Bulls 95, Heat 91

Luol Deng scored 25 points, Derrick Rose added 24, and the Chicago Bulls defeated the Miami Heat 95-91 Saturday night to end a three-game losing skid. Although the Bulls were missing the injured Joakim Noah and suspended Tyrus Thomas, they showed their composure and prevailed against the Heat. Chicago went up  in the fourth quarter and held onto their lead, extending Miami’s season-high losing streak to five.

Jermaine O’Neal tied season highs with 24 points and snatched 16 rebounds while Dwyane Wade registered 24 points. But the Heat fell for the seventh time in eight games. Miami pulled within two points (85-83) after a hook shot and layup by O’Neal with 2:34 left of regulation, but Rose answered with two free throws. Miami’s Rafer Alston then got called for an offensive foul in a collision with Chicago’s Kirk Hinrich. Rose drove to the hoop for a layup, giving the Bulls a 89-83 advantage with 1:20 left of the game. O’Neal knocked down two free throws and made another after missing one with 43 seconds remaining to make it a three-point contest. But Rose found Deng inside, resulting in two shots at the charity stripe with 35 seconds left. That made it a five-point game, and the Bulls could exhale after a tough day.

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Bulls-Hawks Preview

After winning five consecutive games on the road against good teams in the Western Conference, the Chicago Bulls lost back-to-back games. “They looked flat in a 90-82 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers upon returning home Tuesday, and had their road streak snapped Wednesday in Philadelphia against a team which entered with a 7-16 home record.”  The Bulls led the Sixers after 24 minutes and by one point in the final seconds of regulation, but lost the game in overtime. After the game, Chicago’s John Salmons told the press the team did not have the energy like they did during their streak. The guard added that Chicago needs to stay focused “from beginning to end.”

The Bulls look to bounce back on the road Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks, who have won eight of nine at Philips Arena and handed Chicago its worst loss of the season there in December. The Bulls were focused at the beginning of their trip to Atlanta on December 9, trailing the Hawks (31-17) by one after a quarter. But the Hawks outscored the Bulls 65-36 over the next two quarters en route to a 118-83 win. Atlanta’s bench outscored the Bulls’ reserves 66-32.

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Bulls fall 106-103 in OT

Although Derrick Rose scored 30 points and Luol Deng and John Salmons added 17 points each, the Chicago Bulls lost to the Philadelphia 76ers 106-103 in overtime. After making NBA history with 5 consecutive road wins over teams with winning records, the Bulls (23-24) have dropped two games in-a-row to losing teams to fall below .500. Salmons told the press, “We didn’t have the energy we’ve had in past road games. We have to make sure we stay focused from beginning to end.” The Bulls will take Thursday off before finishing a busy week with a visit to Atlanta, then a home date with Miami this weekend. Wednesday’s game was a difficult assignment because the Bulls were playing the second of back-to-back games, while the 76ers had not played since Sunday. The Bulls lost at home to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday. After the Philadelphia game, Rose said, “We should have put this game away when we had a chance. But the Bulls had trouble stopping Philadelphia’s Elton Brand (26 points) and Andre Iguodala (25 points).

In overtime, the Sixers scored their first 4 points after offensive rebounds. Trailing 98-96, the Bulls missed 5 shots before Rose finally tied the game at the foul line with 1:41 remaining. Iguodala buried a 3-pointer and, after Rose had his shot blocked, sixers’ Willie Green made a jump shot, which gave his team a 103-98 advantage with 53.8 seconds left.

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Clippers 90, Bulls 82

A 90-82 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers at he United Center, indicated that the Chicago Bulls were not ready to excel in the second half of the season. Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro said, “We just didn’t have that extra gear. We weren’t sharp. No excuses.” The Bulls had just won five consecutive games on the road against winning teams. Instead of coming home and extending their streak to six in-a-row, they were outplayed by the Clippers for the second time in two weeks. The Bulls’ goal had been to climb as high as fifth in the NBA East playoff order. Bulls’ fans expected their team to contend with the anticipated top four - Cleveland, Orlando, Boston, and Atlanta. But Tuesday’s loss against the Clippers was a good example that the Bulls need to improve before they can think about the postseason. Anyway, the schedule the rest of February appears favorable for the Bulls to resume the run they started on their seven-game road swing, but losing to the Clippers at home means nothing will come easy. Del Negro told the press, “We’re not a team right now that can take anybody lightly.”

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More points equals more wins for Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are winning more games because they are scoring more points. Before December 26, the Bulls played 28 games and scored at least 100 points only three times. They were near the bottom of the NBA in most offensive categories and had a 10-17 record. Since then, they are averaging 103.3 points per game (seventh best in the league) and scored 100 points in nine games. During that span, the Bulls are 13-5. It seems like Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro received a Christmas gift of a better offense. So how did the Bulls change things around? According to TNT analyst Doug Collins, Chicago’s scoring improved. He said, ”[The scoring improvement] is a combination of things, and they’re confident now. They were totally out of sync offensively. Their defense has really been very good all season long, but they couldn’t score and all of a sudden they got into rhythm offensively, and it starts with Derrick Rose having that ball in his hands.” There’s no disputing that the Bulls’ offense improvement and Rose stepping up his offensive production occurred at the same time. Last month, Rose averaged better than 23 points and shot better than 50 percent from the field. However, the point guard believes the offensive turnaround has been a team effort.

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Bulls beat Hornets in OT 108-106

Luol Deng scored a team-high 26 points, Derrick Rose had 18, Joakim Noah added 13 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls rallied  for a 108-106 overtime victory to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games. After dropping the first two games of a seven-game road swing, the Bulls (23-22) defeated five teams with winning records in the Western Conference. Chicago blew a 15-point lead and looked like they were going to lose the game until they forced overtime with a wild play in the final seconds. Deng, who had the game-tying tip-in with two-tenths of a second left in regulation, told the press, “When you’re winning, everything is positive. We’re going into games expecting to win. A game like that, if we had lost four in a row, we might have lost it. But the mentality right now, we feel like we can win every game.” The Hornets had a 102-100 lead with 8.8 seconds left of regulation. The Bulls would have had to foul immediately after the ball was thrown in,but New Orleans’ David West decided to go for the home run and fired from the backcourt to a streaking Paul ahead of the field. The pass was too long, and Paul tried to save the ball from going out of bounds by throwing it off Chicago’s John Salmons, but it stayed inbounds and Kirk Hinrich grabbed it. The Bulls raced upcourt and Rose drove inside. Although he missed his shot, Deng was there for the putback with a fraction of a second left of the game to force OT.

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Bulls-Hornets preview

The Chicago Bulls season-high seven-game road swing didn’t get off to a great start after they dropped the first two games. Four games later, it’s looking like the spark that’s turned their season around. The Bulls (22-22) try to close their road trip with a fifth straight win Friday night against the New Orleans Hornets. Chicago has shot 50.6 percent from the floor while holding opponents to 39.4 percent, and its most impressive defensive effort came against the Thunder on Wednesday. The Bulls limited Oklahoma City to 36.9 percent shooting and swarmed Kevin Durant to capture a 96-86 victory. Durant finished the game 7-for-19.

After the game, Chicago gaurd Derrick Rose said, “I don’t think anybody in the leagueor anywhere else would have thought that we would be sitting here 4-0 after that.” Rose scored 26 points and had seven assists against  Oklahoma City. The gaurd has been the catalyst during the streak, averaging 26.3 points and shooting 59.3 percent. After averaging 15.3 points per game during their first 18 games, Rose has since averaged 22.8 in helping the Bulls reach .500 for the first time since November 21, 2009. Chicago’s Joakim Noah, who’s averaged 13.0 points and 12.4 rebounds in his last 17 games, told the press, “It all starts with Derrick Rose. He’s just playing huge for us, making the right decisions, staying aggressive offensively. When your point guard is playing like that, it usually leads to good things.”

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Bulls win fourth straight, return to .500

After spending a night in Oklahoma City’s allegedly haunted luxury hotel, the Chicago Bulls defeated the Thunder 96-86 on Wednesday night for their fourth consecutive win. The Bulls (22-22) clinched a winning record on their seven-game road swing. They are 4-2 with one game remaining. The Bulls will face the New Orleans Hornets on Friday before they head back to the United Center. After the Bulls beat the Thunder, Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro told the press, “It just takes time; it takes patience and you have to go through some of the rocky roads to get to a level where you feel comfortable. We’re on a good roll right now.”

The Skirvin Hotel has gained a reputation among NBA players for being a spooky place to stay in. At the start of the season, New York Knicks center Eddy Curry said he believes there are ghosts at the hotel. Chicago’s Taj Gibson reported that his bathroom door mysteriously slammed shut in the middle of the night. Rose avoided the ghosts by spending the night on the computer. Neither player was frightened by the spirits at the hotel. Rose scored 26 points, while Gibson pulled in a game-high 15 rebounds.

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Bulls gaining focus

Forget, for a second, that the Chicago Bulls won three consecutive victories over Western Conference playoff teams. Look past the fact the Bulls are making crucial plays at both ends down the stretch of close games. Now, think about how the Bulls improved on-court focus and off-court maturation makes the potential for a second straight finish very real. Noah told the press, “If there’s one thing I’ve realized in the NBA it’s that as a team, you can never look at things as turning points. You have to really live in the moment and focus on every task at hand. Then when the season is over, maybe you can say, ‘Oh, OK, that was the turning point.’ But once you feel like you have it all figured out, that’s when you get smacked by 50.” Such lack of satisfaction with what has happened so far on this seven-game road swing, which continues Wednesday in Oklahoma City, would seem to preclude that from happening. Blowing a 35-point lead seems to be a thing of the past. Kirk Hinrich acknowledged that the Bulls are a tougher team on the road. He said,  “I just think we’re tougher on the road. Winning on the road comes down to mental and physical toughness.”

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Bulls beat Spurs 98-93, win third consecutive game

Derrick Rose shook off flulike symptoms to score 27 points and the Chicago Bulls Bulls won their third consecutive game, 98-93 win over the San Antonio Spurs on January 25. Kirk Hinrich had 18 points for the Bulls, who again beat a Western Conference team with a winning record on their seven-game road swing after stunning Houston and Phoenix last week. “Put it another way: the Bulls have won just one fewer road game in the last four days than they have in the first three months of the season. The Bulls are now 7-15 on the road.”

Tony Parker scored 20 points for San Antonio, who have dropped five of six games. Manu Ginobili scored 14, but was denied twice while driving to the rim in the final 33 seconds.

After trailing by 12, the Bulls took a 27-26 lead late in the first quarter. Chicago went into halftime with a 52-50 advantage. In the fourth quarter, the Spurs jumped out to a 77-72 lead, but the Bulls answered with a 13-2 scoring burst, which gave them a 85-79 lead with seven minutes remaining. With the score tied at 94 with less than a minute left of regulation, the Bulls scored the final five points. The Bulls (21-22) have pulled within a game of the .500 mark with the win.

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