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Derrick Rose is starting to look like something closer to his old self. Rose scored a season-high 31 points in the Chicago Bulls' 115-106 win over the Trail Blazers on Friday, helping to offset the 70 combined points by Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge (the most they've ever combined for in a game). It's the most points Rose has scored in a game since scoring 32 against the New York Knicks on March 12, 2012. Rose had a season-high 18 points in the paint and had 13 points on nine drives to the basket. Rose had been averaging 5.5 drives and 4.8 points off drives per game entering the day. He had also been taking 3-pointers on 46 percent of his shots. On Friday, only two of his 24 shots were from 3-point range. Rose got off to a quick start, reaching double digits in points in the first quarter for only the second time all season. The Bulls are now 10-4 with Rose and are outscoring opponents by 6.8 points when he plays. They are 4-4 and are being outscored by 2.4 points when he doesn't play. And it wasn't just Rose who had a big game. His backup, Aaron Brooks, did as well. Brooks scored 17 points in his 16 minutes and 47 seconds of play, his second-highest point total in a game this season. Brooks was 8-of-10 from the field, the best he's shot in any game in which he took 10 shots since going 9-of-11 against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2009. In fact, you could make the case that Brooks had a better game than Rose. With Brooks on the floor, the Bulls outscored the Trail Blazers by 23 points (his second-best plus-minus of the season, trailing only the plus-25 he had against the Knicks in the season opener). When Rose was on the floor, the Bulls were actually outscored by five points.
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