Gibson leads Bulls past Suns 92-87
Taj Gibson had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns 92-87 on Tuesday night in their first game after parting with Luol Deng in a trade.
Joakim Noah added 14 points and 16 rebounds, helping the Bulls to their sixth win in eight games. D.J. Augustin and Jimmy Butler each scored 13. Tony Snell added 12 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers during an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter that extended the lead to 13.
Chicago dealt Deng to Cleveland late Monday night after the two-time All-Star turned down a proposed contract extension, a move that hurts in the short term but gives the Bulls flexibility to add to their roster down the road. It also could also help knock them into the lottery, although that's far from a sure thing given the weak state of the Eastern Conference.
Either way, they weren't conceding anything on Tuesday.
Goran Dragic scored 21 for Phoenix, but the Suns simply couldn't get into gear after winning 11 of their previous 14.
Tops in the NBA in fast-break points, they managed just 10 against defensive-minded Chicago. The Suns played without guard Eric Bledsoe, who missed his third consecutive game with a sprained right knee, but the Bulls were hardly operating at full strength.
Besides dealing Deng, they were without Carlos Boozer. He missed his second straight game because of a sore right knee, leaving Chicago with just nine players available.
The Bulls were leading by five early in the fourth when Snell hit back-to-back 3s. Noah then scored on a layup to make it 78-65, and Chicago hung on after it got tight again late in the game.
Phoenix's Miles Plumlee hit a free throw to make it 85-81. But Kirk Hinrich answered with a 3 to bump the lead to seven with two minutes remaining.
It was a difficult day for both teams, with the Suns' departure from Phoenix delayed to Tuesday because of the subzero temperatures in Chicago and the Bulls trading away one of their best players.
Chicago acquired three draft picks from Cleveland along with Andrew Bynum, who was promptly waived in a move that took Chicago off the hook for the remaining $6 million on his two-year, $24 million deal.
But trading Deng was yet another big blow for a team that expected to challenge the Miami Heat for supremacy in the Eastern Conference.
Derrick Rose's season-ending knee injury in November dashed those hopes, and Deng is gone now, too.
"We can accept our circumstances as they are, or we can do all we can to change them and turn them into something positive," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "That's one of the things I've admired about our team — they've accepted every challenge."