The Chicago Bulls (9 - 4) defeated the Portland Trail Blazers (6 - 10) 93 - 88 on Tuesday thanks to some quality defense. This appeared to be an offensive - heavy game on paper, but the defenses showed up in a big way to make for a low - scoring grinder. Both teams failed to crack 40 percent shooting from the field and no individual player scored more than 22 points in the slugfest. Coming into the game, the Bulls had led the league in rebounding due to their massive frontcourt, but they were actually out - rebounded here 55 - 44 against a far more inferior frontcourt. The Blazers also recorded nine blocks in the game compared to the Bulls three and it's shocking that they lost with these sort of statistics in their favor. The Blazers starters shot under 30 percent from the field and that very well may have been the difference in the game. Chicago pulled out a huge victory on the road here in a game where they had no right to win. They were outdone in almost every significant statistic, but just played hard on the defensive end to pull out a nail - biter. Derrick Rose made his return in this game after a three - game absence and played well, tallying 17 points, six assists and four rebounds across 34 minutes of action. Jimmy Butler led the team with 22 points and Pau Gasol put in a double - double as well, totaling 12 points and 14 rebounds in the win. This is the sort of victory that shows the versatility and grittiness of this team and that's a scary sight for every other team in the NBA. Chicago has a few days off until they face the Indiana Pacers on Friday on the road. The Blazers played extremely well here and were unfortunate not to come away with a win. No player on the Blazers cracked the 20 - point mark and the closest one was Damian Lillard, who had an awful shooting night. Lillard shot 4 - for - 22 from the field to accumulate 19 points, but he did flirt with a triple - double by collecting 10 rebounds and eight assists as well. His usage rate was well above 30 before this game and that number will probably go up after a performance like this. The best player on this evening was Mason Plumlee though, as he put in a career performance. Plumlee recorded an 11 point - 17 rebound double - double in the loss and was a beast all night long. He's been a huge surprise this season for Portland and it appears they got a steal with him in the offseason. The Blazers are in a rough stretch right now, but they should be able to grab a win when they host the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday in their next scheduled game.
["PlayerStat(G,'Pau Gasol') has 12 Assists ,has 14 Blocks ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Jimmy Butler') has 22 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Derrick Rose') has 6 Assists ,has 3 Blocks ,has 3 3-pointers attempted ,has 17 Field goals attempted ,has 4 Field goals made ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Mason Plumlee') has 11 Assists ,has 17 Blocks ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Damian Lillard') has 8 Assists ,has 1 Blocks ,has 22 3-pointers attempted ,has 4 Field goals attempted ,has 1 Field goals made ,has 19 Offensive rebounds ,has 10 Personal fouls ."]