3 Reasons To Feel (Slightly) Better About the Bulls' 0-1 Start to the Circus Trip

1) The Bulls played with -- I don't want to go too far and say heart -- but... spine ::: Derrick Rose hates losing. It's weird that in less than a month he's clearly become a leader, but it's pretty evident. Though the Bulls 'only' lost to the Lakers by a 116-109 margin, it really was more of a double-digit feel. Still, it wasn't anything beyond a 10-12 point game for most of the contest because the Bulls wouldn't fade. Last year's Bulls team probably would have lost by 20+ given the circumstances.

(After looking it up, last year's team lost by nearly 30... and that was without Gasol, remember)

2) Portland Tomorrow ::: The Bulls might not be better than the Blazers, but the Lakers are clearly the class of the NBA right now, and playing anybody following L.A. should make things easier.

3) Hey, Hawks won in overtime ::: Now that I follow hockey again, I'm now realizing the Blackhawks have a Circus Trip of their own. Anyway, the OT went to a shootout, which they dominated, 2-0. In the process, the Hawks doubled its overtime wins for the season (now 2-5 after regulation).

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Other random thoughts
- I know Rickhouse and I are sometimes pawns in the blog game to the kings over at Blog a Bull and SouthSideSox, but I think I disagree with Matt when it comes to Aaron Gray. While Matt seems to think Gray is barely an NBA player, I thought he provided some stability tonight and certainly was an integral part of keeping the game close down the stretch. Can he be a stiff from time to time? Sure, but I don't expect him to run with the Suns. It's nice to have a big that isn't pencil thin (Noah) or sumo fat (Curry, Sweetney).

- That said, Matt and I defer at no point when it comes to Larry Hughes:

Hughes is still confirming he's terrible, yet maybe it'll take a dozen or so games before someone affiliated with the Bulls realizes it. Especially considering that he's in the game when Gordon's running the point, there's no reason Hughes plays ahead of Thabo except for the paycheck.

Hughes seems like a decently nice guy, so it feels a little wrong to all-out bash his basketball ability, but it's damn near impossible to find one good thing to say about him. Racking my brain, the only thing I can come up with is the back-handed and flimsy "he looks like he should be good?"

- Still waiting for Rose's first 10 assist game -- he's hit 9 thrice. I thought he'd get it tonight when I saw he racked up 4 dimes in the first 6 minutes of the first quarter, buttttt nopes.

- To end this on a positive note -- Rose...Rose....Rose -- Rose really kicked ass tonight (big assists, big shots, looking pissed off and fed up when everybody else sucked, giving the Bulls a spark which I'm not sure existed at any point in the last 2 years). I was going to say he "won me over," but that pretty much happened Day 1 of his Bulls career. I'll say this: he's probably one brilliant game away from vaulting Deng on my favorite players list.