The Bulls defeated Carmelo Anthony’s team 94-92 on Monday night despite ’Melo scoring 32 points. Much of thee rest of the Nuggets team is off injured or coming back from injury, so you can clearly see how one player like that can lead a depleted bunch to victory, and perhaps salivate over how those 32 points would make the Bulls even better.
But would they, really? The Bulls had a balanced attack Monday night led by Derrick Rose’s 18 points, but four other Bulls (Keith Bogans, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and Taj Gibson) all scored in double figures and Noah had 19 rebounds. Noah’s 15 rebounds per game is leading the NBA in the early going by a large margin (second is the Rockets’ Luis Scola at 12.3). Noah would probably be one player who would have to go to Denver in any deal for Anthony.
It probably isn’t necessary. Derrick Rose is one of the league’s leading scorers; when you try to shove two scorers into one lineup, dissension can occur. There’s only one basketball.
Here are some comments from coach Tom Thibodeau about the Bulls’ performance Monday night; he particularly praised his team’s defense.