"If you're Derrick Rose, there are times to get your teammates involved and times to be a scorer first. With Bucks center Andrew Bogut out with a broken ankle, and the Bulls without primary ­scorers Luol Deng and Rip Hamilton ­because of injuries, Friday night's game at the United Center called for the latter.

Rose has said his sprained left big toe will affect his game for the rest of the season and at times since his return that has been evident. But his ability to change directions, elevate and take opponents off the dribble was as devastating as he scored 34 points in a 107-100 win that served as the team's last home game before it heads off on a nine-game road trip.

"He was very, very aggressive," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "That set the tone for us. He's feeling a lot better. He was in attack mode. That got us going."

Rose attacked the basket on the Bulls' first possession of the game. He wasn't discouraged when it rolled off the rim. His first field goal was a dunk. From that point on, Rose was taking Brandon Jennings off the dribble and beating the collapsing Bucks defense to the rim time and again. He scored 16 in the first half to help the Bulls to a 51-50 lead and started the third quarter by dribbling past three defenders and nailing a high-arcing one-hander over 6-10 center Drew Gooden."