The early Sunday afternoon game this week featured the Chicago Bulls visiting Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks on April 8th. The Bulls had won the previous two contests against New York and with Derrick Rose returning to the lineup after sitting for 12 consecutive games, I figured the Bulls would pull this one out as well. However, this would not be the case as the Bulls would fall to the Knicks 100-99 in OT.
One of major reasons why the Bulls came up short in this one was missed opportunities and poor execution down the stretch. After falling behind by 21 points early, the Bulls were up by 10 (91-81) with under four minutes left in the game. Chicago did not score again in regulation as both Derrick Rose and Luol Deng missed free throws that could have put the game out of reach. The missed free-throws left the door open for Carmelo Anthony (43 points) to nail a three-pointer, sending the game into overtime. In the extra session, the Bulls were up by a bucket in the closing seconds, but allowed Anthony to hit the game-winning basket. When you have your opponent on the ropes, you have to put them away and we failed to do that in a game we could have easily won, despite the horrible start.
For those of us who watched the Bulls lose to the Houston Rockets earlier in the week, Tom Thibodeau mentioned the word turnovers several times as the reason for that loss. Unfortunately, the turnover theme reared its ugly head in this one as well. Derrick Rose scored 29 points to go along with six assists and four rebounds, but he also turned the ball over eight times, including five in the first half. I can live with his timing being off and missing 18 of his 26 shot attempts because of being out for nearly a month. However, eight turnovers committed by our star player was a bit more difficult to swallow. Especially since the ball will be in his hands a majority of the time.
This loss was disappointing because these two teams could meet in the first round of the playoffs if the Bulls are able to hold on to the top spot. Right now, it would be safe to say the Knicks are feeling pretty confident as to how they match up against the Bulls following this game. Hopefully the Bulls will return the favor when they meet again at the United Center on April 10th.
James Tillman is a resident of the Chicago-land area, who has been a Bulls fan since the 1987-1988 season. James is also a fan blogger on Yahoo Sports and a sports contributor for Sports Rantz magazine. Follow him on Twitter at @jtillman9693 or email at jdtillman3@gmail.com .
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Bulls fall to Knick 100-99 in Rose's return
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