Bulls-Grizzlies Game Offers St. Louis A Taste of the NBA

Last night’s preseason game between the Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies at Scottrade Center gave St. Louisans a rare taste of the NBA.

The Bulls were the home team on the scoreboard, and the crowd was mostly decked in black and red. Likewise, despite the neutral site, the entertainment during timeouts was provided by Benny the Bull and the Luvabulls dance team, rather than Grizz or the Grizz Girls. Before the game, a video of animated bulls running through the streets of Chicago played on the video board, and the Bulls received the dark-arena, light-show, pyrotechnic fanfare during the pregame introductions. The announcer said, “Ladies and gentlemen, your Chicago Bulls,” while images of Michael Jordan flashed overhead. It was enough to make me wish we actually had a team to call our own. More on that later.

The crowd was small—unofficially listed at 13,497—but lively. In my years covering sporting events, I have never seen fans so excited about the prospect of being thrown a free T-shirt.

Once the game actually started, the primary intrigue on the court was Derrick Rose. The Bulls’ star point guard was the league MVP in 2011, but he missed all of the 2012-13 campaign after suffering an ACL tear in the playoffs the previous season. Monday night’s exhibition was his second game back in 17 months, following the team’s preseason opener in Indiana on Saturday.

The Bulls’ starting unit, including Rose, got off to a slow start, trailing 11-2 less than three minutes in. Rose showed some serious rust from his time off, but also the quickness and explosion that made him such a thrilling player before the injury. He made a few lightning drives to the hoop, plays where one second he was here, the next he was over there, seemingly performing magic with the basketball.

About midway through the first quarter, the Grizzlies threw a bad pass, and after the turnover, the ball ended up in Rose’s hands. He went from end to end in a flash, finishing with an acrobatic layup and going to the free-throw line, where he couldn’t complete the three-point play. Rose finished with 13 points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field, including one three-pointer, and 6-for-10 from the foul line. A couple of his free-throw misses were particularly ugly bricks, again showing the effects of his time off.

After the game, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau voiced displeasure with his starters for their poor start to the game, but seemed happy with Rose’s progress. Not a loquacious personality, he responded to a question about Rose’s performance with a simple “good.” He later added that Rose was “aggressive.” Gotta love coach-speak, a language all its own.

Willie Reed, a one-time Saint Louis University hoops star who left the Billikens squad a few years ago amid controversy, played eight minutes for the Grizzlies, scoring four points. When he was introduced, the St. Louis faithful gave him a sort of half-hearted cheer.

The Bulls won the game by the final score of 106-87. Late in the fourth, a group of star-struck young ladies began cat-calling Bulls center Joakim Noah from across the court. Eventually, Noah, who wasn’t in uniform, stood up and pointed, a gesture that was returned with a good bit of shrieking.

And though the final score wasn’t particularly close and preseason games are infamous for players providing less than their best, the effort on the court throughout the night was top-notch, if a bit sloppy. Players battling for a roster spot had incentive to bust their butts, even once the game was out of hand. Grizzlies sharp-shooter Mike Miller even got a technical foul.

By the end of the night, I was having so much fun in my court-side seat on press row, I began longing for an NBA team in St. Louis. Sure, this is a small market that has enough trouble sustaining three major franchises. While the Cardinals are a model organization, both the Rams and Blues have had their troubles.

Still, pro basketball has been a part of the local landscape in the past. The Hawks played their home games in St. Louis from 1955 until 1968, when they moved to Atlanta. The team even won the NBA Finals in 1958, led by Hall of Famer Bob Pettit. Writer D.J. Wilson once penned a piece for this magazine imagining what might have happened had the Hawks never traded Bill Russell to the Celtics, where he went on to become one of the great winners in sports history, capturing 11 championships.

The ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis played two seasons here in the mid-’70s, and were known as one of the wildest and most entertaining sports teams ever. A documentary about the team, called Free Spirits, will premiere on ESPN tonight at 7 p.m. For more on the Spirits, check out my recent interview with Bob Costas, who got his start in broadcasting by calling their games.

After Monday’s game, the Bulls were heading to Brazil for an exhibition game in Rio de Janeiro. Will St. Louis ever again be the permanent home of an NBA team? It’s extremely doubtful, but a hoops head can hope.