M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!

There has been a LOT of talk around the NBA "circles" (are these crop circles because I haven't seen any circles labeled NBA) about our own Derrick Rose for MVP. Derrick tried to nominate himself for the title in the pre-season by asking the question "why not me?" when asked about the MVP. Most people laughed it off, but take a look folks...he's doing it...he's right there in the mix. And we've been hearing the chants when he steps to the free throw line at the United Center...I thought it was a little premature back in November, but apparently not. Heck, he's hearing those chants on the road too! The Bulls are #1 in home attendance (#2 in home percentage) and #4 in road attendance...so lots of people are seeing this team and more specifically, this kid of ours play some ball.

For me the MVP must be the answer to the following question...can Player X' team win without him? Obviously any player on this list is affecting his team's win total so I'm not asking...can his team win at the same rate, but rather can they win at a decent rate...say .500 or so?

The top 3 guys this year in my opinion are LeBron, Dirk, and Derrick Rose...so let's talk about each of them one at a time...

So can the Heat win without LeBron? I would argue that YES, the Heat can win without LeBron as they have another superstar (and NO, I am not talking about "fake tough guy" Chris Bosh!) on their team that can and has already carried them at times even with LeBron in the lineup. LeBron has only missed two games this season as he continues to prove that he's a pretty durable player...he's never played in all 82 regular season games, but he's never played fewer than 75 either. The Heat are 0-2 in those two games which occurred back-to-back against the Nuggets (as a side note, Wade has never beaten Carmelo in Denver) and Bulls. While that's obviously not .500, it's hardly a large enough sample size to call that record a determining factor...the Heat also lost the game before with the Clippers while LeBron played nearly 40 minutes and the game following against the Hawks while LeBron played 44 minutes in an OT loss.

So can the Mavs win without Dirk? Well, Dirk has missed 9 games this season and his Mavs went 2-7 over that time frame so the instinctual answer is NO. They also lost Caron Butler in the middle of Dirk's absence although they had already lost the first two with Butler. The Bulls swept the season series with the Mavs this year and Dirk played in both games; Derrick played in both games; Butler played in the first game in Dallas, but missed the second at the UC; no Boozer for the first, and no Boozer and no Joakim for the second as Derrick was the only Bull in double figures in that second game...result - Bulls 2; Dallas 0.

Can the Bulls win without Derrick Rose? Ummm...I really don't think so especially in this first part of the season with Boozer out, Joakim out or even both guys out. Can they scrape together a win or two out of 10, maybe. The Bulls lost the only game Derrick has missed this season (knock on wood!) although it was in heartbreaking fashion when Melo hit that fade-away J over Luol at the buzzer. But let me explain by bringing up a situation from last season...the Bulls lost Joakim Noah for a 10 games in the second half...they went on to lose ALL 10 which seemed to end their playoff hopes in March (luckily Chris Bosh had already given up in Toronto so the Bulls were able to slip into the playoffs with a bit of a late season surge going 10-4 to finish up 41-41). That was last year...this year, Joakim has already missed the last 28 games, but this is Derrick's year...he's not only kept the Bulls going, but they are 21-7 in those 28 games. Of course, the Bulls have played the entire season with either their #2 or #3 players hurt or out or even BOTH out at the same time (Derrick's Bulls are 2-1 with both out) and yet, they still have the 5th best record in the NBA! I'm sorry, but THOSE are MVP numbers. Need more...here's a quote from ESPN's Maurice Brooks who does the "Awards Watch" page for them (http://espn.go.com/nba/notebook/_/page/Awards-110215/nba-awards-watch) - "On 13 occasions, the Bulls have trailed in the fourth quarter only to have Rose rescue them. That is another stat on what is turning into a long list of reasons to give him the award." Really...what else is there!

So how will Derrick perform as the starting (and healthy) point guard for the Eastern Conference All-Stars? I don't know...this type of show-off game isn't really his thing as he's not the ego-maniac LeBron, Kobe, Amar'e, and Wade are...I think he's probably going to want to show he belongs so its not like he's going to be cowering in the corner...he still loves to play in front of the big stage...he sure proved that Thu night on TNT in front of a national TV audience, so I expect him to have a pretty good game.

I don't know why I didn't think about this before with Michael and Scottie as regulars in the All-Star games, but how will these guys even get along? The East consists of 3 Heat, 4 Celtics, 2 Hawks, 1 Knick, 1 Magic, and Derrick...that's all 12 guys representing the top 6 teams in the East right now. I know Derrick is a very competitive guy, but most of the rest of the guys really seem to enjoy this type of game. Interestingly, he'll be paired in the starting lineup with LeBron and Wade, both of whom spurned the Bulls this summer; otherwise we could have potentially watched the three of them play together every night. In addition to playing with two of the Three Am-EGOS to start, the third Am-EGO is also there as a reserve and then there's the issues with the cheap shots by new teammate Dwight Howard which helped somewhat ruin Derrick's last trip to the All-Star Game. Then there's the 4 Celtics including Rajon Rondo who Derrick beat out in the voting to become the starter. Remember that epic playoff series between the Bulls and Celtics in the first round during Derrick's rookie season? NOBODY that I've ever heard has ever said anything really negative about Derrick so I'm sure he'll do well with everyone.

Other than the 4 Celtics who each won a ring 3 years ago, the rest of the East has just one ring combined. The West have a LOT more rings on their side as the West has pretty well dominated the ring collection since the Bulls second three-peat winning 9 of the last 12 NBA Titles. So what kind of game can we expect to see from Derrick tomorrow? I'd be thrilled to see him throw down a couple of nice 2-handed dunks and dish out about 12 assists...most importantly, I want him to really enjoy the moment and learn from it just like he did with the Team USA experience over the summer.

Let's keep those M-V-P! chants going nice and loud at the UC! Heck, I've even been hearing it on the road when he goes to the free throw line; let's keep em going there too!

By the way, I started writing this earlier in the week before the San Antonio game...if you weren't convinced of his MVP status before that game, hopefully his career high 42 points pushed you in the right direction. He shot 18-for-28 against the league's best team and added 8 assists and 5 boards. It started out as a battle between Rose and San Antonio's Tony Parker...kind of a battle between two of the leagues best PGs. This was the 3rd such match-up in the Bulls last 4 games after matching up with and totally outplaying Deron Williams in Utah (longest tenured coach in US pro sports was gone following that game) and Chris Paul in New Orleans back-to-back the week before.

Charles Barkley (a lot smarter than he makes himself out to be) thinks Derrick's Bulls are the best team in the East now that Joakim Noah is coming back following the All-Star Game tomorrow. I tend to agree, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself...but I am REALLY excited at the same time.

GO BULLS!

How about that team in South Beach?!?

WOW! The supposedly almighty Miami Heat who were supposed to challenge the 1995-96 Bulls record of 72 regular season wins has now lost their 3rd game. They're are just a touch behind the Bulls' pace...NOT! That Bulls team didn't lose their third game until after Christmas leaving them with a 23-3 record to that point. The supposedly unbeatable Heat are now 5-3 or just 1/2 game ahead of spurned Cavs who are 4-3 without LeBron (more on him later).

Tonight's loss happened at home against a seemingly undermanned Jazz team. They blew a 19-point half-time lead and led by as much as 22 points. Paul Millsap, who ironically allowed the Jazz to not resign Boozer, scored a career high 46 points with 33 in the second half including a very Reggie Miller like 11 points in the final 28 seconds to tie it at the regulation buzzer. The Heat allowed 84 points after halftime. That's an incredible number!

First LeBron...while he did finish with a triple double, where the heck was he in the OT? He stood around and watched Dwyane Wade score all 10 of the Heat's points in OT which wasn't quite enough as the Jazz scored 12 and won 116-114. Wade scored a team high 39 on a pretty impressive 12-23 shooting and I say impressive because his running mate in LeBron shot 5-18. Both guys made their living at the line as usual as LeBron was 10-11 and Wade was 12-16. By the way, LeBron who has been mentioned by some as a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate through 7 games (must be the same guys that voted for Derek Jeter to get the Gold Glove this year - what a joke!) failed to close out on Andrei Kirilenko who hit the "big 3" in OT to give the Jazz the lead they would never relinquish. Oops!

Bosh & Millsap...so who was "guarding" Millsap during his 33-point outburst after halftime? Well, Bosh is supposed to be the South Beach PF which is the same position Millsap plays...hmmmm. I didn't see the whole game, but I watched some of the first half and then the entire OT. I think Bosh had 6-7 boards early in the first half...well, he finished with 9. Big 3, huh? He did exceed his pathetic season averages with 17 (14.4) and 9 (5.4), but didn't do much in crunch time either except one nice block in OT.

Heat depth...for a game that went into OT, the bench really didn't do much scoring only 24 points (only 4 guys) while the Jazz had 7 bench players combine for 28. With no real center on the team and with Bosh's lack of D inside, the Jazz outscored the Heat 58-38 in the paint...combine that with being outscored 24-18 from the arc too. LeBron tied Deron Williams of the Jazz with a game high 14 assists, but the next highest assist total on the Heat was Wade's 3...not exactly great ball movement.

Lastly and most importantly for us Bulls' fans...the Heat have now lost 3 games and I mentioned this yesterday...the first two losses were to teams with dynamic point guards...well, chalk up #3 as the Jazz are led by the very dynamic Deron Williams. January 15th...put it on your calendar if it isn't already on there...Heat @ Bulls!

It is still WAY early and you don't win (or lose) an NBA title in November, but for the MANY, MANY fans out there hating on the Heat for the way The Three Am-EGOS handled their free agency, you must all be LOVING this...I know I am. My hope is that the team just implodes with so many egos over there including Pat Riley who undoubtedly will be coming down to the bench if they continue to lose games like this...I mean they blew a 19-point halftime lead...AT HOME!

Other NBA Notes
Did you see the Indy game against the Nuggets? The Pacers shot 20-21 from the field in the quarter including 8 3s. The only miss came with under 10 seconds left in the quarter by rookie McRoberts on a long 3 at the end of the shot clock. They had a 10-point lead at halftime and scored 54 in the 3rd quarter which extended their lead to 37 at that point. They won 144-113...yikes! Tough trip through the Midwest for Carmelo after a tough 2-point loss to the Bulls last night.