New-look Bulls protect this house

The Bulls looked great last night, beating up on one of the best teams in the league (the Magic are 41-15) en route to a 120-102 victory at the United Center.

More importantly, I just found this awesome youtube clip that plays EVERY Bulls basket from last night in just over 5 minutes:



Some notes:

1) Joe Noah and Tyrus Thomas are getting pretty good. Noah is better running through the offense and is pure hustle on both ends of the court. Thomas still needs to take advantage of his athleticism on offense, but his defense is markedly improved this season.

2) Derrick Rose can shoot. I've hear a lot of shit about his jump shot coming out of college and even in his first few months in the NBA. If there is one thing he' learning from from Ben Gordon, it's how to shoot the lights out. Since he's so quick, defenders are giving him a lot of room off screens particularly in the long-2 range (~20 footer) and if he can hit that consistently like he did last night, guarding him is going to be a fucking nightmare.

3) I still love Kirk Hinrich. He plays with heart and he's a hustler. A lot of guys in his situation would have packed up and asked for a trade/release/etc, especially after losing the starting job to a highly paid rookie. Instead, he's rejuvenated. I love it.

4) The new guys look good. With Thomas and Miller you know what you're going to get (which is NOT a bad thing). Salmons looks surprisingly well-rounded and now I understand why we dealt Thabo (who I was starting to develop a man crush on...). Miller/Noah at center is one of those weird cases where the whole is worth more than the parts - they make a really good combo: seasoned veteran with an old-school game and fiery hustler who's completely unpredictable. I like watching both of them and I've yet to see someone defend both of them well (that includes you Dwight Howard).

We've won 3 of our last 4 and 8 of our last 12. We're starting to heat up at just the right time and the timing of the trade couldn't have been better. Sure, we'll still 19 games out of first but there are 25 games left to play and we're projected to take the 8 seed in the East in most simulations. (whatever that's worth). Most of my simulations involve breasts and a contortionist, so.... hrmm.  Nevermind.

-KEG