Rose power Bulls to 2-1 lead over Hawks

2011 MVP living up to expectations.

The Chicago Bulls took the driver seat of their Eastern Conference semifinals match up with the Atlanta Hawks after a 99-82 road win last night at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta led by their MVP Derrick Rose.

Rose flared up the Hawks with a career high 44 points seasoned with 7 assists and 5 rebounds to regain homecourt advantage in the series and push the Hawks to a seemingly "must-win" situation this coming Game 4 to be held once again in Atlanta.

Hawks had no answer for Rose since the opening tip-off allowing him to score 17 points in the 1st Quarter, much to the dismay of the home fans as the series shifted to the Phillips Arena for the first time.

Jeff Teague was the lone bright spot for the Hawks scoring 21 points but he was repeatedly punished in the defensive end by the wide arsenal of moves Derrick Rose showed throughout the game.

Chicago's bench was exceptional for this game as they sparked a pivotal second quarter push to pad the lead to double digits while their starters rested in the sidelines. CJ Watson, Taj Gibson and Ronnie Brewer did a good job starting the second quarter from both ends of the court, giving their team the spark they needed to stay comfortably ahead.

Josh Smith accounted for a respectable 17 points and 13 rebounds but he attempted a lot of long jumpers that did not get him much success and the frustrations from the crowd mounted as Game 1 heroes Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford was limited to 10 and 7 points respectively.

The Bulls head to Game 4 hoping to get a commanding 3-1 series lead while the Hawks hope to knot the series at 2-2 before heading back to the Windy City.

Rose named 2011 NBA MVP

He knew right from the start that he was on his way to being the MVP.

22 year-old All-Star point guard Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls became the youngest ever MVP in NBA history after he received the 2011 Kia Motors MVP plum last Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila Time)

after leading the Bulls to 62 wins this season, the most since the championship glory days and he joined Michael Jordan as the only 2 Bulls players to ever get the award.

Rose averaged 25 points and 7.7 assists as he led his team to being the number 1 seed in the entire league and he hopes to steer his squad to it's first ever championship since the Jordan-Pippen era. He collected 1,182 points with 113 first place votes from media voters in a land slide victory as he was followed by Orlando's Dwight Howard (643 points) while LeBron James ranked third in the list.

He stepped up his game even more in the play-offs as he led his team over the Indiana Pacers in the first round after dropping 39 and 36 points in the first two games before scoring 25 in game 5 to help his team wrap up the series.

Rose walked away with a sprained ankle in the last moments of their Game 1 loss to the Atlanta Hawks which ended 103-95 but he will try to get his team back on the right track in Game 2 as they try to even out the series.

Meanwhile, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau received the 2011 Coach of the Year Award, a testament to Chicago's success this season.