His star-making postseason debut series aside, Derrick Rose had kind of established a script recently whenever he faced the Boston Celtics. The most explosive point guard in the League wouldn’t do anything too spectacular, his counterpart Rajon Rondo would slap up an easy double-double while flirting with 20 assists, and the Bulls would lose in uninspiring fashion. Last night, D-Rose thankfully flipped the script and reignited that Rose/Rondo rivalry we all want to see … Rose dropped 36 points and the Bulls’ interior defense stepped up in crunch time as Chicago snapped Boston’s four-game win streak. He was in attack mode from the get-go, blowing past Rondo (13 pts, 8 asts) and either scoring at the rim or getting to the line (15-19 FT). The crowd was chanting “M-V-P!” for Rose as he put the game away late … And neither D-Rose nor Rondo was even the fastest guy in the building. Devin Hester was in the crowd along with some Chicago Bears teammates. Jay Cutler was supposed to show up, but he had a speaking engagement at the Douche of the Year banquet … A lot was made over one play in the first half where Carlos Boozer (22 pts, 10 rebs) lost the handle on a pass and Big Baby swiped it, then as Baby sprinted downcourt for the layup, Booz half-heartedly jogged after him. On one hand, you wanna give a guy the benefit of the doubt, since most players don’t haul ass trying to catch a guy on a breakaway. (Remember the Grizzlies game recently when Kobe didn’t even bother moving his feet to chase down Rudy Gay?) On the other hand, we’re pretty sure Booz could have caught Big Baby in a low-speed chase had he tried … While Boozer’s D stays under scrutiny, the Bulls pulled away in the second half thanks to Taj Gibson and Kurt Thomas forming a brick wall around the basket. The C’s were held to just 15 points total in the fourth quarter as Gibson and Thomas finished with 4 blocks apiece … Rondo came up with 5 steals, putting him at 62 for the season. That’s significant because it means another 30-steal milestone in the Boston’s Got Wings Program, where Red Bull has pledged to donate $500 to the city of Boston’s Department of Parks and Recreation for every one of Rondo’s steals this season (every dollar will be used to refurbish basketball courts throughout the city). After Rajon recorded his first 30 steals this season, the corresponding money was officially allocated for famed Malcolm X Playground in the Roxbury area of the city. After that, to decide the next court to receive funding, Red Bull opened it up to public voting HERE. Smith Playground in the Allston/Brighton area was the winner with the most votes at the 60-steal mark, so that court will receive the next round of funding. Go to the site to vote for the next court to get refurbishment dollars once Rajon got 90 steals for the season …
Hedo Turkoglu may have officially took back his spot as Orlando’s real point guard after handing out 17 assists in the Magic’s win at Dallas. Whether making the right decisions on fast breaks, hitting J.J. Redick and Gilbert Arenas in their preferred shooting pockets, running the high screen-and-roll with Dwight Howard (23 pts, 13 rebs) and giving him the perfect lob, or simply looking for Dwight in the halfcourt set and getting him a decent entry pass, Hedo (13 pts, 5 stls) was like Turkish Magic … When was the last time DeShawn Stevenson (24 pts, 6 threes) led his team in scoring? Probably around the same time he made a shot without adding some little dance or hand signal. You have to give Stevenson credit, though, he’s taking advantage of his opportunity to play now that Caron Butler is out injured. In the four games since Caron got hurt, Stevenson is averaging 19.2 points and hitting 4.7 threes per night. If he’s still sitting out there on your fantasy league waiver wire (unlikely), pick him up … Shawn Marion had a vintage “Matrix” game the other night against OKC, but he was briefly brought back to Earth about two minutes into the game on Saturday when Dwight almost jumped over Marion and sent his layup into J.J. Barea‘s lap on the bench. Marion still finished with 18 points and 8 boards … During desperation time in the fourth quarter for Dallas, Barea wrapped up Dwight (without the ball) at midcourt trying to do the Hack-a-Beast and send him to the line. The refs ignored it and let play continue, which caused Rick Carlisle to flip out and get himself ejected. Big-stakes basketball games make you do strange things. How often has a coach yelled at a ref for not whistling his player for a foul? … We could be in for some classic Eastern Conference playoff series this spring with Boston, Miami, Orlando and Chicago all going the Book of Eli on the competition … “This has Miami written all over it!” That’s how the Jazz announcers dubbed Utah’s come-from-behind overtime win over Houston. While that Heat/Jazz game seems like forever ago, last night Paul Millsap (27 pts, 10 rebs) brought back memories by deciding his team wasn’t going to lose. While Deron Williams (14 pts, 15 asts) and Al Jefferson (24 pts, 13 rebs) played well most of the way, Utah still fell behind by as many as 16. But it was eight straight late points from Millsap that forced OT and then three consecutive jumpers from him in the extra five minutes that closed it out. Luis Scola (24 pts, 10 rebs) was a man all night, but he was getting worked over on the Williams-to-Millsap pick-and-roll in the overtime … Courtney Lee made his case a little too late, but keep an eye on him for the 2012 dunk contest. The other night he had a sick cram on Birdman, and last night he made the highlight reel with a sky-high follow dunk off a Patrick Patterson miss … It wasn’t exactly the most exciting matchup between Detroit and Philly, but the ending certainly was. After Lou Williams missed a pair of free throws with the 76ers up three, Austin Daye banged a corner trey to send it to overtime. And in the closing minute of OT, Jodie Meeks hit a wild three to cut Detroit’s lead to one, but couldn’t tie it on the following possession with another deep bomb as the Pistons escaped by three … Other stat lines from Saturday: Kevin Durant went off for 40 points in OKC’s win over Memphis; Stephen Jackson went for 21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists to lead Charlotte past Washington; Ersan Ilyasova put up 22 points, 13 boards and 3 steals to lead Milwaukee past New Jersey; and Josh Smith had 27 points, 10 boards and 6 assists in Atlanta’s win over Indiana … We’re out like the Drew and Peyton …
