Dominant DRose and Depth Yield Homecourt Victory For Bulls, Push Hawks To Brink of Elimination

CHICAGO, IL. Derrick Rose was in MVP-form and the Bulls vaunted bench depth made their presence felt in front of a pumped-up United Center crowd propelling the Bulls to within one victory of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Derrick Rose took on the entire Hawks team on the floating under the basket layup (a la M.J. and Dr. J), but tonight, he had back up from Deng, Gibson, and the Bench Mob.

The Bulls were back at home after dropping a close game in the final quarter, in part due to a "inadvertant" whistle, no foul call on a Derrick Rose 3-pointer that would have given the NBA's Most Valuable Player three free throws with the Bulls trailing the Hawks 90-84 with 2:27 left in the game.

Instead, on the "inadvertant" whistle, the referees decided to go with a center court jumpball. Atlanta won the jump and possesion and ran more time off the clock. The Hawks held on to win the game.

Fast forward to Game 5 in Chicago. Despite the 2-2 series tally, the Bulls were confident that they would win Game 5 and the series.

Early on in the game, the Bulls backed up their statements, running out to an early 32-17 lead in the first quarter on great efforts by Luol Deng (11 points in the first), Keith Bogans, and Derrick Rose, who scored 9 points and dished out 4 assists in the first quarter.

However, Atlanta has benefited from all the close games with top-seeded Chicago. They have found the confidence that they need to be a dangerous opponent in the playoffs. They also came into Game 5 believing they could win.

They absorbed the Bulls' first quarter blitz and kept chipping away and kept the game close. The Hawks were able to cut the Bulls' lead to 6 at the half and were able to shrink the lead down to a mere 1 point going into the fourth quarter.

The dwindling Bulls' lead had Chicago fans in the United Center and all over the country feeling uneasy about the potential outcome of the game, but they knew that in the final 12 minutes, their MVP, Derrick Rose, would rise to the occasion, as he has all season. But, would poor refereeing intervene again to somehow deny a Bulls' victory?

As all the great players to come before him, Rose put the Bulls on his back and put his mark on Game 5 by taking over the first 6 minutes of the 4th quarter. In that span, Rose outscored the Hawks by himself, 9 to 8, and accounted for 5 more points off of his assists.

Time after time, Rose slashed through the Hawks interior defense and finished at the rim or found a teammate who made the play. Several times, that player was Taj Gibson.

The second year forward came up with several clutch plays down the stretch for the Bulls, scoring all 11 of his points in the 4th quarter. He was perfect from the field, going 5 for 5. Coupled with Rose's production in the 4th, the Bulls pulled away from the Hawks and cruised to the Game 5 win. Rose finished with 33 points and 10 assists in the game.

With the victory, the Bulls pushed the Hawks to the brink of elimination, and the Bulls will have an opportunity to close out the series with a win in Game 6 in Atlanta.

Here are highlights of THE CHICAGO BULLS vs. ATLANTA HAWKS 2011 NBA PLAYOFF SECOND ROUND SERIES, GAME 5:


UPDATE: On the horizon, the Chicago Bulls hope to meet the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals; Miami advanced with a series win over the Boston Celtics.