Rose, Bulls grab 60th win

Derrick Rose was injured twice last season when he drove to the basket against Orlando and was flatted by a hard foul from Dwight Howard.

With Howard serving a suspension Sunday, Rose found little resistance in the lane. He hit 13 of 17 shots for 39 points as the Bulls pulled out a 102-99 victory at Amway Arena.

Rose still took a couple of hard hits in the fourth quarter, though. He was slow to get up after a blocking foul by Ryan Anderson and also when flattened on a fastbreak by Jameer Nelson.

The Bulls won their 60th game, an impressive accomplishment, and stayed in the race for the NBA's best record. But some sort of injury to Rose is the worst thing that could happen to the Bulls right now.

After the game, Rose was more concerned with almost letting a short-handed Orlando squad off the hook.

“We should have easily put them away,” Rose told reporters after the game. “But we continue to let teams come back. It's going to hurt us if we continue to do this. But we're definitely happy with this win.”

The Bulls shot 60 percent from the field but piled up 21 turnovers and were dominated 16-5 on the offensive boards.

“It wasn't a good game for us,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Our defense wasn't very good, our rebounding was below average, and we didn't take care of the ball. We were fortunate (to) win.”

The Magic (50-30) played without Dwight Howard, who was suspended for picking up his 18th technical foul of the season Wednesday at Charlotte.

Luol Deng added 15 points for the Bulls, while Carlos Boozer finished with 12 points and 6 assists. Forward Ryan Anderson led Orlando with 28 points, while Jason Richardson scored 24. The Magic hit 12 of 24 shots from 3-point range to stay in the game.

Orlando led 94-91 with 2:48 left after a falling fastbreak bank shot by Richardson. Rose finished a breakaway dunk off a steal by Taj Gibson to put the Bulls ahead 95-94 with two minutes left.

The Magic took the lead once more on a pair of free throws by Anderson, before Boozer's 2 free throws put the Bulls ahead for good with 1:26 left.

The Bulls held a 1-point lead when Ronnie Brewer stripped the ball from Orlando's Brandon Bass. On the other end, Gibson took a nice pass from Rose and was fouled. He hit the first free throw, then Deng rebounded the miss.

Rose hit a pair of free throws with 9.9 seconds on the clock to put the Bulls up by 4. Rose went 10-for-10 at the line Sunday and has knocked down 34 straight free throws over the last five games.

Nelson drained a long 3-pointer that could have tied the game, but it left his hand after the final buzzer sounded.

Rose will win the MVP award, probably by a landslide. Before the game, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy suggested Thibodeau and the Bulls management team of Gar Forman and John Paxson deserve hardware.

“I don't think there's any doubt (Thibodeau) should be the coach of the year,” Van Gundy said, according to espn.com. “It's one of the best coaching jobs I've seen done since I've been in the league.

“They're really solid at both ends. They play hard and play every night. They've had no lulls throughout the year at all.”

Van Gundy thinks Miami's Pat Riley will win executive of the year for signing LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

“(The Bulls) made a lot changes; they were below Miami in the standings, now they're above Miami in the standings,” Van Gundy said. “How could you not go with those guys (Forman and Paxson) as your executives of the year?”