I just got done watching a rerun of last night’s Bulls vs. Hornets game. It was a solid 102-95 victory for the Bulls, as 7 players went on to score in the double digits. Yet despite the nice win, my attention is still fixated on Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.The funny thing is, I didn’t even get to watch much of that game due to class. But I did manage to catch the ending, which just happened to be one of the most epic conclusions to a game this season. The adrenaline and hype of a double overtime match is bound to get any basketball fan excited; the Bulls vs. The Mavericks was no exception. We may have lost 132-129, but it was a damn good game to say the least. So, despite the sterling performance the Bulls had against the Hornets, I’d much rather touch on all the commotion from the Bulls vs. the Mavericks.
Review of the Mavericks’ season
Before I get into the game itself, let me quickly go over how the Mavericks are doing this season as a general introduction of the team. They’re currently 15-5 and are sitting in third place within the Southwest division, which is without a doubt the most competitive division in the NBA this season (5 of their 6 teams are above a 70% win rate).
Their leading scorer is Monta Ellis (avg. 20.6 pts.), formerly of the Golden State Warriors, who was famously traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, seemingly out of nowhere, back in 2012. He became a Maverick last season and has been imperative to the team’s success thus far. Naturally, I was hyped up for the matchup between Monta Ellis and Derrick Rose, and both men played exceptionally well that night.
Rose vs. Ellis
Let’s take a look at some stats from the highlighted matchup of Rose vs. Ellis.
Derrick Rose vs. Monta Ellis |
||||||||||
| Min. | FG | 3pt. | FT | Reb. | Ast. | TO | Stl. | Blk. | Pts. | |
| Derrick Rose | 36:33 | 6-20 | 4-11 | 2-4 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Monta Ellis | 45:17 | 16-35 | 1-4 | 5-5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 38 |
Ellis had a lot more minutes compared to Rose (presumably coach Thibodeau is taking precautionary measures with the amount of time Rose plays). But that doesn’t mean Rose had any less of an impact. The play of the night came from Rose’s incredible one-handed three-pointer that sent the game into a second overtime.
What an absurd shot. But Rose seemed quite content with shooting threes the entire night. 3 out of the four he made came from the top of the circle, which is where he seems most comfortable with shooting beyond the arc.
Monta Ellis was fantastic as well. He led the Mavericks in scoring (yet again) and was perfect from the free-throw line, including the three he made (courtesy of a horrid Captain Kirk foul) to tie the game up at the end of regular time. Rose praised Ellis after the game, stating that he’s a great player. Great players are expected to make great shots under the highest points of pressure. Ellis and Rose were clutch Tuesday night and when the game was on the line, both players delivered for their teams. From a fan’s perspective, I have nothing but the upmost respect for that.
Captain Kirk’s flub
Like all great games, last Tuesday’s matchup between the Bulls and Mavericks was a ride of different emotions. There were moments of hysteria (refer back to the gif I posted earlier) tied in with moments of pure frustration. That moment came from Kirk Hinrich’s boneheaded foul on Monta Ellis at the end of regular time.
Now, on one hand, I guess you could say that without Hinrich’s foul, we never would’ve had the first overtime, which means we never would’ve had that amazing, one-handed three-point shot by Derrick Rose, and thus we never would’ve had what I’m calling the best Bulls game of this season so far. But on the other hand, that foul essentially cost us the game. I mean, technically it didn’t since the free throws only tied the game, but we still lost in the end.
The foul by Hinrich was dubbed as one of the dumbest fouls that Mavericks legend and future Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki had ever seen. There were three seconds left in the game and the Mavericks were down by three. Ellis was dribbling the ball up the court when Hinrich attempted to intentionally foul him to send him to the free throw line for two shots. Unfortunately, the foul came late, and occurred while Ellis was in the motion of shooting. Naturally, Ellis was provided three free throw attempts, and the rest is history.
Well, at least Hinrich owned up to his mistakes afterwards. He took full responsibility for his boneheaded play and vowed to learn from his mistake. Keep your head up Captain Kirk. Chicago still needs you.
I Am Capabull 