Rose
and Noah emerge victorious in Chicago return
This week has been
full of NBA reunions, with Thursday night’s dramatic matchupbetween Kevin Durant’s Golden State
Warriors and Russell Westbrook’s Oklahoma City
Thunder standing as the
clear headliner.
By comparison, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah first visit to the Chicago Bulls as New York Knicks lacked an easy storyline. It was not clear if the home crowd would cheer or boo their former stars on Friday night, in part because it was time for both
sides to cut ties but also because their legacies remain undecided.
It should therefore
not come as much of a surprise that reactions were mixed when were Rose and
Noah announced in pregame introductions. Actually, that deserves some
clarification — Noah received unreserved applause, while Chicago native Rose
heard both cheers and jeers:
The reception for Noah was no surprise — he worked his
tail off and played through injuries for nine seasons as the Bulls’ vocal
leader.
The Rose reaction is more interesting, because he remains a complicated
figure after his incredible start to his career, all those injuries, his local
hero status, preseason comments about the love he gets from Knicks fans,
and the after-effects of his recent civil trial for the alleged gang-rape of an
ex-girlfriend (in which he was found not liable on all counts).
The game itself offered an opportunity to leave much of
that history behind and focus on what these teams and players now offer on the
court. A notable contingent of fans booed Rose when he touched the ball
(especially early), and the Bulls showed a nice video honoring what both he and
Noah accomplished during their time with the franchise. For the most part,
though, this felt like a normal basketball game.
It happened to be a pretty good one for the Knicks, who
took the fourth quarter 33-23 to turn a close contest into a 117-104 win. Rose overcame 6-of-16 shooting
from the field to put up 15 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds, affecting
the game in multiple ways after a rather ineffective first few games with New
York. Noah was solid, as well, logging 16 points (7-of-11 FG), nine rebounds,
four assists, and three steals.
Yet it was second-year big man Kristaps
Porzingis who
impressed most with a team-high 27 points (11-of-15 FG, 4-of-7 3FG). If nothing
else, this game showed that the additions of Rose and Noah do not have to
impede Porzingis’s development. These players can coexist together (and with Carmelo
Anthony) as long as the Knicks value offensive balance.
The
Bulls’ struggles were mostly limited to the defensive end, where they allowed
51.7 percent shooting to the visitors. Offensively, the big story was the
continued three-point prowess of Dwyane Wade, who shot 12-of-20 from the field
and 5-of-7 on threes for a season-high 35 points.
Remarkably,
Wade now has 10 three-pointers in five games this season, three more than he
converted during the entire 2015-16 regular season. It’s not clear if his
excellent shooting form will persist throughout the year, but the mere threat
of his outside shooting should help a Bulls offense that nearly all analysts
thought would have major spacing issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment