Listening to Derrick Rose the last few days, it felt like a Michael Corleone moment. All this talk about the Pacers celebrating the last time they beat Chicago, and how Rose didn’t forget anything and couldn’t wait to play them again, we pictured him seeking out his own Al Neri and saying, “Nothing is to happen to them until I say so.” We were waiting for him to pull out the little boat, pack the Pacers into it and send them out on the lake. Rose and the Bulls decided on the third quarter as the appropriate time for revenge in their 92-72 win last night. The Pacers were up 47-44 at one point. Barely 12 minutes of game action later, the scoreboard read Chicago: 77, Indiana: 56. The Bulls simply turned it up on defense, outscoring the Pacers 33-13 in the third, and were so balanced, Rose didn’t even have to do anything (13 points, nine assists). Chicago was so good they had the Pacers’ TV guys handing out living advice in the fourth quarter, telling the audience to remember “There’s life tomorrow.” … Is it possible to be an All-Star big man and score two points in a game that really mattered against perhaps your chief rival? Yes, we’re looking at you Roy Hibbert. Somehow the coaches said he was good enough for Orlando, but Rajon Rondo and Josh Smith weren’t. Smoove might’ve decided to launch a couple of threes or forget to play defense at times, but we’re guaranteeing he would’ve contributed more than one basket had it been him in there last night … Barely a minute into the game, Rip Hamilton hit his shoulder on a screen and headed immediately to the locker room with his shoulder looking pretty screwed up. That dude is made of glass this year … Down three in the closing moments, CP3 was fouled by Derrick Williams on a triple. Not even Martell Webster would’ve done something that stupid. Wait…never mind. But to L.A.’s chagrin, the third foul shot was so off that there was actually speculation over whether CP (18 points) missed it on purpose. The Wolves got the board and the W, 95-94. In one of the few times he’s gotten the better of Blake Griffin (26 points, 12 rebounds) head-to-head since they started matching up in the pros, Kevin Love went absolutely crazy (39 points, 17 rebounds, five treys) … At one point, we heard the Wolves’ color guy say this: “Griffin would never get the ball above his shoulders if I was in there guarding him.” Yeah okay buddy. If it was that easy, Kendrick Perkins would still have a Twitter account … Arron Afflalo had 32 and Ty Lawson hit the game-winning triple, but we were just glad to see Denver finally go away from randomly isolating Andre Miller in crunch time again in their 119-116 OT win against the Kings … And the Blazers got 19 from Nic Batum in their 12-point thrashing of the Hornets … Keep reading to hear the unexpected thing Kendrick Perkins did …
Russell Westbrook had 24 and Kevin Durant added 22, and in the second half OKC kept pushing Dallas’ head under water. Yet the Mavs continuously responded. Dirk (27 points) hit a trio of treys in the second half of the fourth quarter to finally put the visitors back in the driver’s seat. But for perhaps the first time all year, Kendrick Perkins (14 rebounds) actually did something important. On Dallas’ last two possessions, he twice contested Jason Terry and forced him into terrible misses, the first one being an airball, as Dirk hung out by the three-point line. OKC won the game 95-91, but Dallas really lost it with their execution in the end game. Hubie Brown would’ve collapsed watching that … Orlando escaped Canada with a 92-88 win behind 36 and 13 from Dwight Howard, who did the impossibly hard thing of missing nearly three times as many free throws (10) as actual shots (four). Down the stretch, DeMar DeRozan (23 points) hit two shots you wouldn’t expect from him – one a three, and another outside of the paint – and then down four with just over a minute left, he missed the one shot you would’ve EXPECTED him to make: a driving layup. Up two, J.J. Redick finally closed the oven door, hitting a corner three with less than 10 seconds left … At one point, Jameer Nelson lost his footing and ended up feet first in the front row. He just wanted some help getting up. A female fan wanted a lil’ action. She reached for his ass. He got out of there just in time … Remember when we asked who was better between Jrue Holiday and Brandon Jennings? Well in the Bucks surprising win over Philly, Jennings burglarized the Sixers’ point, stealing his game, confidence and perimeter shot, outscoring Holiday 33 to eight … Al Jefferson got himself together, laced up the boots and went to work as Utah gave it to Cleveland 109-100 behind Big Al’s 25 points, 13 rebounds and seven dimes … And we thought the Warriors had one of those teams where they simply roll the ball out. Golden State jumped on Washington and beat the Wizards by 20 points last night as Golden State – for once – played the part of the mature team. Monta Ellis put up 25 and eight, and even Ekpe Udoh lost his mind for a night and wasn’t a complete offensive liability, going for 17. The perfect symbol for Washington’s night came on one defensive possession where JaVale McGee became the second player in two nights (after nearly never happening before) to spike a jump shot. The problem is it went right back out to Ellis, who drilled a three. Lost in this mockery of a basketball team was John Wall‘s night: 20 points and 14 dimes (with two turnovers) … We’re out like ass-grabbing fans.
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