From KC Johnson:

Back specialist confirmed Bulls' diagnosis of DRose. Lower back spasms. Nothing structurally wrong with back. Muscular issue. Day-to-day.

That doesn't really say much, but it does say what it isn't: nothing crazy, season ending, etc. So that's good.

As far as updates for this week's games, I expect bullcrap from Thibs and we'll find out at tipoff. Don't want the those Sacramento Kings prepared!

The Bulls only lost to the Celtics by four in Boston on a Sunday afternoon where the Cs extended their lead to 14 with 5:08 remaining in the game. But the fails that led to that lead and many deficits throughout the game stand out.

The Bulls were down by 11 midway through the first quarter and closed the lead to one with a 10-0 run. But that run was immediately followed up with an 8-0 run by the Cs. If the first fail was Boston's early monster lead, the second was wasting their effort to close the gap and be down by nine with a couple of minutes remaining in the quarter. The Bulls ended the quarter within five and split the second quarter to be down by only five at halftime; but the third fail was a second quarter where they only allowed 20 points, yet couldn't make up any ground by only shooting 32% for only 20 points themselves [.pdf].

Boston's lead hovered between three-and-six for most of the third quarter, keeping the Bulls well within reach, but a 14-4 turnover-riddled run allowed to the Cs put the game away in a fourth fail. The Bulls came out of a timeout with a 14-3 run, but those four stretches of fail proved to be four too many as the constant task was to climb out of holes they themselves dug by not having answers for a stifling Celtics' D and a fatigue-plagued transition D without the enegry to stop Boston from running the floor in transition after the Cs forced stops.

Bad shot selection, a moronic timeout, some missed free throws and such in the final couple of minutes weren't the inflection points of the game, as the Bulls were outplayed in totality for so much of the afternoon -- proven by a wealth of data:

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The biggest news of Sunday occurred in the morning, when not only was Derrick Rose ruled out of the game but it came with a fairly worrying prognosis:

"[It's been going on for a] couple of games...It was the whole trip, but I just played through it. The more I played through it, it tended to get worse after every game. At the time, I was really worried about it, but just tried to stay positive and hopefully I'll be all right. I don't know the diagnosis. I don't know what to call it, but I just know my back is not right, I don't remember [when it started]. It just came from out of nowhere, man. That's the scary thing about it."

Rose will see a specialist Monday when the Bulls return to Chicago, but wouldn't speculate on whether he'd play in the team's next game, Tuesday against Sacramento at the United Center.

There's much more at the link, including some bullcrap from Thibs, who's Belichick-ian when it comes to injuries, which is fine though annoying. Tough to say if...who am I kidding, it's easy to say! Rose shouldn't have played in New Orleans on Tuesday. Organizational failure from Derrick himself on up.

In his absence, the Bulls encountered their first deficit in over a week of feasting on delicious cupcakes, and stayed behind throughout. Though shooting awfully, they were never out of today's game as Boston couldn't put them away, but the Celtics were in control the entire game so it's hard to even see much of a moral victory. As the Bulls stayed close yet the time wound down, it was apparent that without Rose they just don't have a playmaker to be reliable in set possessions, only scoring when they would trap the Celtics into a turnover, or when they could pound the offensive glass.

There were facets of the game, like that frontcourt advantage, where the Bulls did look good . The Celtics were without Jermaine O'Neal and Brandon Bass which shuffled up some inexperienced members in their frontcourt rotation, and the Bulls bigs were able to feast. Both Boozer and Noah provided efficient offense over the course of the game, going 15-26 with a lack of Boston shotblocking (outside of some turn-back-the-clock moments from Garnett). That made it even more frustrating to see backups Taj Gibson and Omer Asik routinely blowing layups that proved costly. Oftentimes the Bulls would be the ones earning the loose balls, and unable to convert.

The Celtics bigs did manage to out-run their Bulls counterparts, and as a team the C's finished with a 33-7 edge in fast break points. It was on times of not getting back, or failure to stop the ball when back, that earned Carlos Boozer yet another tongue-lashing at the hands of an announcing crew. Jeff Van Gundy emphasized the issues with Boozer not making the right rotations being one of trust from his teammates and coach. Given how close he is with Tom Thibodeau, I wonder if JVG was acting as a surrogate, providing the analysis that Thibs himself can't do to his own player.

As mentioned, Boozer was ably qualified to take advantage when he had the mismatch advantage, which was a welcome sign, as is Noah's apparently fully-fledged return to past performance this season. But as also mentioned above, when the Bulls needed baskets late and the defense concentrated on him, Boozer wasn't good enough to be that go-to option, and two straight turnovers led to two Rondo lobs which effectively put the Bulls away for good. They did get another chance down 3 with just over a shot-clock to go, but it was CJ Watson's turn to ruin the possession forcing a wild long-two.

It was a fitting end for CJ's day, spent shooting awfully and dominated by Rondo, who wound up with a triple-double. BaB enemy #1 was on fire today, commanding the fast break, hitting a few jumpers and a majority of his free throws, getting his assist-padding confused for unselfishness, tugging on Luol Deng's bad wrist near the end of the game...and to be honest he did look to be more of the All-Star than Deng. Like Watson and Boozer, Luol (who did have the wrist wrapped more than before) had his chances to score in the half-court and couldn't do so, not even making a shot until midway through the 3rd quarter.

We know that offensively, the whole team exists and operates as satellites around Derrick Rose, so it's tough to expect them to transcend their usual roles in his absence. But watching it, it follows to wonder what will they be like when Rose is in the game but effectively mitigated by a tough playoff defense. Sure, he's commanding attention, but the other Bulls still need to execute to make things not end like last year.

Of course, both time-wise and team-wise, it's a long way until the playoffs. Sunday's game was the end of an unheard-of 9-game road trip, they were missing their MVP and their free agent difference (though it's been so long he may as well be myth), and they still played hard and looked defensively stout and deep. That's not changing. But the Bulls need to get Rose right, and learn to live with this potentially new less-consistent version of Deng, before we can see if there is indeed a difference this year. The Bulls schedule gets much less dense and road-laden from here on out, and so far they've not only survived it but have the best record in the conference. It's a great story and an accomplishment. But now it'll probably be the rest of the way that's more about survival.

Recap later tonight. Maybe the Heat will lose too, that'd be nice.

Bulls shooting ugly but hanging close.

Rose out.

[Thanks to pocketwatch for today's game preview. Game Thread at 2:30 -yfbb]

Finally, we get to play a decent team. We haven't had a game against a team over .500 in more than a week (5 games to be exact), and we've taken advantage of it by setting an NBA record with four straight 20+ point road wins. The blowouts have been nice, but not exactly fun to watch. I will definitely take this back if we win by 20+ at Boston.

We've lost our last 4 games against playoff caliber teams (@Philly, @Miami, Indiana, and @Memphis) and are 5-5 overall against teams above .500 this year. This shouldn't be concerning with the high level we've been playing at, but it's just something to think about. One of those wins did come against the struggling Celtics in mid January though, led by Luol "Luolstar?" Deng's 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Derrick Rose wouldn't commit as to whether or not he would play tomorrow, but I'm going to guess he'll be out there. I think we can all agree that seeing Rose destroy Rondo and in the process lead us to victory over Boston (which would secure Thibs coaching the All-Star team) on national TV would be the best Sunday afternoon.

The Celtics come into Sunday with a 14-12 record (7-3 in their last 10) after consecutive tough losses at Toronto and home against the Lakers. These are not the Celtics we are used to, and I'm sure I'm not the only one taking satisfaction in their mediocrity. They have had trouble scoring the ball this year with an ORtg of 101.6 (21st), and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it has something to do with their bench. Nobody outside of Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, and Bass getting more than 10 minutes per game has a PER over 13. This is compared to the Bulls who have 10 guys under the same criteria. Advantage - Bulls bench, obviously. I mean...O'Neal, Pietrus, Dooling, and Bradley all average 17+ MPG and have an average PER of 9.1. So, uh, yeah...that's really bad.

Meanwhile, Paul Pierce (18.1), Ray Allen (14.8), and Kevin Garnett (14.0) are all averaging their lowest PPG output since their rookie years. This isn't exactly shocking considering they are a combined 106 years old and trying to survive this crazy lockout schedule. What is shocking is that at 36, Allen is having the most efficient shooting season of his already impressive career. He is hitting a ridiculous 51% of his 5.1 3PA per game and is sporting an eFG% of 60%. Yet he is averaging a career low 10.7 shots per game. Early on in this season, he is quietly having one of the best shooting years ever (and apparently so is Brandon Rush???) and is worth keeping an eye on. Hardwood Paroxysm has a good write up on Allen. GET THIS GUY SOME MORE SHOTS (just not against us).

On the other side of the ball, the Celtics remain as stingy as ever with a DRtg of 97.7 (3rd) and actually play at a slower pace than us. The old guys can still lock it down in the half court it appears. Especially with a little help from their alien friend.

Some more Rondo hate after the jump.

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That's four straight 20+ point road wins for the Bulls, which I've read (and heard on NBATV) is a record. So that's neat. Watching the actual games isn't that exciting though it's easy to stay impressed with how locked-in the Bulls are. When discussing an emerging team like the Sixers or Pacers, the first indicator is winning at home, and then blowing out bad teams there. There is no disputing the Bulls are a great team, a different level, and they can blow out teams on the road, even missing their best player. When at this status, is it important that the Bulls never have an off night? Maybe not, the playoffs you assume all teams are going to be ready to play. But it's a mindset worth commending all the same.

The Bobcats meanwhile are terrible, and injuries hurt them even more than the Bulls because they replace average players with awful ones, whereas the Bulls have to endure some John Lucas time but not much else. Charlotte is both small and slight, yet to compound that they also can't shoot. Oh don't worry, they also can't take care of the ball. The Bulls started hot with a 30-point first quarter (a hallmark of their recent streak) behind 3-point shooting, and never had to worry much after that. Noah and Boozer were able to destroy the Bobcats inside (Biyombo actually looks like a talent, but needs way more strength), with Boozer actually unleashing a couple of baseline spin moves.

It was fun all-around if you were on the Bulls sidelines. I include Thibodeau screaming at his team when they're up 25, because I think that's fun for him. But you had the aforementioned Boozer post moves, Noah with a couple of tornadoes, the Bulls actually try an alley-oop (Lucas to Butler...it failed), Neil Funk getting in some digs at old foe Tyrus Thomas (who literally looks awful...why is he so thin?*), and a possession where Taj Gibson lost his shoe. That last bit inspired some must-watch video from Joakim Noah.

*[I was trying to remember all game, besides that infamous severely-protected draft pick the Bulls received for Tyrus, who did they get as rentals in that trade to match salaries? I did recall the Acie Law experience, but the player I was trying to conjure up was Flip Murray. Man, remember him?]

The Bulls, either as an organization or from a rare bout of sanity by coach Thibodeau, sat Rose on Friday. So, as much as actions to the contrary garner consternation in this space, I have to say great job by them. I'm trying to remember that in this insanely-good season where minutes for stars is a concern, one way to limit confusion is to just not really take Thibs at his word. Sam Smith provided a reminder:

Rose, though, is expected to play against Boston Sunday in the national TV game.

Russian defense minister, errr, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said it’s "still the same" with Rose.

"Day to day," said Thibodeau. "More precautionary. Just wanted to give him another day of rest. We’ll see where he is tomorrow. We’ll take it day by day."

Thibodeau plays this little game with reporters, who two or there times a day at practice and games ask him about Rose. Thibodeau always says day to day or game time decision, though C.J. Watson, who started for Rose, revealed after the game that Thibodeau had told the team Thursday that Rose wasn’t playing Friday. Thibodeau has this NFL mentality belief that you cannot give out information to your opponent.

The Boston game is notable, but may not be much more of a challenge. I suppose they could be fired-up after losing in Toronto Friday night, they don't really look to be in the same class as the Bulls. They're better than the teams the Bulls have absolutely destroyed in this road winning streak of theirs, so maybe something like a 10-point win is in the offering? The Bulls do have a pedestrian record against winning teams, so for a team always looking for challenges they can use that as motivation Sunday.