A History of the TNT Bulls

Game 3: #TheReturn

Basketball-Reference box score.

Most of the game had been a slight disappointment. Rose missed 16 of his 23 shots and the team committed six turnovers in the final quarter alone. But with 5.7 seconds remaining, there was only one thing that mattered: Derrick had the ball, and no one was going to stand in his way.

After one year, six months and three days, Rose had returned to the United Center.

It had been a rough fourth quarter for the Bulls. The Carmelo Anthony-led Knicks, who hadn’t won in Chicago since December, 2010, had gone on a 15-4 run that almost put it away. It takes much more than that to take down the TNT Bulls, though. A missed free throw from Tyson Chandler cracked open the door, and a missed game-winner from Anthony after the dagger from Rose sealed the victory for the Bulls. Chandler did what he could to stop Rose, but sometimes good defense isn’t enough. “I was right there,” Chandler said. “He just made a big-time play. I don’t know if he saw the basket, to be honest with you.”

Deng added 17 points and did his best to limit Anthony on the defensive end. He and Jimmy Butler combined for 81 minutes. Ah, the era of Thibs. Noah pulled down 15 rebounds and dished out five dimes, and the Bulls kicked off their home season in dramatic fashion.