Westerlund: 5 Thoughts After Bulls-Pacers

By Cody Westerlund--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Derrick Rose-less Bulls improved to 18-12 with an exciting 102-100 overtime win against the Pacers on Wednesday night at the United Center, where a Pau Gasol-to-Jimmy Butler lob play won it in the final seconds. Here are the observations and notes of the night.

1. It's nothing short of amazing. In a league that places such a focus on advance scouting, the Bulls successfully execute a Gasol-to-Butler lob nearly every single game they play.

On Wednesday, it worked at the biggest moment, even if that wasn't the original intention.

With 3.7 seconds left, the Bulls had a sideline out of bounds in the frontcourt out of a timeout. Doug McDermott was the inbounder, with a box-ish set on the far sideline. Coach Fred Hoiberg's plan was to run Butler to the near wing and let him create, as he'd been the hot hand down the stretch.

That didn't materialize, because Pacers star Paul George dogged Butler. Plan B was to pass the ball to Gasol at the top of the key. That's what happened.

What ensued was a "broken play," Butler said. With George guarding him so tight, Butler cut backdoor and tipped in a lob pass from Gasol that featured a small window and a high degree of difficulty.

The odd part? Butler originally went to the hoop with the intention to get an offensive rebound, then adjusted mid-air. Meanwhile, Gasol was so certain of the lob that he told McDermott beforehand basically what would ensue.

"I kind of anticipated – like it happened the play before, Paul George kind of denying Jimmy to get the ball," Gasol said. "I talked to Doug and said that's probably what was going to happen, so look at me at the top.

"I was hoping he'd catch it and dunk it, but a tip-in is just fine."

The play continues to work game after game because foes have to respect Gasol's jump shot and because the big man's such a quality passer, Butler said – though you wouldn't be faulted for believing divine intervention has blessed the play too.

"That's just Pau being a smart player, a great player," Butler said. "He could've shot it. Instead he put it up at the rim. I got my hand on it, put it through the basket. That basket should be credited to him."

Butler was spectacular in the second half/overtime, when he scored 23 of his 28 points. He shot 8-of-16 from the field.

2. While Butler has been Chicago's most consistent player all season, his production hasn't been coming in a balanced manner, as his jump shot has largely abandoned him in the past month.

In the past 15 games before Wednesday, dating back to Nov. 30, Butler was shooting 69.3 percent on shots inside the restricted area (61-of-88) and 29 percent on shots outside the restricted area (45-of-155). In that stretch, Butler's also shooting 22 percent on 3-pointers.

To put it bluntly, Butler's been bad offensively outside of five or six feet for a solid month.

That trend continued for the most part Wednesday. The notable exception came when he got a really friendly roll on a game-tying 3-pointer with 34.9 seconds left in regulation.

"Glad it went it," Butler said. "Haven't been shooting the ball well."

For a rookie coach who's had game management snafus in crunch time on several occasions this season, Hoiberg deserved credit on that creative play call. He ran Butler away from the ball on a flare screen action, then brought him back to it on a pick for a wide-open look that Butler converted.

3. The end of Butler's media session Wednesday night turned really introspective as he addressed his poor game Monday – in which he scored a season-low five points – for the first time. Butler insisted nothing was wrong physically but indicated he'd been dealing with some off-the-court stress.

"There's always something going on in my life," Butler said. "It doesn't really matter. I can't let it affect my on-the-court play.

"There's always something going on in my head. That's what it is. I could come in a happy-to-lucky guy, but when something's bothering me, I don't (have) energy and you can really tell."

Butler also further addressed his relationship with Hoiberg, whom he publicly criticized recently, setting off a mini-crisis that the coaching staff would've rather not had to deal with.

"We're both learning a lot about each other," Butler said. "He's probably learning how moody I am on a daily basis, to tell you the truth. It's hard. He lets me be who I am. He handles everything I do very well. I'm not a big communicator, I'm not great at it, but he's always talking to me, always asking, 'Hey, how you doing?' He asks my opinion on a lot of things."

Butler credited Hoiberg and the assistant coaches for their continued support, even as he also in the same minute admitted he regularly talks to former Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin, whom he was close with.

"They're checking in on me," Butler said of the current staff. "There's a lot of love. It's very important to me."

4. Just more than an hour before tip-off, the Bulls announced Rose would be sidelined with right hamstring tendonitis. It was somewhat unexpected, as Rose had participated in morning shootaround and mentioned nothing of it to media afterward.

Rose has had "a little bit of soreness" in that hamstring recently, and it tightened up during the day, Hoiberg said. When he couldn't get adequately loose in pregame warmps, the Bulls decided to take what Hoiberg deemed a "cautious" approach.

The Bulls don't know how serious the injury is yet. They have an off-day Thursday, when Rose will get treatment, before they host the Knicks on Friday night.

It was Rose's third missed game of the season. He sat out two games in November because of an ankle injury. Kirk Hinrich started in his place, though he played just 12:34. Aaron Brooks got most of the run at point guard, scoring a game-high 29 points.

5. Bulls rookie forward Bobby Portis continued to draw rave reviews from his teammates after he scored 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Even if the Bulls get fully healthy, he'll remain in the rotation, because the team needs his energy.

"Bobby can play, man," Butler said. "He talks a lot trash in practice too. I don't think he lets the rookie card get to him. And he listens,  that's the crazy part about it. He's playing well, but when he makes a mistake, he's asking a question.

"He's going to be good for a really long time here."

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.