Thursday, October 30, 2014

Gibson, Bulls' Bench Show Swagger In Crushing Win

NEW YORK -- Taj Gibson tried to warn everyone. 

He tried to tell the masses that the Chicago Bulls' second unit beat the starters in practice every day. He tried to explain to everybody before Wednesday night's destruction of the New York Knicks that the new Bench Mob was better than it had shown throughout much of the preseason. 

[+] EnlargeTaj Gibson
Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty ImagesTaj Gibson led all scorers with 22 points and helped turn the tide in the Bulls' favor in the second quarter.
Gibson let more than his mouth do the talking against the hapless Knicks in a 104-80 season-opening victory, scoring a game-high 22 points while leading a hungry second unit to a solid first impression. 

"I'm always talking," Gibson said with a smile after the game. "Because I remember years when we could never beat the first unit and now we got that momentum and we're winning a lot of games in practice and [coach Tom Thibodeau] loves it. We talk trash. [The starters] talk trash. But we all make each other better and there's never [any] hard feelings. We push them hard and they push us hard and it's going to show on the court and like it did tonight it showed on the court." 

The Bulls came into this season believing this was the deepest roster in the Thibodeau era. On paper, they appear to be at least 11 deep on most nights. The players understand that this is only one game, but Gibson believes it's the type of game fans will be seeing a lot of this season. 

Aaron Brooks (13 points) came in alongside Gibson and gave the Bulls the spark that changed the tempo of the game in the second quarter. Rookie Doug McDermott (12 points) knocked down several shots and seems to be more confident every time he steps on the floor. Nikola Mirotic and Tony Snell stepped in and gave Thibodeau another jolt from the bench in the absence of injured swingman Jimmy Butler

The second group, which scored 55 points, was so good, especially at times with Pau Gasolplaying alongside Gibson in the second half, that it seemed to make Thibodeau forget how much they struggled at times to find a rhythm as a group during the preseason. 

"I thought our starters struggled more than our bench guys did [in the preseason]," Thibodeau said, when asked why the second unit played so much better together. "Our bench guys, some of them were in starting roles, when you put the bench group in there together they usually play very well together." 

The one constant in the group is Gibson. He's the one Thibodeau has been raving about throughout training camp. He's the one teammates have been praising over and over during the offseason. He's the one who continues to improve as an all-around player despite the fact that Gasol was signed over the summer to take the starting power forward job that many thought would be Gibson's after the final year of Carlos Boozer's deal was amnestied. 

"Taj, he's being patient with his offense," Derrick Rose said. "He's taking what they're giving them. They kept giving him the jump shot, he kept taking it and making it. But it just comes with work. That's something that he's been doing the entire time in practice so that's why he's been bragging a little bit, talking about beating the first team. But he's in a good rhythm and the second team is doing a good job making sure that they're finding him on the court." 

They are in that rhythm in large part because Gibson is playing with more confidence than ever. Every night won't be this easy, but his teammates feed off his confidence when he enters a game. Now in his fifth season, Gibson hasn't just become the leader of the second unit, he's become one of the key leaders of this team.  

"That's one thing about our second unit, we're really talented, man," Gibson said. "We've really been taking it to the first unit in practice. And we talk a lot of trash in that second unit. So when you come into the game in this league you really have to have that kind of swag. You really have to be motivated to help your team and that's what championship teams do. 

"That year we went to the Eastern Conference finals (in 2010-11) we had a second unit that had swag, that understood when we come in the game we're going to go do work. It's early, we still got a long way to go, but that's a good way to start the season off."

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