Schuster: One Win Away From A Sweep
By: David Schuster
It more resembled Rugby then Basketball but either way the Bulls came out on top and are now one win away from a sweep. The final in game 3 Thursday night here in Indianapolis was Bulls 88 and Pacers 84.
If you thought that Indiana roughed it up in the first two games that was nothing compared to the body blocks (football) and slashes (hockey) they delivered on their home court. Derrick Rose looked positively bushed if not beat up after the game. For the most part the Pacers did a good defensive job on Rose holding him to 4/18 shooting but with the game on the line he delivered with a spinning left handed layup down the lane with just 18 seconds left to break a tie and put the Bulls in front for good.
Rose scored a game high 23 points but did most of his damage at the free throw line converting 13/15. Luol Deng chipped in with 21 points, Joakim Noah had a double double and Kyle Korver again had his shooting eye on ending up with a dozen points.
The Bulls have yet to look...shall we say pretty in this series but that's because the Pacers are playing some rough and rugged defense bordering on almost dirty. On more then one occasion Jeff Foster knocked down Bulls players with beyond hard fouls but that tactic isn't working either.
The Bulls still need to get Carlos Boozer untracked offensively as he was just 2/10 from the field but hae did pull down 11 boards but somewhere down the road he will need to step it up.
Game 4 is Saturday and the Bulls dearly want to finish this series out because they know if they sweep they will have some needed rest time before their next series starts against either Orlando or Atlanta.
