Bulls aren’t larger than life, but they’re better than this

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The last time the Bulls had the coach of the year and MVP in the same season, it was 15 years ago, and Hall of Famers Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan received the honors.

Now it’s Tom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose’s turn. In the last 72 hours, they received the coveted individual awards. And their futures look pretty good, if still a little unsteady.

And that’s mostly because the Bulls have an uneven team with some holes in the lineup and a number of dents. After the 86-73 victory Wednesday, the Bulls even seemed a bit downcast, perhaps angry and resolute.

This is not a larger-than-life team. And they know it. This is not West-Chamberlain-Baylor. Not Magic-Kareem-Worthy. Not Bird-McHale-Parish. And certainly not Jordan-Pippen-Rodman. This is a team of one superstar and fill-in-the-blanks. Some darned good fill-in-the-blanks, mind you. But will anyone else on this team ever even be an All-Star? Luol Deng? Maybe.

And the once-stellar Carlos Boozer? Injured and blocky, he seems to be disappearing before our eyes.

This was not a pretty or meticulous game. When you shoot only 39 percent from the field, you’re not surgeons. But before we get too negative, there is also this: When you hold your foes to 34 percent shooting and only 37 points at the half, you may have scalpels in each hand.

It’s for sure that Thibodeau, a defensive fetishist, told his boys they would not be giving up another 103 points on their home court to the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks, as they did in Game 1.

After the game, Thibs spoke about his team having more energy and edge this time, and that they did. Certainly center Joakim Noah — 19 points and 14 rebounds — was a thresherlike presence. And forward Deng — 14 points and 12 rebounds in more minutes than anyone on either team — is a glue without which the Bulls likely would split apart.

‘‘Can’t say enough about Luol,’’ Thibodeau said.

Typical performance

Rose, of course, was his usual offensive-genius self, but who didn’t expect that?

The kid from Englewood throwing down 25 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and two blocked shots is just about average for him this season.

The eight turnovers? Not good.

But some of that comes with handling the ball most of the time your team is on offense.

His 1-for-8 shooting on three-pointers was not good, either. But are we nitpicking here? I believe we are.

Yet Thibodeau said of his superstar, ‘‘Again, I want to see him attack.’’

That is, not settle for long J’s.

‘‘I think things are gonna change,’’ Rose said afterward, speaking of the Bulls’ next two games in Atlanta. Change for the better, he meant.

He said his ankle is fine and wasn’t a factor in the game.

So to the rack he must go! Easy for us to say, huh? But they call them free throws because they’re free, and Rose got a bunch on drives in the first round against the Indiana Pacers.

Rose received his MVP trophy Tuesday at a suburban ceremony, and by the time NBA commissioner David Stern presented it to him again pre-game, Rose, you could tell, was halfway sick of thinking about the hunk of metal he had already promised to his mom, Brenda.

Pressure, he had noted at the Tuesday ceremony, it comes with success. It came on the playground at 73rd and Wood. And it’s coming hard and heavy now.

All about defense

Rose might not be the greatest defender in the world, but he hustles. As does everyone on the Bulls, even, we must assume, the toe-damaged Boozer.

Consider that even defensively challenged Kyle Korver forced the Hawks into a bad-pass turnover that Noah turned into two free throws. That’s not the blank he was brought in to fill, but it’s one he can fill.

The thing about having a coaching system based on defense is that it is a part of the game that is not dependent on hot hands or lucky bounces.

That’s why Game 1 was so dissatisfying. That’s why Game 2 was, at least, aw, heck, it was a win.

Do we expect too much?

Don’t know. But if anybody remembers that 1996 team, the one with Phil and MJ and their crowns, you’ll recall the Bulls won 72 regular-season games, the most in NBA history.

Their march of annihilation wasn’t complete until they went 15-3 in the playoffs, crushing the Seattle SuperSonics for the NBA title, their fourth in six years and the first of the second half of their ‘‘Three-Peat.’’

Nobody’s asking that of these Bulls. Not the dynasty, anyway. But getting better, yes.