Rose works on long-range shooting slump

After arriving home from the Bulls' five-day holiday road trip, Derrick Rose got in the gym and went to work on ending his long-range shooting slump.

After shooting better than 50 percent for most of the month, Rose had missed his last 11 shots from 3-point range.

Against Milwaukee on Tuesday night, he knocked down 3 of 4 attempts from behind the arc. Asked how much time he spent at the Berto Center the previous day, Rose would only admit to less than three hours.

“If anything, just going back to the basics, shooting with the weight ball and getting my timing back,” Rose said. “I guess there are some games where you're going to hit them. Tonight they were sagging off and I was just shooting.”

Rose also mentioned he plans to make the weight room a regular in-season destination.

“When you're lifting weights and stuff, it's big because I'm getting knocked down a lot going to the hole,” he said.

Skiles sees Bulls in first:

Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles didn't exactly concede the Central Division to the Bulls, but he suggested they might continue sitting in the driver's seat.

By winning Tuesday, the Bulls boosted their division lead over Indiana to 6½ games and the Bucks to 8. The winner of each division is guaranteed a top-four playoff seed.

“I'd be really, really surprised if the Bulls somehow took any sort of step back,” Skiles said before the game.

“With the guys they have right now and the way they're playing — not that some other team can't win 12 out of 13 or something and climb right back in it — but I don't see them taking a major step back.

Skiles, who coached the Bulls to the playoffs three times from 2003-2007, has the Bucks in position to claim the eighth playoff spot in the East, despite a number of key injuries.

“The East is open,” he said. “We've just got to find a way to hang in.”

Bucks' Boykins suspended:

Milwaukee guard Earl Boykins was suspended for Tuesday's game for making contact with an official during a loss to Atlanta the previous night.

With point guard Brandon Jennings out with a broken foot, Boykins had averaged 18 points in the Bucks' last three games.

“He didn't mean it; it was kind of incidental contact,” Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said. “But on the other hand, the league's very clear about that, and I understand it.

“They don't want guys having contact with the officials, and I think that's fair. It was just one of those unfortunate things.”

Bull horns:

Bulls forward Taj Gibson tied a career high with 5 blocked shots, despite playing just 15 minutes. … The Bulls improved to 14-1 this season against teams with a losing record.