Gibson also added six boards and three blocked shots for the Bulls.
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“I felt good”, Rose said. Just knowing what he came from, what he had to go through just to get in this position.
Back in September, Rose suffered an elbow to his face that saw Rose diagnosed with an left orbital fracture that required surgery.
Rose is wearing a protective mask, which he said he doesn’t think much of once he’s on the floor. It’s improving every day. “I’m just happy to be playing”.
Bulls Head Coach Fred Hoiberg expressed his delight with the return of the Bulls superstar and said he liked how Rose fared during his first game back. Clogging the lane with traditional big men required Rose to contort his body mid-air like a gymnast just to get a clean look at the rim, so that’s out, too.
It’s fantastic how Derrick Rose’s name don’t get dragged to several National Basketball Association trade rumors after going down with injury in 2012.
“It’s been a fun group to be around, ” Hoiberg said. “Our wings were better running tonight. Derrick with the ball in his hands, those guys better run with him because he’s coming”.
Rose likes Hoiberg’s offense, but he knows he hasn’t mastered it yet.
“It was awesome to have everyone there; a lot of Creighton blue in the crowd as well as Bulls jerseys”, McDermott said.
“A guy like Derrick is only gonna help us”, small forward Doug McDermott said. Rose isn’t Curry and the Bulls don’t have the shooters to bend the court the way the Warriors did, but it won’t stop them from trying to put their most capable shooters in the same position to launch.
“There are so many opportunities to drive, so many opportunities to shoot my midrange, even in transition”. So I was really pleased with that. That’s not something Hoiberg and the Bulls should mess around with, so hopefully the communication between the coach and Rose is open and good during the early part of this season. It remains to be seen if Hoiberg will give the star guard longer playing minutes against the Cavs. The Bulls got it to 67-64, forcing the Mavs to call a timeout only to have their come back on breaks with the Mavericks keeping ahold of the lead all the way through the quarter to leave it at 77-74.
James Harden had 17 points and nine assists for Houston but the Rockets limped home after being comfortably outplayed after the break.
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The Bulls happily took the win from the Mavericks with a final score of 103-102, concluding pre-season action with a bang. Dallas will open the regular season at Phoenix on Wednesday.
