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Winning four of their last 5, the Bulls are in first place in their division again

By Doug Knopf

Even without Derrick Rose, and now Richard Hamilton, the Bulls are still winning games, but in a different fashion. Defense has been the name of the game for the Bulls, only allowing more than 100-points once in the last 5 games. Their biggest and best game came against the surging Knicks, keeping them to only 85 points, New York’s lowest point total all season.

AP Photo/ Paul Beaty

Much of the Bulls’ success over this span has been due to the incredible play of Joakim Noah and Luol Deng. Noah had an unheard of 69 rebounds in the last 5 games which average to about 14 rebounds per game. With 22 of these boards being offensive rebounds, he gives the Bulls many second chance opportunities. The man seeming to be able to cash in on these chances is Deng who is averaging just over 20 points per game in the last five games, slightly above his year average.

Defense has been the source of the Bulls’ victories as of late, which has been a common theme all year. Currently the Bulls are the second best team in the league in terms of points per game, only giving up 91.3 points per game. Opposing teams are shooting less than 43% from the field against the Bulls, second to the rival Pacers. In the last five game stretch, Chicago is only giving up 88.4 points per game, losing in a game where they gave up just 80 points.

The next five games are going to be crucial for the Bulls in many ways. They are going against five teams who all currently have winning records and it is going to be tough for them to keep their top spot if they cannot beat these teams. Also, they need to measure how competitive they can be against tough teams. This will measure if they can actually make a deep playoff run without Derrick Rose. These are not normal teams either, they are going to play the Clippers, 76ers, Nets, Grizzlies, Celtics, and Knicks all in the next two weeks, who are combined 76-41.