Random things

Here's one for Dr. Billay, maybe Rose wasn't the option -

The Bulls’ rookie coach designed the play where the team’s best ballhandler doesn’t handle the ball because he liked a matchup featuring the team’s third-best option when you’re 47 feet away.

Ben Gordon was as hot as D-Wade, Derrick Rose is your best ballhandler, and neither of them gets a touch when the ball has to get to the hoop or get to the open man.

Oh, wait, Wade was open. Right after he stole the ball from Salmons.

Just kidding, it was supposed to go to Rose - but I can't find a video of the whole play. I think Salmons was the second option, and Rose didn't come back to the ball. Apparently a lot of players/teams know that Salmons always goes back left when he start out going right - so Wade knew it was coming and made a smart play.

There was no stopping D-Wade, the Bull got lucky that BG couldn't miss. Otherwise they would have lost long before Wade ended it in the second OT -

Ben Gordon scored a season-high 43 points for the Bulls, including eight 3-pointers. Salmons scored 29 and Derrick Rose added 23 for Chicago, 0-3 against Miami this season.

The Bulls used only seven players Monday night. Rose played 55 minutes; Salmons played nearly 54; Gordon nearly played 50. And Chicago was right there, until Wade said enough was enough.

"Basically, that's how the game was going to end -- who had the ball last," Gordon said. "Whoever made the last best play was going to win the game and D-Wade made a spectacular play. He willed his team to win."

I also didn't think it was possible -

I didn't think it was possible to lose when you had the ball with 10 seconds and the game tied, but there you go. And better yet: since it was Wade, I've now seen the replay about 500 times of the buzzer-beater even while trying to avoid it. Fitting on a night where Wade got all the calls Rose and Gordon couldn't.

And I suppose one lesson is that we can't single out Gordon as the only one who misses late game attempts (Rose), or kills the team with key TOs (Salmons). It'd also be nice if actual plays were run in those extra periods.

Deng out at least 2 weeks -

The Bulls confirmed that Deng will be sidelined at least two more weeks with a small stress fracture in his right tibia, at which time Deng will be re-evaluated.

"If he has pain then, he gets more rest," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "If he doesn't have pain, he'll probably try to go."

Surgery and a three-month rehabilitation process remains a possibility.