Rose, Miller lead Bulls past Rockets

By Michael Murphy, for NBA.com
Posted Sunday January 24, 2010 12:56AM

HOUSTON (NBA.com exclusive) -- The Chicago Bulls entered Toyota Center Saturday with a less-than-impressive record, but they had more than enough "wow factor" to impress Rockets coach Rick Adelman. When Adelman looked at the Bulls, he saw a collection of long athletes who, very much like his Rockets, liked to get up and down the floor and get into opponents on defense.

Sure enough, that precisely described Chicago's play in a 104-97 win over the Rockets, which came before 18,119 fans, many of which were cheering the Bulls.

And they had plenty to cheer for.

Brad Miller, getting the start for injured center Joakim Noah, provided the offense, scoring a season-high 25 points on a variety of inside-outside shots. Rookie Taj Gibson provided the muscle, dominating the paint with 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Tyrus Thomas supplied the intimidation, collecting six of the Bulls' 12 blocked shots.

And with the Bulls searching for a closer, it was Derrick Rose who provided the dagger, nailing a 12-foot jumper with 30 seconds remaining that ended Chicago's three-minute scoring drought and quashed a frantic late surge by the Rockets to win their sixth road game.

"They (the Rockets) try to outwork you, but I thought our guys stepped up to the challenge and worked hard tonight," said Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro. "We played unselfish, and we made shots. We shot over 50 percent again (39 of 73, 53.4 percent), and when we do that it opens up the court a little bit more.

"Everyone contributed. It was great."

It's all great these days for the streaking Bulls, who have won six of their last eight games, including back-to-back victories at Phoenix and Houston.

"The guys have been focusing and executing the game plan better," Del Negro said. "Really, we've been sharing the ball better, spacing the court better and I like our tempo a little bit better. So there are a lot of good signs."

Rose, who finished with 20 points, not only hit the key jumper in the final minute, but also knocked down a pair of free throws with 19.7 seconds remaining that sent the crowd streaming for the exits.

"Whenever we need a basket," said Rose, who collected his third straight game of at least 20 points, "I need to do something to get us in that position."

Actually, Miller had quite a bit to do with getting the Bulls into that position.

When Noah was scratched after warmups because of a sore left foot, Miller suddenly found himself in the starting lineup.

"I felt good coming in," Miller said. "I didn't know Joakim was hurt until about nine minutes before the game, so I grabbed more Icy Hot and loaded up a little bit more."

The Bulls led from start to finish, but after building a 97-86 lead on a dunk by Gibson with 5:23 to play, they went cold. The Rockets put together an 11-2 surge that cut the lead down to 99-97 on a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with 1:36 remaining, but that would be Houston's last points of the game.

With 48.9 seconds left, Gibson missed a pair of free throws, but Miller maneuvered past the Rockets' Luis Scola and snatched the offensive rebound, setting up Rose's jumper that gave the Bulls a 101-97 lead.

"Derrick is very comfortable, and his shot has improved dramatically," said Del Negro of Rose's willingness to take the game-clinching jumper. "We're going to go to him, and he knows that. Everybody knows that. If he doesn't get the shot off, then he has to make the right play."

The Bulls, one night removed from scoring 115 points in a win at Phoenix, came out in attack mode, not allowing the Rockets to establish their halfcourt defense. The Rockets, who had turned in a defensive beauty the night before in a win at San Antonio, never could locate the wide-open Chicago shooters.

If it wasn't Miller or Rose, the Bulls were getting good looks for Luol Deng, John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich, all of whom scored 12 points.

"(The loss) was really frustrating after such an inspiring win we had (Friday) night (116-109 over the Spurs)," said Houston center Chuck Hayes. "Our awareness and our discipline just were not there. Yeah, we had a slow start (falling behind 32-21 after one quarter), but it's a long game.

"We picked up our energy in spurts, but the awareness just was not there."

Neither was Trevor Ariza's jumper. Again.

With the Rockets trying to find a scorer to complement Scola (20 points), Aaron Brooks (20) and Carl Landry (22 points off the bench), Ariza never found a rhythm -- or a shot he could consistently make. Ariza finished just 3-of-14 (21.4 percent), his 10th game of sub-30-percent shooting this season. And when Ariza -- or anyone else, for that matter -- tried to take it to the basket, they usually found one of the Bulls looming over the rim.

"We wanted to stop their penetration and make them shoot the outside jumper," said Thomas of the Bulls' interior defense. "That's what we have to do if we want to win. We have to be aggressive like that on defense -- at least as aggressive as we try to be on offense. We have to establish a defensive presence."

That was established almost immediately.

Chicago, with a host of at-the-rim defenders like Thomas and Gibson, rejected six shots in the first quarter, a big reason the Rockets shot only 28.6 percent in the period and trailed by 11 points. The Bulls stretched that lead to 64-52 at halftime, shooting 63.4 percent over the first 24 minutes.

And the Rockets never recovered.

"I don't know if it's because we beat San Antonio, so we thought this was going to be a cakewalk," Adelman said. "We talked about how this team is very good offensively. We really buried ourselves in the first half."

• Bulls: James
• Rockets: McGrady, Yao

• Bulls: --
• Rockets: Landry

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Toyota Center, Houston, TX
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #63 Derek Richardson, #58 Zach Zarba
• Attendance: 18119
• Duration: 2:22