Derrick Rose for MVP

Last night Derrick Rose played the best quarter of his life. Plagued by foul trouble that limited him to only 5 minutes in the third quarter, Rose entered in the fourth and immediately took an 8 point deficit to a 10 point lead. He hit several threes, got into the paint, and generally did whatever he wanted too. The Bulls clearly need Rose to be great, but what he did last night was MVP worthy. He took over a game that was in the hands of the opponent and willed his team to victory. Not that others didn't play well like Korver, Noah, and Brewer, but Rose was the catalyst for everything and if he continues to play the way he has in the early going there is no reason the Bulls can't be a serious contender in the East. And for all the chuckles Rose received when he said he could be MVP those reporters are now eating crow. If Rose keeps up his 24.7 ppg and 9.2 assists he will definitely finish in the top five in voting.

Some Notes:

Ronnie Brewer needs to start, it's that simple. Keith Bogans was a big reason the Bulls fell into a hole in the third quarter, he is just not good enough to be matched up against the other team's starting SG. Kevin Martin abused Bogans in the first and third quarter and the minute Brewer came in Martin was a non-factor. It's not rocket science, Brewer needs to start!

Taj Gibson had his first bad game of the year going 1-9 from the field and being abused by Luis Scola. At first glance you can chalk this up to Gibson having a bad night or even Gibson just plain sucking. But what I saw was a fundamental shift in the second half that could have helped Gibson throughout the night. Gibson guarded Scola one on one pretty much the entire time he was in there. And while he did front him at times most of the time his goal was to just push him as far away from the hoop as possible. Once he went to the bench and Deng started guarding Scola the philosophy changed. Deng fronted him the entire time and then help came when he got the ball. That rarely happened with Gibson. So yes, Gibson sucked, but he also didn't have the same help that Deng had, so I'll give him a slight pass on this one. Let's hope he plays better tonight against Tim Duncan and DeJuan Blair.

Luol Deng was 6-21 from the field and I don't care. If he is going to the hole aggressively, not settling for long two point jumpers, rebounding and playing D I can live with some off nights shooting the ball. Deng is a player that can have a very positive influence on the game regardless of how much he is scoring and last night was one of those nights. He grabbed 10 boards and had 2 blocked shots to go along with his 16 points. The thing I don't like is when he is missing free throws like he did last night going a sad 3-6 from the charity stripe. That should never happen.

Tonight the Bulls go into San Antonio and it should be a pretty good game. I don't expect the Bulls to win, but I do think it is competitive. Noah should cancel out Duncan and Rose is the best player on the floor, so they will at least have a chance. This is a game where they could really use Carlos Boozer's scoring and rebounding, but alas he is still two weeks or so away from returning.

NBA Notes:

The Knicks continue to lose, see below for more Knicks info!

Brandon Roy officially has knee issues that are never going away and some around the league aren't sure how good he's going to be when he comes back from his current trip to the Inactive Roster. He has zero meniscus in either knee and has already had god knows how many surgeries on his knees. Once he loses his explosiveness he is done. Roy is a player that has to have the ball in his hands in order to be affective and isn't the type of player who can just come off of screens and knock down jumpers. I see his career turning into Tracy McGrady very quickly. Within the next two years Roy will continue to act like a star while no longer having the game of a star. My suggestion, trade him and Aldridge and completely rebuild. Even if everyone is EVER healthy (Greg Oden included) what's the best this team could hope for, a second round playoff loss? I say start rebuilding now while Aldridge and Roy still have value. The Blazers won't do this of course, they sell out and the fans love Roy, but give it two years and the fans will quickly turn on this injury plagued team. And Aldridge by the way is just an average starting PF in the league. He has a nice game, but he is way to soft to ever reach the top at his position. Let's go to the Taj Gibson comparison.
Gibson 29 minutes, 55%, 6.3 Rebounds, 1 Stl, 1.8 Blocks, 12.9 points
Aldridge 38 minutes, 45.7%, 7.8 Rebounds, 1.3, Stl, 1.3 Blocks, 17.5 Points
Yeah Aldridge is better, but is he 10 million a season better. I doubt it, plus if you increase Taj's minutes to 38 the numbers are almost identical, hell you could argue Gibson is a better player per minute.

The Los Angeles Clippers have ONE WIN! That's right they are 1-10. Say what you want about injuries and Baron Davis not being ready, but they have enough talent on that team to have more than 1 victory. It's time to start pointing the finger at Vinny Del Negro. I haven't seen much of the Clippers this year, I mean why waste my time, but I know VDN. And he gets about 80% out of his team, so a team that already has issues like the Clippers is pretty much screwed with VDN. He isn't a strong enough personality to get everyone on the same page and has to be one of the worst tacticians in the NBA. Basically, good luck with the lottery LAC, you should be guaranteed at least a top four pick (which means they have the worst record in the league).