The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or its Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
By Sam Smith | 12.19.2014 | 9:36 p.m. CT
The Bulls Friday had one of their best wins of the season, 103-97 over the Memphis Grizzlies, who were coming off wins over the Warriors and Spurs. The Bulls were on the second of a back to back without Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson.
But the Bulls in going to 17-9 got 31 points and 10 rebounds from Jimmy Butler and a career-high 27 points from Nikola Mirotic to send Memphis to 21-5. Aaron Brooks added 17 while Butler had two big driving scores late in the fourth quarter to hold off a relentless Grizzlies rush.
The storyline to start was the matchup of brothers Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol with Marc winning the opening tip and Pau’s team winning the first half, though neither Gasol figured much in that. These are two defensive oriented, physical teams that run a lot of clock on offense. They like to call the arena here the “grind house” for the style of play of the Grizzlies, which is comfortable for the Bulls, especially without Derrick Rose.
Memphis took a 22-20 first quarter lead, but the Bulls delivered a Mirotic run in the second quarter to lead 51-43 at halftime. Brooks added his assortment of running, off the wrong foot, going the wrong way floaters and push shots as the duo scored 20 of the Bulls last 22 points of the half for the eight-point margin. The Grizzlies began to scrape away at the Bulls lead in the third quarter with a 10-2 run finally pushing the ball against a sluggish Bulls run. But Brooks broke that with a pair of threes to send the Bulls into the fourth quarter leading 73-66.
Observations:
1. Jimmy Butler continuing to prove he’s beyond human endurance. Another 40-minute plus game with incredibly hard falls attacking the basket and leading the Bulls in scoring again. Though he didn’t drive the bus.
2. Nikola Mirotic steadily is showing more confidence in his shot, which is one of the nicer ones in the NBA. Mirotic has a terrific stroke, but has tended to hesitate. He was aggressive taking his shot quickly Friday with good results.
3. Aaron Brooks is a natural scorer. He has excellent form and is difficult to defend because he often looks like when dribbling there’s no way he can get a shot off and will put the ball up over his shoulder or off balance.