there was little else to smile about.

L 96-105 — Another lackluster effort at home against a team the Bulls should beat.  Zach Randolph’s monster 31 points and 18 rebounds really exposed the lack of bulk down low for the Bulls.  Deng had 23 points and Rose had 20 including a spectacular dunk.   It goes without saying the Bulls were out-rebounded again.

L 116-122 — The Bulls actually shot the ball very well in this up tempo contest with the Mavericks.  Unfortunately the Mavericks shot the ball better.  Rose had 34 points and 8 rebounds in the losing effort, but the Mavericks look like they might be a legitimate contender in the West and the Bulls are clearly not at their level yet.

Player of the Week — Derrick Rose

26 points and 4.7 rebounds a game makes him the best on the team this week.  His lack of rebounds is a bit disconcerting with only 1 a game and a huge void to fill with Noah out.  Still, as long as he’s asserting himself at the offensive end, he will dominate a lot of games.

Not Player of the Week — Luol Deng

He didn’t have the worst week.  He didn’t even have a bad week.  He scored 14 a game on 47% shooting.  4.5 rebounds just isn’t going to cut it, though.  With Noah out, there are a ton of boards to be grabbed, and Deng will have to get that number up to 6.5 or 7 a game for the Bulls to even begin to overcome their deficiencies on the glass.

Chicago Bulls Weekly Grade — D

I’m not saying they should have won all three games, or even 2 of the 3, but they needed to at least beat Memphis and show Atlanta and Dallas something.  Instead they fell flat on their faces in all 3 games.  It’s going to be a long March.

Check out Derrick Rose throwing it down on Zach Randolph off a nice little give and go with Brad Miller.

All these big free agents would be wise to come play with DRose. He can ease the scoring load and get you the rock. You want to go to the Knicks? The Heat? Get real. DRose is the truth. Come to Chicago and win.

(2-2)

L 95-101 Is it okay if I don’t talk about this game?  The Wizards have become the league’s joke, but the Bulls have a way of losing games to awful teams.  After playing pretty well through the first 2 quarters they melted down.  Do you know who Andray Blatche is? Yeah me either.  He dropped 25 points and 11 rebounds on the Bulls.  Terrible.

W 120-110 With a tough March schedule coming up, the Bulls need to win games like these.  They did against the Pacers.  Luol Deng had one of his best games of the season, going for 31 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks.  Rose contributed a near triple double with 23, 9 and 8.  Flip Murray also contributed 16 points.

W 115-111 The Blazers are a very good Western Conference team and the Bulls played them down to the wire.  With time winding down Rose exploded to the basket for a layup but the ball went in and out and it went to overtime (he was fouled if you ask me…).  Everyone contributed in OT to lead the Bulls to the win.

L 90-100 Which Bulls are we going to get night to night?  Rose had 27 and Deng added 18 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Granger’s 30 point 8 rebound revenge game.  The Bulls trailed for most of the game and the Pacers finally pulled away in the 4th.

Player of the Week — Derrick Rose

Luol Deng may have had a good week, but Rose has been ridiculously hot for a few months now.  He averaged 26 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists on a spectacular 57% shooting.  His near triple-double against Indy was fun to watch.  If he can play this well for a whole season, he will forcibly thrust himself into future MVP talk.

Not Player of the Week — Brad Miller

Stop being the not player of the week Brad Miller!  33% shooting is no way to play.  In general he seems to help the offense flow better, but he needs to find that mid-range stroke that made him such a dangerous threat on the offensive end.

Bulls Weekly Grade — B

I’m not sure what to make of these guys.  One day they are losing to the Wizards and the next they are showing some toughness and grit in overtime against one of the better teams in the Trailblazers.  2-2 is okay against the competition, but they are going to have to do better than that against the opponents they’ll be facing in March.

Check out DRose’s new 3d magazine cover for “Fadeaway”.

Hat tip to brother Vik and the crew at Docksquad Sports!