Morning Box Score: Rose, Bulls Bounce Back Against Spurs

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 23, 2015 3:35PM

Bulls 104, San Antonio 81
Here's how far Derrick Rose's stock has fallen. After publicly calling out his teammates following Monday's embarrassing loss at Cleveland, local sports talk wankers and obsessive Bulls fans roundly criticized Rose for the subpar night he had and intimated maybe he should look in the proverbial mirror.

It looks like Rose did that and took accountability for his own poor play because he stepped on the United Center hardwood with a purpose Thursday night. Rose looked for his shot early, helped facilitate the offense and led Chicago with 22 points and five assists before coach Tom Thibodeau sat Rose for most of the fourth quarter with the game in hand. Pau Gasol, who was voted one of Eastern Conference starters for the NBA All-Star game, notched his 25th double double of the season with a 12 point, 17 rebound performance. (Is it time to start a most valuable player campaign for Gasol yet?)

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures. Jimmy Butler scored 17 points, Taj Gibson scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Tony Snell scored 12 points, while Aaron Brooks added 15 points off the bench. Most impressive, the Bulls held San Antonio to 37 percent shooting as Chicago handed the Spurs their worst loss of the season. This is the type of performance that had TNT analyst Charles Barkley doubling down on his prediction the Bulls are still the team to beat in the Eastern Conference during the game.

No rest for the team as they head to Dallas to play Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks tonight.