Every rose has a thorn. Unfortunately for the Suns on Saturday night, that rose went by the name of Derrick. The Bulls’ hot-shot rookie Derrick Rose shook Phoenix for 28 points, six rebounds and four assists as visiting Chicago captured a 122-111 wire-to-wire victory over the Suns.

It was the first time the Bulls have swept the season series from the Suns since Michael Jordan donned a Chicago uniform. Despite being a smaller team, Chicago outrebounded Phoenix 42-35 and outscored the Suns 14-2 on second-chance points in the first half.

“It’s a disappointing loss for us at home, we talked in the pregame about coming out and setting the tone early and not letting this team come out and get in a rhythm,” Suns Head Coach Terry Porter said. “We talked about the areas that they were really going to try and attack us in as far as rebounds and in the transition and we just didn’t do a good enough job.”

The Suns continued to rally all night, but could never get over the hump. One of the few bright spots of the evening was Leandro Barbosa, who scored a season-high 32 points off the bench on 11-of-17 shooting. Grant Hill also performed well, racking up 19 points, five rebounds, five assists, two blocks and one ridiculous tomahawk dunk that hasn’t been seen since he wore a Duke jersey.

Shaquille O’Neal added 18 points and eight boards, while Steve Nash contributed 15 points and 10 assists. For O’Neal, the loss came down to one thing: a lack of defense.

“It’s probably the same thing – most of our losses – we just have to man up on defense,” the 7-1 center said. “We shot the ball pretty well and went to the line 40 times. We just have to man up, especially when they have a lot of shooters on the floor. We were all over the place tonight and I just feel like they did what they wanted to do.”

The stats prove “The Big Aristotle” to be correct. The 122 points scored by the Bulls were the most that they scored all season. Phoenix, which had been creeping into the upper echelon of teams with excellent defensive field goal percentage, allowed Chicago to shoot 50 percent from the floor and 47 percent from behind the arc. Defensive breakdowns and faulty rotations allowed the Bulls’ long-range marksmen to receive open looks from deep – and they feasted on those opportunities.

Bulls guard Ben Gordon was extremely grateful for the wide-open shots, knocking down 5-of-7 from downtown to finish with 26 points. Luol Deng added 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Kirk Hinrich chipped in 15 points.

The Suns will look to rebound when they host the Kings on Monday at home. The game airs at 7 p.m. on FSN AZ.

Super Bowl Picks

With the biggest day in Phoenix’s football history on deck tomorrow, some of the Suns players and personnel weighed in on who they thought would win the title:

Jared Dudley: “I’m rooting for the Cardinals, but I think the Steelers are going to pull it out. I don’t know if the Cardinals can stop the running game and Willie Parker.”

Matt Barnes: “I hope the Cardinals win, but I think I’m going with the Steelers. Playing under the big lights is a different story and Pittsburgh has been there. But I think it’s going to be close.”

Grant Hill, whose father played in past Super Bowls, said that he’s not the biggest football fan…. Strange. But nonetheless, he’s rooting for the underdog Cardinals.

After hemming and hawing and dodging the question like he was in front of a Congressional panel, Porter gave a non-committal answer. However, he did offer his thoughts on what the Cardinals could do to win.

“I’m rooting for the Cardinals, but they can’t turn it over,” Porter said. “I think the score will be 27-21. The team that turns it over the least will be the team that wins it.

“When you look at football, you have to look at the red zone. The team that gets in there the most and how they execute in the red zone will tell a lot."

Jason Richardson has a personal connection with the game that goes beyond living in a city of one of the two competing teams. J-Rich grew up with and remains friends with LaMarr Woodley, an outside linebacker for the Steelers.

Both Richardson and Woodley hail from Saginaw, Michigan, and those small-town roots run deep. Phoenix’s high-flying guard is pulling for his buddy but claims that the utopian scenario would be having the Cardinals winning, but his longtime-pal playing well.

“I’m from a small town and we’ve got one guy that’s won a championship in Darvin Ham with the Pistons,” Richardson said. “So now it’d be cool to have a guy from Saginaw with a Super Bowl title.”

My Cousin Vinny

Vinny Del Negro, who saw a littany of Suns games as the former Assistant General Manager of the Suns, returned to US Airways Center and watched the game from an unfamiliar location -- the chair of the opposing team’s head coach.

Del Negro, who left his front office position with the Suns to become the Bulls Head Coach, made his first return to the Valley on Saturday night to face a franchise that employed him as a player, a broadcaster and as a member of the front office’s staff. For the former Sun, it is his first stint as a head coach in the NBA.

“There are so many different aspects to coaching,” Del Negro said. “I learned a lot in the front office and worked with great people here in Phoenix that are just tremendous people, hard workers and very smart. But coaching is a different animal and I really enjoy the competitiveness of it."

Thus far, Del Negro has found his experience in Chicago to be a positive one.

“I enjoy the ownership and everyone with the Chicago Bulls has been first-class,” he said. “We got a young team and we’re trying to get better coaching. It is definitely a challenge, but I enjoy getting back and competing.”

When asked if anything unexpected has come his way as his team’s skipper, Del Negro replied that a coach has to ready to expect everything.

“It’s such a daily grind and so many things are thrown at you, you have to make quick decisions on things,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate to have a very experienced and supportive staff and that’s helped. There’s never any easy answers to a lot of theses things, you just have to keep working and try to keep the team going in the right direction.”

Regardless of how things go for Del Negro in Chicago, he’ll always look at Phoenix as another home.

“Phoenix is such a first-class organization and we’ve had so many excellent players and teams here,” he said. “I think that says a lot - not just about the organization - but also the city, the players that have come in and out of the organization and also the support of the community. For all of the people that have battled for you, it makes you want to do well for them."

Quote of Night

Before the game, Suns Head Coach Terry Porter was so focused on the Bulls and basketball that he slipped when he addressed a question about the Super Bowl, "I think early it’s important that the Cardinals don’t turn it over and give the Steelers any easy baskets… I mean touchdowns.”

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