Big lead lost? No sweat at all for Bulls this time
Is there ever a good time to squander a 23-point lead in an NBA game?
The answer is yes - the second quarter.
The Bulls know the pain of blowing an epic 35-point lead this season against Sacramento on Dec. 21, most of which fell late in the contest.
On Wednesday night against Indiana, the Bulls burst to a 35-12 lead late in the first quarter only to watch the Pacers bury 8 of their next 11 shots from 3-point range and tie the score at 52-52 before the teams reached halftime.
No problem. The Bulls ran right back to a 9-point lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter and cruised to a fast-paced 120-110 victory over the Pacers at the United Center. The Bulls (30-27) improved to 5-1 since the all-star break.
Derrick Rose barely missed his first professional triple-double, finishing with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists.
"I may never get a triple-double in this league," Rose said in the locker room. "I wasn't too worried about it; I was just trying to win the game."
No triple-doubles? That seems like something he'd be capable of doing most any night.
"It's hard. I think I only got one in high school, probably one in grammar school," he said. "I got two in my whole lifetime and you've got people that's getting, LeBron got his 27th or something like that?
"I'm not even near those guys, Jason Kidd and all them - I'll leave it up to them. I just want to win games."
This is the closest Rose has gotten to a triple-double in the regular season. He had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists in Game 4 of the Boston playoff series last year.
Luol Deng, meanwhile, scored a season-high 31 points Wednesday, to go with 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. He successfully attacked Indiana forward Danny Granger, who played after missing the previous game for personal reasons.
"I was disappointed. I felt I missed a lot of open jumpers," Deng said. "It happens. I really felt like we moved the ball well, had a lot of open jumpers."
Coach Vinny Del Negro didn't use Joakim Noah or Hakim Warrick in the second half Wednesday against Indiana's 3-point heavy offense. Noah played just seven minutes in his third game back after resting his sore left foot. Noah had 5 points and 2 rebounds, good production for low minutes.
In explaining his decision, coach Vinny Del Negro felt he needed a smaller lineup to combat Indiana's outside shooters. The Pacers shot 40.9 percent from the field overall but knocked down 13 of 29 attempts from behind the 3-point arc.
"In the second quarter, when we were trying to go a little bit bigger, they were smaller and they were drawing and kicking and we weren't quick enough to get out to the shooter," Del Negro said.
The Bulls ended up thriving in a fast-paced game. The Pacers (19-38) seemed to pay tribute to longtime run-and-gun coach Paul Westhead in the first half because they rarely let the shot clock dip below 15 seconds.
"We didn't want to get embarrassed tonight and we were definitely headed in that direction," said Indiana point guard T.J. Ford. "It was a game of runs."
The Bulls' lead returned to double digits when Taj Gibson (14 points, 11 rebounds) hit 2 free throws with 8:19 left in the third quarter, and they were never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
The Bulls are 3-0 against the Pacers this season with the final meeting coming Saturday in Indianapolis.
<p class="facboxheadblack">Mike McGraw's game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Bulls 120, Pacers 110</p>
<p class="News"><b>Point production: </b>It wasn't exactly easy, but the Bulls did get a nice workout during this fast-paced win over the Pacers. Luol Deng scored a season-high 31 points, while Derrick Rose barely missed a triple-double. He finished with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Shooting swings:</b> The Bulls raced to a 35-12 lead, then watched Indiana drain 8 of its next 11 shots from 3-point range to tie the score at 52-52. There was no comeback once the Bulls rebuilt a lead in the third quarter.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Lineup surprises:</b> Pacers leading scorer Danny Granger was expected to miss this game because of a family emergency, but he played and scored 20 points. Mike Dunleavy (food poisoning) was a late scratch, and the Bulls still haven't seen rookie Tyler Hansbrough (inner-ear infection) in three meetings this season.</p>
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