“It’s definitely tough,” Rose said. “All I can say is, I guess God does everything for a reason. To miss both and let my team down, the only thing I can do is learn from it.
“This is so unreal. I had a chance to change the game. This time, it didn’t work out. I know my will to win is still very high. I guarantee you next time those shots are going down.”
Strong words like those don’t come out of loses very often. That is, unless you strive to be a champion like Derrick Rose does. With 22 seconds left in the game, Derrick Rose missed a pair of free throws to put the Bulls ahead. With 3 seconds left, he missed the game tying shot. And despite racking up 34 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, he still blamed the loss on himself and took it as a personal loss.
That was the last time the Bulls and the Heat played on January 29th, when the Bulls lost 97-93. It had the same feeling as a game from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, and what appears to be a preview of this years.
On January 29th, the Bulls played without Luol Deng and CJ Watson. On March 12th, the Bulls played without Luol Deng and CJ Watson, plus Richard Hamilton. All three are day to day, and I’m not a doctor, but I’d say don’t hold your breath for Rip to play.
The Bulls definitely could have used Luol Deng’s defense on Lebron James the last time they met. The Bulls allowed Lebron to drain 35 points, but if Deng (who is arguably the best defender on the Bulls) was playing, we could have expected Lebron to be limited to less.
Los Bulls are coming into this game on a day’s rest after beating the Nueva York Knicks on Monday night 104-99. Derrick Rose was phenomenal again, scoring 32 points, with 7 assists and 6 rebounds. He played with a high level of intensity, and I think we all expect to see him do that against the Heat. Joakim Noah added a double double, as did Taj Gibson from the bench.
The Heat will be playing on the second day of a back to back after losing to Orlando in overtime on Tuesday. Dwayne Wade lead the way in scoring with 28, with Bosh at 23 and James at 19.
Can we expect the Bulls to carry over their fire from their last loss to the Heat and exact their revenge? We will find out in a rare 8:30 home game on Comcast Sports Net and ESPN Wednesday night.
“I’ll go to war with Derrick any day,” Noah said. ” We have his back. And we’ll be back.”