Better Late Than Never: Bulls Take Lead Late to Clip Pacers in Game 1

It took 47 minutes and 12 seconds, but Kyle Korver's clutch three pointer with 48 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Chicago Bulls their first lead of the game against the pesky Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their first round matchup. Derrick Rose played like the MVP he will soon be, scoring 39 points, grabbing six boards and dishing out six assists while Luol Deng sparked the team and the United Center crowd on his way to a double-double. The Bulls' defense was not its normal stingy self but, when it mattered most, Chicago got the stops they needed and took Game 1, 104-99. The Pacers shot lights out from the field and finished the game 10-18 from behind the arc, good for 55%. Danny Granger and Tyler Hansbrough propelled a Pacers attack that caught many Chicago fans by surprise and Indiana had four players finish the game in double figures.

The Pacers looked like an experienced playoff team for much of the game and it took it right at the number one seeded Bulls. Granger came out and said before the playoffs that he would rather face Chicago than Miami or Boston and that made headlines leading up to today's game. After a slow start, he turned it on and knocked down four threes while shooting 50% from the field. Hansbrough played phenomenal and consistently knocked down 15-foot jumpers over Carlos Boozer. Despite his hot shooting, Boozer refused to crawl up into Hansbrough's space and Psycho T hit ten shots, finishing with 22 points. For a moment it appeared Hansbrough was going to be lost for the game after he was unintentionally elbowed in the side of the head by the Bulls' Kurt Thomas while battling for a rebound. Hansbrough laid on the court for some time and then had to be helped into a chair in the tunnel because he could not keep his balance. However, he returned with 5:33 left in the game and scored seven more points.

Chicago struggled for much of the game and seemed very passive on defense. The United Center crowd was quiet because the Bulls were trailing but Luol Deng and Joakim Noah did their best to fire everybody up. After a hard foul from Hansbrough on Rose, Deng and Noah both got in Hansbrough's face and Deng was whistled for a technical foul for delivering a shove. The Pacers' Darren Collison missed the technical free throw and Rose sank his shots. Deng stood near halfcourt and urged the fans to get rowdy. Yet, the Pacers answered with another run and made it a ten point game again. The Bulls trailed by six with 2:31 remaining and Derrick Rose grabbed a defensive rebound, threaded the needle to Joakim Noah who slammed it home and sent the Madhouse on Madison into a frenzy. After Noah's dunk, Indiana scored only one point off of a Roy Hibbert free throw and the Bulls put the finishing touches on their remarkable comeback. Rose would score seven points after that dunk and assisted Korver's go-ahead three with 48 seconds left. It was truly a team effort down the stretch.

Every time Rose stepped to the free throw line there were deafening MVP chants that probably shook the building and he played like an MVP. While the rest of the Bulls stumbled out of the gates, Rose showed up to play and it was evident by his relentless drives to the hoop that were unstoppable for the Pacers defense. On one particular sequence, he blocked a layup on the defensive end and then dribbled into the lane, spun through three Pacers and made a layup while falling away. The only blemish on Rose's performance was his 0-9 shooting from behind the arc, something he will have to fix if the Bulls are to make a run deep into the playoffs. He finished the game 10-23 from the field and hit 19 free throws. His 39 points are a playoff career high for him and he showed why he is one of the best closers in the game of basketball.

Many will want to throw all the glory on Rose, and he is deserving of most of it, but the Bulls have to be happy with the contributions of Kyle Korver and and Kurt Thomas. Korver was brought in to do one thing: hit shots from deep. He did that, going 4-4 and hitting the biggest shot of the game. Thomas was steady off the bench while Boozer sat with foul trouble and played solid defense in his 24 minutes. Ronnie Brewer wasn't as effective, and that could be because of his sprained thumb, but if the Bulls bench plays well then there is a realistic chance for them to advance to the Finals. It may not have been the way the Bulls wanted to win Game 1 of the series but in the playoffs a win is a win and now Chicago holds a 1-0 lead with Game 2 Monday at 9:30 ET.

(Photos by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)