Rookie of the Month Derrick Rose and Bulls’ coach Vinny Del Negro are glad to be home after a lengthy road trip. What did the team learn from the trip? It’s time to get back to work at the United Center.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Philadelphia 76ers tonight in Philadelphia 103 to 92 to finish up their circus trip.

The Bulls fell behind in the first quarter, but fought there way back in the 2nd quarter. The Bulls trailed by 3 points at the half.

During the second quarter, Derrick Rose made Andre Miller fall down when he crossed him over, breaking his ankles.

In the third quarter, Ben Gordon got hot, scoring 13 points (would have been 14 points if it wasn’t for a Derrick Rose lane violation on one of his free throws). After Gordon opened up a sizable lead for the Bulls, Derrick Rose blew it open with a spectacular finish to the third quarter, capping it off from an alley-oop dunk that was assisted by Ben Gordon. \

The Bulls outscored the 76ers 31 to 11 in the third, and entered the fourth with a seventeen point lead. Del Negro got a little reckless in his coaching when he took Rose and Gordon out of the game, allowing the 76ers to creep back in, but the Bulls hung on to win the game.

The Bulls backcourt duo was simply great today. Ben Gordon finished the game with 21 points, 4 assists, and 6 rebounds. Derrick Rose finished the game with 18 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds. Having two guys who can take over the game at anytime makes the Bulls a really deadly team.

Drew Gooden also had a strong game, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Gooden should be considered the Bulls third option, behind Rose and Gordon now. Gooden has averaged 19.4 points and 10.6 rebounds in the past 5 games. The Bulls were 3-2 in these 5 games. As long as the Bulls are getting third wheel production out of either Gooden or Deng, they will be a tough team to beat.

Luol Deng was pretty much a nonfactor in today’s game, but he by no means had a bad game, finishing with 8 points on 3-7 shooting in his return to the starting lineup. If Deng doesn’t start stepping it up soon, Paxson will need to begin exploring trade options before Deng loses all of his value.

Larry Hughes had 16 points in his new role as the Bulls’ sixth man. The 76ers left him open for three and Hughes made them pay by shooting 4-6 from three point land.

For the 76ers, Elton Brand had 21 points and 12 rebounds, but didn’t seem to have too much of an impact on the game.

Andre Iguodala only had 8 points on 3-9 shooting. The 76ers tried to post him up on Gordon early in the game, but that experiment failed.

Andre Miller had 15 points and 10 assists and Thaddeus Young had 17 points.

The Bulls finished the circus trip 3-4 and finish the month of November with a record of 8-9. This is a terrific start, given that the Bulls have had the toughest schedule in the NBA thus far, and also because Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon have been the only one’s who’ve had good all around months for the Bulls. Drew Gooden has been good as of late.

The Bulls will play the 76ers again on Tuesday at the United Center.

The road trip will soon be coming to a close. What does ex-Buck and Chicago native Lloyd Walton think about the Bulls’ road trip? Listen in as he talks to Mitch Robinson of MOUTHPIECESPORTS.

The best rookie in tonight’s game wasn’t Derrick Rose, but instead someone named George Hill. As you might imagine, with that reality, the Bulls lost tonight. The San Antonio Spurs downed the Bulls 98 to 86.

George Hill finished the game with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. Derrick Rose had trouble staying in front of Hill and when Gooden was at center, Hill met little to no resistance at the rim, allowing him to score easily.

The other rookie, Derrick Rose, finished the game with 10 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds.

Ben Gordon was the Bulls best player tonight, scoring 23 points on 9-16 FG, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing 3 assists. Gordon caught fire in the third to give the Bulls a small lead. However, against the San Antonio Spurs, you need multiple players to step up, as the Spurs are great at making in-game adjustments. The Spurs shifted the defensive focus to Gordon, meeting him with double teams, and no one else bothered to step up, causing the Bulls offense to stagnate for the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter.

That is where the Bulls have problems with one of their top players being a rookie. Derrick Rose has been great so far this season, but he isn’t going to be able to step up every game, and this was one of those games where Rose didn’t step up and take over, only scoring 2 points in the second half. Rose by no means had a bad game, he just didn’t have a great game.

Larry Hughes was also a big component in our loss. Hughes finished the game with 8 points onf 4-14 shooting. Hughes wasn’t taking bad shots, they were all good looks, he just has trouble making his shots whether they are bad looks or good looks.

Andres Nocioni was dreadful tonight. He had 5 points on 2-6 shooting, and had a costly sequence where he got a flagrant foul and followed it up by a technical.

Drew Gooden had a solid game, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Unfortunately, Gooden’s interior defense was soft, and his help defense was non-existent.

Tim Duncan had 21 points and 8 rebounds. The game from Duncan was a lot better than it looks, as he let the other Spurs take over in the 2nd half. Duncan had 18 of his 21 points in the first half.

The Bulls played sloppy in the 2nd half. The Bulls only had 4 turnovers in the first half and played a nice controlled game. In the 2nd half, the Bulls turned the ball over 9 times.

Manu Ginobili had 15 points, and scored effectively for the Spurs.

Luol Deng had 10 points in the game on 4-7 shooting. That is a good indication that the Bulls might get something out of Deng in the future, but most of his scoring was in garbage time.

The Bulls are now 2-4 on the circus trip and 7-9 on the season. The Spurs are now 8-6 on the season.

The Bulls next game is against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 101 to 100 on a Larry Hughes buzzer beater to give the Bulls their second win of the circus trip.

Derrick Rose took over down the stretch scoring basket after basket to keep the Bulls in the game. With the Bulls down 100 to 99, Rose pulled up for a jumpshot and bricked it off the back of the rim. The ball bounced out to Hughes on the left side and Hughes stuck in the jumpshot for the win as time expired.

Rose was phenomenal tonight. Rose had 25 points and 9 assists. It is going to be difficult for Rose to be denied the rookie of the year award if he continues up this type of play. Rose is not only putting up pretty stats, but has also led his team to victory on many occasions.

Larry Hughes started at small forward once again and put in another nice performance. Hughes finished the game with 16 points on 5-10 shooting. If Hughes keeps up this play, he should continue to start at small forward, especially if Deng keeps up his current play. Luol Deng was abominable tonight, scoring 2 points on 1-5 shooting and turning the ball over 3 times in just 13 minutes of action. Deng doesn’t even look like an NBA player out there.

Ben Gordon had a solid game, finishing with 15 points 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Gordon hardly touched the ball in the fourth quarter, only taking one shot. As a result, the Bulls offense stagnated a bit in the fourth allowing Utah to get back in the game, but the Bulls were still able to win this one thanks to Derrick Rose taking over the game and Hughes’ nice jumpshot.

In the first quarter, Ben Gordon missed his first free throw of the game. This ended Ben Gordon’s 36 free throw streak.

Drew Gooden gave the Bulls some production in the front court, scoring 18 points, although his defense was poor. Aaron Gray scored 8 points off the bench and got the Bulls some good baskets throughout the game.

Once again, the Bulls front court was completely dominated. Mehmet Okur had 26 points and 9 rebounds and Paul Millsap had 21 points and 10 rebounds. This is a real problem for the Bulls and Paxson needs to start addressing it by a trade, whether it is making a move for Chris Kaman, Joel Pryzbrilla, or someone else. The Bulls cannot continue to give up big games to marginal front court players like Millsap and Okur.

Ronnie Brewer also had 18 points for the Jazz.

This was by no means a pretty win. The Jazz were without their two best players, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, and were also missing some role players. Still, it is a win on the circus trip, and you cannot take such wins to come by since they have been so scarce since Jordan retired.

The Bulls are now 7-8 on the season and 2-3 on the circus trip. The Bulls have now equaled the amount of wins that we predicted them to get on the circus trip.

The Bulls next game is Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio. The Spurs are expected to get Manu Ginobili back for Wednesday’s game.

The Chicago Bulls lost to the Denver Nuggets 114 to 101 in the mile high city.

This game was especially frustrating for Bulls fans because the Bulls were in the game up until about 4 minutes left in the game. At this point, the Bulls interior defense completely disappeared, giving a wide open lane for the Denver players to drive in and score at will in.

Derrick Rose is partially responsible for the loss. Rose missed layup after layup towards the end of the game. These were some good looks at the basket for Rose, so by no means were they bad shots, and a rookie is going to miss some of these shots. Still, it was a close game and in a close game your stars need to step up. Rose finished with 15 points, 6 assists, and 4 turnovers.

Vinny Del Negro and John Paxson are probably the most responsible for this loss. Vinny Del Negro insisted on running a small three guard line-up when the Nuggets had Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nene in the game. When the other team is playing that big you need to play bigger as well. You simply need to have good adequate defense at each position to win the game and having one of our shorter guards on Carmelo Anthony just isn’t going to cut it.

John Paxson is responsible for not getting enough shooters on this team. Lindsey Hunter, Larry Hughes, and Thabo Sefolosha were a combined 2-13 from three point land tonight. If we had some talented shooters taking those shots, that may have been enough to swing us the game.

After the Bulls set of defensive lapses, the team simply lost it in the last 2 minutes of the game. First, with the game already close to being out of reach, Gordon turned the ball over trying to make a move on Anthony Carter. Then the Bulls had a stretch where they couldn’t get an offensive rebound. The most embarrassing moment was when the clock was ticking down and Drew Gooden took a stat stuffing three point shot only to be blocked by Nene.

None the less, Ben Gordon was very impressive tonight. At the conclusion of the first half, Gordon’s scoring efficiency was at 104.2 TS%. Gordon finished the game with 28 points and 5 assists. The Nuggets had difficulty keeping up with Gordon and had to foul him many times just to slow him down. Ben Gordon went to the free throw line 9 times tonight and converted on all 9 attempts. Ben Gordon’s free throw streak is now standing at 36 consecutive free throws. Gordon is still 62 free throws away from breaking Michael William’s NBA record for most consecutive free throws.

The Bulls got some production out of their front court tonight. Drew Gooden finished the game with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Aaron Gray had 8 points and 6 rebounds and looked good for a small stretch.

Larry Hughes had 13 points but 6-15 from the field.

For the Nuggets, Chauncey Billups had 21 points and 8 assists. Carmelo Anthony had 21 points 13 rebounds and 8 assists.

The Nuggets front court completely dominated our front court. Nene had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Kenyon Martin had 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Our front court’s lack of defense continues to be a major weakness and is probably the main reason for our loss tonight.

The Bulls are now 6-8 on the season and 1-3 on the circus trip. We predicted that the Bulls would win 2 games on the circus trip, so the Bulls’ performance so far is pretty much what was to be expected.

The Bulls next game is tomorrow night against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.

The Chicago Bulls lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 116-74 yesterday at the Rose Garden.

The Bulls’ problem remains the same, their front court is horrible. Whenever the Bulls managed to get stops, which was seldom, the big men wouldn’t box out allowing Portland’s big men to get offensive rebounds giving Portland a second shot to score.

Joel Pryzbilla had 14 points, 9 rebounds, and three blocks. LaMarcus Aldridge had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Greg Oden had 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks off the bench.

Ben Gordon had a bad game again, scoring 11 points and 3 assists, but he was the best player for the Bulls today. Gordon started to get a little hot during the 2nd quarter of the game. Ben Gordon currently has a 27 free throw streak going.

For the first time in his career, Derrick Rose failed to score in double figures. Derrick Rose finished the game with 6 points, 1 assist, and 3 turnovers. Rose had trouble dealing with shotblockers and got 3 of his shots blocked. Rose adjusted on one possession, hitting a fall away floater in the third quarter.

Brandon Roy scored 20 points for the Blazers.

There is not a whole lot that can be read from this game, except the obvious, that our front court is horrible and that we need to make a trade for a good big men.

These losses on the circus trip should not be taken entirely seriously as we’ve seen Bulls teams bounce back from bad circus trips in the past few years. Our model using all of the post-Jordan years predicted the Bulls only winning one game on the circus trip. The model using just the Gordon-Deng years predicted that we would win just two games on the circus trip. The Bulls might just have some mental block that is keeping them from playing good ball on the circus trip.

The Bulls next game is Friday against the Golden State Warriors.