Bulls rally to stun Lakers on Derrick Rose’s game-winner

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Kobe Bryant puts up a shot against Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and Taj Gibson as time expires, but Deng blocked it to seal the Bulls' win. | Mark J. Terrill~AP

Updated: December 26, 2011 12:43AM

LOS ANGELES — The Bulls trailed by 10 late in Sunday’s much-anticipated season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers when Derrick Rose made sure his teammates understood a victory remained within their grasp, even if it appeared beyond their reach.

He wasn’t just saying it, either. He had no doubt he and his teammates would pull off a Christmas miracle.

“It never even came into my mind,” Rose said of losing. “As long as there’s time on the clock, as long as we’re not down by 100 points, I believe we can win.”

A great example of team defense and Rose’s go-ahead floater with 4.8 seconds to play helped the Bulls escape the Staples Center with an improbable 88-87 Christmas victory in the most eagerly anticipated season opener since Michael Jordan retired.

It came down to two of the league’s greatest stars getting the ball in crunch time. Rose made his shot. Bryant’s was blocked.

“We know we can play better offense and defense, but to get this win after being down 10 with three minutes to go shows the character of this team,” center Joakim Noah said.

The Bulls looked crisp in the first half but the offense became stagnant in the second and they shot just 25 percent from the floor. Bryant’s layup gave the Lakers an 11-point lead with 3:44 to play before the Bulls began their a 17-5 run. Luol Deng scored five consecutive points to pull the Bulls to within 87-86 with 20.4 seconds left.

Tom Thibodeau opted to trap Bryant on the ensuing inbounds play, sending Noah and Rose at the Lakers star. Instead of waiting to be fouled, Bryant’s pass to Pau Gasol was intercepted by Deng.

“It was a great call by coach Thibs to trap him,” Deng said. “We didn’t go for the foul. We trapped him and tried to get it out of his hand. We went for the first trap and he did exactly what we wanted. It was just a great, great plan by coach.”

Deng raced up the floor looking to get the ball to Rose for a go-ahead score. Rose drove past Derek Fisher and into the paint before releasing a high-arching one-hander from nine feet.

“We always believe when he gets the ball something special is going to happen,” said forward Carlos Boozer, who had 15 points and six rebounds.

Rose, who finished with 22 points and five assists, said he was confident the shot would fall because he rarely misses floaters.

“It’s one big shot after the next,” Thibodeau said of Rose. “It’s been that way certainly all last year and starting this year. He’s something.”

The Lakers had a chance for a final shot but Bryant drove past Deng and right at Taj Gibson and Noah, which forced him to hesitate long enough for Deng to block it from behind.

“I trust our defense,” Deng said. “I trust our bigs. I wanted to crowd him so he wouldn’t have his jump shot. I knew our bigs were going to be there. That’s exactly what happened. He drove, our bigs were there. He hesitated a little bit and I was able to come back and get it.”

The Bulls have plenty to work on as Thibodeau prepares his team for Monday night’s game against Golden State but he was impressed by his team’s — and its star player’s — resolve.

“I told them that we’ve been in this situation before,” Rose said of his late-game speech to teammates. “They have a new team, new players and a new system. I said they haven’t been in this circumstance yet and we’ve been there. Thank God we got a couple steals, made a couple great plays and won the game.”