An Ugly Credit Where Credit is Due- Bulls-Hawks 1/3

Guest opinion of the night goes to Jordan Haramia, who put it simply when he said "Bulls do not deserve to win this game." Simple, direct, to the point, and probably true. However, the Bench Mob did deserve to win. Look at the following plus-minus numbers:

Fredo +18
Taj +17
Turkish D +10
T-Mac -9
Radmonovic -9
Willie Greene -9
Pargo -12
Zaza -7

For comparison, some starters:
Boozer -15
TBN -18
Al Horford +5
Jeff Teague +10
Marvin Williams +7
Joe Johnson +7
Josh Smith +7

With no Rip Hamilton, the Bulls are going to really struggle if Derrick and Deng are both off, like the first three quarters. But the key to this year is depth, and not being afraid to use it, like I said the other night. While it's sorta defeating the purpose to play Derrick and Lu 44 minutes each, I'm completely fine with Turkish playing 22 straight minutes (came in with 10:03 to play in the third, and didn't come out until the last play for Deng.) But I'm spilling over into the credit territory here. Let's get to it:

TT-40%
Here's the tweet of the night (Hollinger and Adande are now tied at two.)

About 25 head coaches in the NBA just give the ball to Derrick in that situation at the top of the key. I know Derrick was supposed to get the ball on that one, too, but just the fact that there was a 2nd option is more than VDN would have been able to come up with. TT had just done it 2 possessions before with the Korver curl play, but it almost backfired as Korver and Taj both passed up open jumpers, and they got nothing out of the play.

Also, I know I've praised this before, but I love that TT will let the group that brought them back stay in the game. I don't know if we complete the comeback if Boozer comes in with 6 minutes left in the game, no matter how tired Taj and Asik were.

Derrick-20%
Just the MVP doing MVP-type things. 16 of his 30 came in the 4th, and the Hawks played the best defense they could on some of Derrick's late drives. Maybe the Hawks should have ran a double at him and forced the ball into Asik or Korver's hands late, but they made the shots tough for Derrick. He's just better.

(After watching the highlights that last paragraph was only half true. Josh Smith could have played much better defense on the layup where Derrick crossed teague over and switched hands at the rim with 57 seconds left.)

Turkish D-15%
Stacey was trying to give him all the credit, but let's not go nuts. Still, Asik certainly changed the game in the 3rd quarter with his hustle, and outplayed the Hawks' bigs on the boards and the defensive end of the court.

Luol Deng-10%
21 points on 7-15 from the field, 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 game winning shot...and that might have been Deng's worst game of the season. We saw a little of the "settling-for-open-js" Deng tonight, which might have something to do with the fact that he's playing over 40 minutes a game in a stretch of 6 games in 10 days. Tonight wasn't the night for it, but we need to see some Jimmy Butler soon (or just more Ronnie/Korver time)

Fredo-5%
We're developing a pleasantly surprising trend of Korver being on the floor when the Bulls are playing their best defense. Other teams aren't really taking advantage of him one-on-one (although maybe Marvin Williams isn't the ideal candidate for that), and he's been pretty good at help D and team rebounding lately (Korver had 8 boards tonight, the most since...March 8th, 2008.)

Taj-5%
I've already done a lot of research for this post, and don't feel like doing more, but I'm willing to bet Taj has a lot more 4th quarter minutes this season than Carlos Boozer, which is a trend I really, really like TT.

Joe Johnson- 2%
3-17 from the field. I'm so glad we aren't paying you $120 million.

Atlanta's Free Throw Shooting- 2%
4-9 in the 4th quarter. That's not how you close out games.

Joakim-1%

I want to give Joakim a percent for that pass, but I was thinking I should give Joakim and Boozer credit for the fact that they don't have any attitude about not being a part of a few crunch situations lately. I know it should be expected of a professional, but as DeMarcus Cousins can tell you, you can't always count on that much maturity from an NBA player. Thank you, fellas, and thank you Garpax for putting together a team of professionals.

No Credit
TBN
Even the other night, TBN was more comfortable playing with the Bench Mob than the starters. I think that's the right place for him, and he's going to struggle in the starting roll. Hopefully Rip comes back soon.

Boozer (and his parents)
So it takes your parents being at a game to get attacking, non-defensive liability Boozer? Then how can we get them to every game?

There are going to be ugly games in a shortened, compressed season. Championship teams win those games. Great job, Bulls.