After calling out his teammate’s effort and play on the court, Derrick Rose and the struggling Chicago Bulls blew out the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night 104-81.

Rose had a very nice game and looked like the same guy who won the MVP back in 2011. Rose scored 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting while dishing out five assists. What made this a better game than some others this season was his aggressiveness and ability to attack the basket. Rose has settled a lot this year for three-point shots and tonight he was in attack mode, which is when he is much more effective. He may have been outspoken earlier in the week, but he backed it up in this one.

It was a balanced attack for Chicago as six players were in double-figures, including all five starters. Taj Gibson and Aaron Brooks scored 15 points apiece, Jimmy Butler added 17 points and made all seven of his free throw attempts, and Pau Gasol scored 12 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Gasol recorded his 25th double-double of the year which is tied for the most in the NBA this season.

As for the Spurs it started off close in the first half but the Bulls ran away with it in the third quarter. When the game got away from the Spurs in the second head coach Gregg Popovich decided to rest his starters, no player played more than 27 minutes tonight.

Kawhi Leonard was the only bright spot for San Antonio as he led the team in scoring with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting. In his four games back from injury Leonard has averaged 16.2 PPG and 8.0 REB. As the season moves along Leonard will be a huge part in the Spurs success.

The Spurs big-three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli combined to score 17 points on 7-of-22 shooting, 31.8 percent. Now these guys didn’t play a full load of minutes because of the thrashing they were taking but they never got a rhythm that made you think they could make a comeback. Popovich never worries about games like this as they always rebound quickly.

This was a much needed win for the Bulls as they had lost six of their last eight games and had fallen seven games behind the East leading Atlanta Hawks. This loss snapped the Spurs four-game winning streak and they still hold pat in the seventh spot in the Western Conference.

San Antonio will head home and face the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night at 8:30 PM EST. Chicago will head out on the road and face the Dallas Mavericks at 8:00 PM EST on ESPN. The Bulls will play seven of their next eight games on the road.