MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Derrick Rose and Kevin Love have played against each other since their days in AAU ball, worked out together in a steamy Los Angeles gym over the summer, and became fast friends as they've emerged as the faces of their respective franchises.
Individually, they are on similar paths. In their
third seasons, both have had career years, with Rose emerging as a front-runner
for the MVP award in Chicago and Love leading the league in rebounding in
Minnesota.
Their professional paths are getting further apart
by the day, and Love knows it.
Rose had 23 points and 10 assists in three quarters
and the Bulls blew out the Timberwolves 108-91 on Wednesday night.
Carlos Boozer had 24 points and 14 rebounds and the
Bulls recorded 31 assists on 41 field goals to stay 2 games ahead of Boston
and Miami in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
"They're all on the same page,
everybody," Love said. "When they break from the huddle, everybody's
in. You can tell everybody has the utmost respect for each other and they're
all in it to win it. In that regard, I envy that. I salivate for that. I like
that a lot."
Love had 16 points and nine rebounds, but was
limited to 27 minutes in his first game back from a strained left groin. The
Timberwolves (17-58) lost their eighth straight game and have sunk to the
bottom of the West.
The Bulls, who were missing starting center Joakim
Noah because of a sprained right ankle, bounced back in a big way after a
humbling loss to Philadelphia.
Two nights after the 76ers snapped Chicago's
14-game home winning streak, the Bulls attacked the Wolves from the start,
playing a beautifully unselfish brand of basketball that was on an entirely
different level than the home team.
"I think we're getting better, almost every
game," Rose said. "Last game of course we didn't do it, but tonight
we came out and played aggressive, played with an edge."
Rose had 13 points and five assists in the first
quarter — Wolves point guard Luke Ridnour had 11 points and two assists in the
entire game — and Chicago had 17 assists on 22 baskets in the first half.
The ball movement created wide-open shot after
wide-open shot, a cohesive unit dominating a group of individuals in every way,
shape and form.
"That's a team right there," Wolves guard
Wayne Ellington said. "Them guys play together, man. All the way around.
They play together, communicate. They do it the right way. That's something
we've got to work toward."
The Bulls shot 50 percent for the game, pulling
away in the third quarter with a 3 by Rose and a drive-and-dish from Luol Deng
to Boozer that gave them an 86-62 lead.
Ever the demanding coach, Tom Thibodeau stayed on
his team to the end, even calling a timeout with a 20-point lead with six
minutes to play when he saw a defensive breakdown. But, for the most part, he
was pleased with the difference he saw in his team from the start.
"I thought our shootaround was intense, I
thought it was serious," Thibodeau said. "I thought our locker room
was serious, and I thought the start of our start of the game was serious. ...
We established a defensive mindset, a defensive game plan, and I think that got
us going."
Rose's blend of strength, quickness and pure speed
has proven too much for the league to handle, and his selfless attitude has
transformed the Bulls from a middling playoff team to a legitimate contender
and the current No. 1 seed in the East.
"You look at what he's done with his team,
it's tough to argue D-Rose isn't the MVP," Love said.
He is also exactly what the Timberwolves are
missing. Love is a wonderful supporting player, but they need a leader, a
superstar, a competitor like Rose if they are ever going to lift themselves
from the Western Conference basement.
While Rose had the Bulls humming, with the ball
moving, the defense squeezing and the jumpers falling, the Timberwolves wilted
into a one-on-one mess.
They had just 12 assists for the game and too often
settled for jumpers or wild drives to the basket.
"For whatever reason, it wasn't there
tonight," Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said. "We didn't bring the effort
and intensity and focus for the vast majority of the ballgame."
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Jim Mone)
