The Bulls lost a hard fought game and series last night to the Cleveland Cavaliers. They left everything they had on the court last night and have nothing to be ashamed about as they played really hard in this series. Derrick Rose led the way for the Bulls last night with 31 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Luol Deng outplayed LeBron James, at least offensively last night, as he finished with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assists and 2 steals. Kirk Hinrich pitched in with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in this game. The Bulls lost this series 4-1 but at least a lot of the games were close and entertaining.

After winning the 2008-’09 Rookie of the Year Award, Derrick Rose had a lot of high expectations coming into his sophomore season.  Well, D. Rose met and exceeded most of those expectations and has proven to be one of the top (if not the top) point guards in the Eastern Conference.  Rose had a slow start to the season due to an ankle injury, where he shot 46% and averaged only 16.2 points, 5.3 assists, and 2.9 rebounds in the month of November.  Those are still very good numbers, but when you compare them to his final averages of 20.8 points, 6.0 assists, and 3.8 rebounds on 49% shooting you can see that he wasn’t 100% healthy early in the season.  Last season as a rookie he averaged 16.8 points, 6.3 assists, and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 47% from the field.  He has become much more of a threat scoring the ball, thanks to his much improved outside shot.  The big knock on Rose coming into the NBA and throughout his rookie campaign was that he lacked a consistent outside shot.  He worked hard and it paid off, because he is deadly from 15-20 feet out and is starting to add the three-pointer to his arsenal.  What is even more impressive when you talk about Rose, is that he stepped his game up when it mattered most…the playoffs.  In the Bulls five-game series loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Rose averaged 26.8 points, 7.2 assists, and 3.4 rebounds.  Rose is only 21-years-old, so his game will continue to improve for the next couple of years.  With his youth, superior athleticism, and natural feel for the game, it looks like Rose will be an elite point guard in this league for years to come and could end up being the best point guard in the NBA in a few years.

So much for the Bulls having new life in this series. King James would have none of that as he scored 37 points, had 12 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals as the Bulls just couldn’t stop him no matter what they tried to do. The Bulls only shot 37.4% from the floor and they didn’t play any defense as the Cavs shot 53.2% from the floor and it’s almost impossible to win that way. Joakim Noah led the way for the Bulls in this game with 21 points and 20 rebounds. Derrick Rose was solid again with 21 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists in this game. Flip Murray (11 points) and Kirk Hinrich (10 points) pitched in a tad offensively. The Bulls are down 3-1 in this series.

The Bulls shot 50% from the floor last night and they led this game 79-68 after the first three quarters before holding on for dear life in the 4th quarter to prevail. Derrick Rose led the way for the Bulls last night with 31 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists. Kirk Hinrich was the X factor in this game for the Bulls as he finished up with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Hinrich just couldn’t miss last night as he hit 9 of 12 shots from the floor and all 4 of his three point attempts. Luol Deng was effective offensively with 20 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in this game. Joakim Noah was busy as usual finishing up with 10 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots. The Bulls are now down 2-1 in this series after getting a huge win last night over the Cavs.

Kirk Hinrich has played 80 terrible minutes in the first round playoff series against the Cavs so far. He is averaging 40.0 minutes, 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game in this series. Hinrich is only shooting 33.3% from the floor so far in this series and that just won’t cut it. Maybe the Bulls should start giving Flip Murray more minutes because he brought some energy to the court offensively when he was on the floor.