Tired Bulls fall to fresh Spurs
SAN ANTONIO -- Even deep in the heart of Texas, most people realize a Hollywood wedding won't always have a Hollywood ending.
The biggest news story in San Antonio on Wednesday was the official announcement that Spurs guard Tony Parker and actress Eva Longoria will divorce.
According to the San Antonio Express-News, a reporter from People Magazine showed up at Spurs shootaround.
Of course, a byproduct of this bombshell was whether the Spurs would be distracted when they battled the Bulls on Wednesday night.
The Spurs might have been distracted for, say, 24 minutes or so. The Bulls jumped to a 10-point lead at halftime, then were buried by a flawless third quarter from the home team. San Antonio held off a late charge by the Bulls to win 103-94.
The Spurs (9-1) shot 71.4 percent from the field in the third quarter and outscored the Bulls 37-12 to turn a 10-point halftime deficit into a 15-point advantage.
“Third quarter, we came out and couldn't hit any shots,” guard Derrick Rose said. “Shots that we usually take, we weren't hitting.”
Rose did his best to bring the Bulls back into contention. He produced his second straight 33-point performance, hitting 15 of 27 shots from the field. In the fourth quarter he scored 9 straight points, mostly on long jumpers, to cut the Spurs' lead to 85-78 with 6:40 remaining.
The visitors had a couple of chances to make a serious run. Trailing by 7, Brian Scalabrine missed a 3-pointer and San Antonio stretched the advantage back to 12.
Kyle Korver's 3-pointer brought the Bulls within 97-91 with 1:58 left. After a steal, Luol Deng (18 points) missed an open jumper that could have cut the lead to 4.
A Rose 3-pointer made it 99-94 with about a minute left. The Bulls fouled Parker on the other end, he hit 1 of 2 at the line, but Spurs forward Richard Jefferson grabbed the offensive rebound and 2 free throws put the game out of reach.
The Bulls (6-4) were playing the second leg of back-to-back games after winning in Houston on Tuesday and appeared to be playing on rubbery legs in the second half. The Spurs, who had the previous two days off, won their eighth in a row. Parker scored 21, Manu Ginobili had 20, while Tim Duncan piled up 16 points and 18 rebounds.
“I don't know if it was fatigue or whatever,” Rose said. “The beauty of the NBA is we play in a couple of days (at Dallas). We've got a good feeling about ourselves. We had them, we let them go, and we have to learn from it.”
San Antonio switched their lineup in the third quarter, using sharpshooter Matt Bonner instead of power forward DeJuan Blair. By going 2-for-2 from long range, Bonner has hit 9 shots in a row from behind the 3-point line and is 10-for-12 on the season.
“They got us back on their heels to start the third,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “The only good thing was in the fourth quarter we fought back and we were in position. They're the type of team, you can't make mistakes against them, and we made a lot of mistakes in the second half.”
In the second quarter, Ronnie Brewer brought the Bulls' bench to its feet with a lane drive and tomahawk jam. When Korver added a 3-pointer and Omer Asik threw down a dunk, the Bulls lead peaked at 45-28 with 2:54 remaining in the second quarter.