The Chicago Bulls won 50 games and earned the No. 3 seed in the East, but it never felt like they completely came together. Some of it was injuries -- to Derrick Rose to Jimmy Butler to Joakim Noah to Taj Gibson -- but from the very start of the season, Chicago should have been playing better, or so we thought.
Maybe they were saving it for the playoffs, because on Saturday the Bulls rolled past the Milwaukee Bucks 103-91 in Game 1. Derrick Rose led the way with 23 points and was even showered with MVP chants after three consecutive triples in the third quarter.
The Bulls pulled away initially by going big early in the second quarter, playing Nikola Mirotic, Noah and Gibson together for nearly six minutes. That lineup outscored the Bucks 12-5 while stretching their lead to eight, all while Jimmy Butler sat -- a rare reprieve for the man who led the NBA in minutes per game.
Milwaukee came within three in the third quarter, but the veterans of Chicago wouldn't ever let them retake a lead. They suffocated the Bucks in the fourth quarter, holding them to just 16 points to draw first blood in this series.
3 things we learned
1. Derrick Rose has risen
When Rose returned from a meniscus injury with six games to play, there was a theory that he was saving his best for the playoffs. That's looking pretty smart, as he abused Michael Carter-Williams throughout this game with moves that looked like they were taken straight from his MVP season in 2010-11.
Rose is obviously crucial to the Bulls' success. No one else on the team has his explosiveness or can break down the defense like he does. The vaunted Chicago defense is fine when it has all hands on deck, as they demonstrated on Saturday, but the offense needs his extra burst if they expect to take another step this postseason.
2. Jimmy Butler still turns the wheels for Chicago
With Rose's performance, Butler's game takes the backseat. Really, that's been the case for much of the year -- his 20-something points and lock-down wing defense has become something the Bulls pretty much take for granted every game.
Who knows where the Bulls' season would be without Butler taking the extra step. Regardless, we would be smart not to forget how much he does every night, whether it shows up in the box score or not. Even his "ordinary" nights go for 25 points, 8-of-14 shooting and six assists.
3. The Bucks defense might be missing one defensive piece
Sometime last offseason (or maybe a little before), the Bucks decided what they wanted their identity to be: long, rangy defenders with pterodactyl-like wingspans and gritty defense at every position. That's why they brought in the 6'6 Carter-Williams at the trade deadline in favor of Brandon Knight.
They finished the season with the No. 2 defense per NBA.com, but the Bulls showed they might be missing one piece: a rangy shotblocker at the rim. Larry Sanders was supposed to be that guy, but things didn't work out. To win this playoffs series, they'll need to find a way stop the Bulls from getting to the rim, because they aren't stopping them once they're in the paint.