Cha-ching! Rose scores for charity in win over Suns
Derrick Rose decided to give a big assist Friday night.
He pledged to donate $1,000 per point scored against Phoenix to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
Rose has increased his scoring load lately, but would he kick it up a notch with charity at stake? Well, the Bulls had the benefit of playing the high-scoring Suns at the U.S. Airways Center. Phoenix leads the NBA in scoring but ranks 29th in points allowed.
Rose made the most of the opportunity, erupting for 32 points as the Bulls pulled out a 115-104 victory to snap a two-game losing streak on the ice-show road trip.
"I liked the tempo of his game tonight," said Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro, who is now 3-0 against Phoenix. "I liked the way he controlled the game, especially at the end, being patient with the high screen-and-roll, making the right play, not forcing anything."
Rose figured to have a speed advantage over veteran Phoenix guard Steve Nash, who turns 36 in February. The second-year guard also had his jumper working and knocked down 15 of 21 shots.
At the end of the third quarter, Rose buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer, just his third of the season. Midway through the fourth, Rose took a fastbreak pass from Tyrus Thomas and threw down a high-flying, two-hand dunk over Suns guard Goran Dragic.
The spectacular play sent the Bulls ahead 99-91 with 6:11 remaining. The Bulls (19-22) put the game away by holding Phoenix to 2 points over six minutes after the home team closed within 91-89 early in the fourth quarter.
Rose posted his career-high of 37 points just last week against Washington, but that game went double overtime. Rose rang up 32 against Phoenix in regulation time.
Center Joakim Noah also had an impressive game. Limited to 25 minutes because of foul trouble, Noah still scored 19 points and added 8 rebounds. Luol Deng added 23 points for the Bulls, while Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons had 14 each.
The Bulls had a full roster for the first time on the road trip. Hinrich missed the opening game against Golden State and Salmons sat out Wednesday against the Clippers, both with stomach flu.
Overall, the Bulls shot 50.6 percent from the field. They were at 57.8 percent in the first half while rolling to a 64-54 halftime lead.
Phoenix just had two players voted Western Conference starters - Nash and power forward Amare Stoudemire. But the Suns had also been slumping lately. They were 14-3 on Nov. 30 and have gone 11-16 since.
Stoudemire led the Suns with 23 points. Hill scored 17 and Channing Frye 16.
The Bulls led 64-54 at halftime, but the Suns quickly erased the margin as Hill scored 10 points in a 23-11 run and Phoenix took a brief lead at 77-75.
After Rose finished the third quarter with the 3-pointer, Deng opened the fourth with a hanging bank shot and 3-point play to put the visitors ahead 91-83.
A few seconds later, Bulls center Joakim Noah went to the bench with his fifth foul. With 8:40 left in the fourth quarter, Taj Gibson fell hard on his back after grabbing a defensive rebound, but he appeared to be OK.