DeJuan Blair, whose Spurs visit the Bulls on Thursday night, scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in San Antonio's season-opening 113-96 win over New Orleans on Wednesday.
How's this for company: The only other Spurs players to record a double-double in their NBA debut were Tim Duncan (15 and 10 in 1997) and David Robinson (23 and 17 in 1989).
Bulls 92, Spurs 85
Nuggets 97, Blazers 94
Jonathan Daniel/NBAE/Getty
Derrick Rose had 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in just 33 minutes to help the Bulls run past Tony Parker's Spurs, 92-85.
Ben Gordon seemed to take all the big shots for the Bulls over the past few seasons. When they needed a basket late in games, he was the man they usually turned to. Now he is playing in Detroit, and it appears the Bulls have a huge void to fill.
The thing is, the players don't seem overly concerned about their apparent lack of a "go-to-guy." Derrick Rose certainly will be asked to become a clutch shooter down the stretch, but Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and John Salmons will be expected to pick up the slack, as well.
That's a role that Salmons says he will have no problem filling, if that's what he has to do.
"My focus every year is just to help my team win as best as I possibly can," he said, when asked about the late-game situations. "Whatever that is. That's what it is."
Salmons also challenged the notion that every team must have one particular clutch shooter down the stretch.
"I guess it depends on the team," he said. "I think that plays out just as the season goes -- we'll see."
For his part, Rose believes that the entire team must step up all season, instead of one player in particular.
"It's everybody. It's not just one person," Rose said. "We need everybody. Like the coaches have been saying, we don't have any All-Stars or anything like that. We need everybody to join in, so that we can get [to where we want to go]."
• Read the Bulls' other four question marks