[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith a 12-10 lead over the Knicks in the first quarter, Tom Thibodeau made his first substitutions of the game. Aaron Brooks replaced Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson replaced Joakim Noah.
Thibodeau witnessed 2 early turnovers by Rose, and Dunleavy looking out of sync with the rest of the team. The starters had been down by as much as 8-2 before staging a small comeback to take a two point lead as the Bulls went to the bench.
The second unit stretched the lead to as much 16 points, ignited by Gibson who led all scorers with 22 points on 10 of 12 shooting for the game. Doug McDermott made his rookie debut one to remember, coming off the bench to score 12 points in 24 minutes of action to go with five rebounds, two three pointers, two assists and a steal. Aaron Brooks made a strong case to continue getting minutes off the bench.
His effectiveness as a change of pace guard was evident as he darted through the Knick defense in setting up his mates to a team high six assists. Brooks took Kirk Hinrich’s first guard off the bench role due to Jimmy Butler being sidelined with a wrist injury. Brooks contributed 13 points with only 1 turnover in 23 minutes. His offense wasn’t the only thing on display.
Rose spoke on his total impact to the game: “I think he really got into the other guards defensively. We already knew Aaron is a good guard. He used to start in this league, so he’s been in situations where he had to play starter minutes and he’s used to it. Whenever he’s in the game we know he’s a threat when he’s on the floor.”
By the time Rose returned to the game midway through the second quarter, the 2 point lead he left with had swelled to 12. The rest of the starting unit returned shortly after to close the quarter with a 53-43 halftime lead.
The second half was a totally different story for the starting unit. Gasol and Hinrich caught fire. Gasol put on a minor clinic the entire third quarter, using his length to close the door on the Knicks for good. Gasol exited the game for good four minutes into the fourth quarter, finishing with 21 points and a game high 11 rebounds. Hinrich made a run of his own swishing three 3 pointers, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the quarter.
The talks of a renewed rivalry between the Bulls and Knicks can be put on hold as the Bulls were able to rest the starters the entire (with the exception of Gasol who played the first four minutes) fourth quarter and allow the bench to finish the rout they began. Every Bull with the exception of Nazr Mohammed played at least 3 minutes.
The Knicks and their new triangle offense looked good for the first 7 minutes of the game, thanks to the lone bright spot on the night for the Knicks, Shane Larkin. While his box score doesn’t show that he did anything special, he was the major reason the Bulls started off slow. His quickness and command of the offense kept Rose off balance.
Larkin ran Rose through screens, delivered crisp passes to players in shooting position and made it all the way to the basket on more than one occasion. Most of those passes went for missed shots, which is no fault of Larkin’s who finished the night with no turnovers and three assists in 25 minutes of action. Carmelo Anthony, the Bulls main target this summer had a very silent night. Melo was non-factor in his 28 minutes of action, shooting 5 for 13 for 14 points on the night and a game high three turnovers.
With a very satisfying 104-80 blowout victory, the Bulls can now set their sights on Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers open their season tonight against these same Knicks. The Bulls should have a good read on the Cavs based on how well they play against the Knicks before coming to the United Center on Friday for the Bulls home opener.
After the game,Gasol looked ahead to the matchup.
“You can’t relax and be satisfied with one performance.” He continued, “We have a home opener on Friday against Cleveland, another test.”
