Deng uses both wrists to become Bulls’ reliable scorer

By Mike McGraw

mmcgraw@dailyherald.com

The Bulls’ first extended lull in more than a year ended, apparently, at halftime of Thursday’s game against Boston.

They seemed to be in imminent danger of dropping their third straight game after falling behind 49-38 at halftime. But Luol Deng led a late-night comeback and the Bulls dominated to second half to earn a 93-86 victory at the United Center.

After the game, coach Tom Thibodeau said he could tell from the halftime conversation in the locker room that the Bulls were ready to snap out of their 2 ½ game funk.

“Everyone spoke up,” Deng said. “We needed to play hard. A lot of things haven’t been going our way and that’s because we’re thinking too much. In the second half, we let go and said, ‘Don’t think, just play’ and good things happen when you just play hard.”

“We were not playing like us,” Carlos Boozer added. “We’re a team that’s honest with each other. In the first half, we were playing low energy.”

Deng did his part to turn things around, scoring 12 of his season-high 26 points in the fourth quarter. He outscored Celtics counterpart Paul Pierce 18-5 in the second half and added 4 steals.

This was Deng’s fifth 20-point game in the last seven. He appears to have gotten comfortable in the role of reliable scorer with Derrick Rose sidelined. But after the Boston game, Deng swore that he doesn’t think about his point total.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know those stats,” he said. “I just go out and play as hard as I can. The days of worrying about numbers, those days are gone. Now, it’s just winning the game. Just somehow being aggressive out there.”

Deng returned to the court on Feb. 4 after suffering a torn ligament in his left wrist two weeks earlier. He came back shooting better from 3-point range than he had in his NBA career, but was obviously struggling to control the ball with his left hand.

On Thursday against the Celtics, Deng scored most of his points off the dribble, pulling up to drain jumpers over Pierce.

“For a while, when I hurt my wrist, picking up off the dribble, I struggled with that a little bit,” he said. “Now my midrange is starting to feel good again.

“My wrist is starting to feel better again. It’s still there, but it’s getting better. Either that, or I’m getting used to playing with it.”

So the Bulls’ slump officially ended. But they have a tough week ahead with two games against the Knicks, followed by a visit from Miami on Thursday. Rose is hoping to return from a groin injury in one of the New York games.

“I think what our team has shown all year is we have great fight and we believe we can win with whoever we have out there,” Thibodeau said. “We’re all disappointed with the way we played in the previous two games. Sometimes you go through periods like that.

“(Against Boston), I thought it was a great collective effort. The bench was spirited, the win was spirited and it was a hard-fought win.”

mmcgraw@dailyherald.com