It's late and I thought I'd pass on doing a quick recap, but that game was pretty invigorating. Yes, the Bulls are gunning to the playoffs, so wins matter. Getting a win with Hinrich, Gordon, and Deng out is very big, especially on the road, and against a good team.
This started out as `the Duhon game'. It usually happens once a year when Chris Duhon hits a bunch of threes (I believe in one of such instances he set the franchise single-game record). Tonight he was doing much more than that, in a career-high 34-point performance. Especially considering such a heavy-minute game just the night before, it was a commendable night for the most reviled player in this blog's history.
And then in the 4th quarter, Tyrus Thomas was the man. Even when sitting on 0-3 from the field for the longest time (some ill-advised jumpshots), he was a shotblocking presence throughout. And when he did heat up offensively it got to the point where they were running isolation plays for him in the closing minutes. For the (supposedly) unskilled Tyrus Thomas. And he did what he usually does when he's going well: use his superlative first step to get fouled (the Warriors were fouling all night, Joe Smith 13-14 from the line!) or get to the rim. And for good measure he even hit a jumper in that stretch.
I won't even get into the negatives: this team, in the middle of a disastrous season, put up great efforts on back-to-back nights against Western Conference playoff contenders. Plus Tyrus played a bunch and led the team to victory. And Chris Webber proved he still sucks. That's a good night.