Unmasked Derrick Rose not the driving factor in win

Derrick Rose dropped the mask and cut his hair.

That wasn’t why the Bulls beat the New Orleans Pelicans 98-94 on Saturday night.

Boosted by Aaron Brooks’ 17 points and 10 from Joakim Noah, the Bulls rallied past lowly New Orleans. Brooks scored 15 in the fourth quarter and finished a night when the Bulls got 52 points off the bench.

“That second group – movement, pace, it’s how we want to play,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.

A Brooks floater with 40.3 seconds left gave the Bulls a 96-94 lead. New Orleans’ Eric Gordon then missed a 3-pointer that would have given the Pelicans the lead, which was followed by a Rose jumper with 11.5 seconds left that put the Bulls ahead 98-94.

Though it was Rose that clinched the win, the Bulls were in that position because of Brooks, Noah and their bench. Noah played 29:33 and also grabbed nine rebounds while Brooks added three assists and spent time in the backcourt alongside Rose.

“I just made some shots,” Brooks said.

In his first game with his old and new look, Rose didn’t make as many.

Gone was the look he’s shown off all season, and in was a haircut similar to what he wore during his 2010-11 MVP campaign.

Perhaps of more consequence could be the absence of the mask he’d worn to protect the left orbital bone he broke during training camp. He forgot to wear it during the second half of Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers and it didn’t come back against New Orleans when he scored nine points on four of 10 shooting.

Indeed, Rose felt a difference without the mask. He couldn’t summarize it to his satisfaction.

“I really can’t give an answer to that. It’s so detailed but I’m so happy that’s it’s off,” Rose said. “It’s off. I don’t have to worry about it, so once again I’m just happy that we won.”

At Saturday’s shootaround, Rose hadn’t let his teammates in on his decision. But they knew Rose was looking forward to the change.

“He hasn’t said anything to me. I talked to him the other day on our off-day and I was like ‘How does it feel?’ He said ‘it felt like a new man,’” Doug McDermott said. “It’s a good sign for us. I think you’re going to like Derrick’s clean look. It’s pretty cool.”

Maybe getting rid of the mask can help Rose’s shooting. Entering Saturday he was hitting only 36.3 percent of his shots and getting to the free-throw line only 2.6 times per game.

No, the mask isn’t the only reason Rose’s numbers are down, but shedding it could be a good thing.

“It will help a lot. Being a shooter, for me, I don’t think I could really do that,” McDermott said. “Especially a guy that, he gets to the rim, finishes around the rim. If you’re taking away a little bit of vision it puts you at a huge disadvantage. I think you’ll see some improvements in his shooting.”

Hoiberg echoed that, saying it would have caused issues for him during his playing career.

“I think so. It would have been for me,” Hoiberg said. “I wouldn’t have liked to shoot with that thing on my face.”

There were times when the Bulls struggled with their own shooting, but they still survived.

“They were having fun out there. It was such a grind-out, ugly, slow-motion type game coming out of the gate,” Hoiberg said. “Finally, we got a little energy injected out there.”