By Mark Strotman:
The Bulls are doing something right in the fourth quarter, and according to Tom Thibodeau it all begins with sacrificing.
That sacrifice begins and ends in the frontcourt. Prior to the season Thibodeau said he spoke with his four main bigs in Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Nikola Mirotic. He let the quartet know that each would have an important role to play, but that the significance of that role may change on a night-to-night basis.
And that's been the case so far. In Monday night's come-from-behind win over the Rockets, Thibodeau began the period with Noah and Gibson upfront and Mirotic at small forward. Midway through the quarter Gasol entered for Noah, followed a few minutes later with Noah checking in for Gibson. It was a rare occasion in which all four frontcourt players saw action in the fourth quarter - helped out by Mirotic playing the 3- but it's part of the sacrifice that Thibodeau believes will push the Bulls forward toward their championship aspirations and also what each player should be expected to do.
"It's not about keeping guys happy; it's about doing what's best for the team and what gives you your best chance of winning," he said at Tuesday's practice. "We've asked everyone to sacrifice what's best for the team, and they've done a very good job with that. And some nights it's one guy, another night it's somebody else. But somebody has to sacrifice, and a lot of it is going to be based on matchups and what's going on in the game and what we need the most."
Noah has played in 26 of a possible 28 fourth quarters, while Mirotic has seen time in 30 of 35 final periods. Twice in 32 games Gasol has not seen the court, while the only time Gibson missed a fourth quarter in 26 games was when he injured himself in the first half against Portland. But that sacrifice has paid dividends. The Bulls have the second best average fourth-quarter scoring margin in the NBA (+2.7) and have averaged 26.3 points in the final period, the third best average in the league and also their highest scoring quarter.
Surprisingly the one player who has had to sacrifice the most in the final stanza has been Gasol. Despite averaging more than 35 minutes per game, second most on the team, he's played just 5.4 minutes per fourth quarter. That trails all three other bigs, as well as Derrick Rose, Aaron Brooks and Kirk Hinrich. And though Gasol has admitted he'd like to be on the floor "when the game is on the line," he's bought into Thibodeau's line of thinking on doing what's best for the team on a given night.
"The times that I'm not (on the floor), as long as we win I can be OK with it. But I still want to be there when we're playing for the money. So it's just me, who I am, who I've been, and who I want to continue to be," Gasol said. "I understand where it's coming from. There's dialpouge and we understand each other...I want to be on the floor 48 minutes. I know I don't have to be, but at the end of the day when the game is played and it's down the stretch I like to be on the floor."
In the final six minutes of last night's fourth quarter Gasol had five points and three rebounds, as well as a key assist to Mirotic for 3 in the game's final minute. But he wasn't the only one making a splash in the final quarter.
Rose played the final 9 minutes of the stanza, scoring four points and handing out two of his team-high nine assists in the final quarter. And though he was just 1-for-5 from the field in that stretch, he continued to attack the paint and create for others, opening up the floor to help the Bulls score 31 points in the final quarter.
And that's part of the reason Thibodeau isn't worried about Rose's shooting slump, which now sits at 25-for-95 over the last five games.
Rose is still "the guy" for the Bulls in the fourth quarter. He's averaging a team-best 5.7 points per fourth quarter while shooting better than 45 percent, far better than the 38.7 percent he averages in the first three quarters. He's also hitting his free throws at an 85.3 percent clip, a few points better than his 81.8 percent mark overall, proving he can be counted on down the stretch. Whereas the frontcourt is sacrificing late, Rose said Tuesday the fourth quarter is "basically mine" after he gets everyone involved the first three quarters, and his coach concurred.
"His percentages in the fourth quarter are pretty good and I loved the way he attacked last night, not necessarily at the rim but into the paint," Thibodeau said. "And that created easy offense for us, and he got the ball up the court quickly. He did a good job with the advance pass and that's what we wanted him to do: play well when you're not shooting particularly well. His shooting will come around."
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