Bulls finish strong to top Bucks
Back home after their holiday road trip, the Bulls tried a different tactic.
Instead of slumping in the fourth quarter the way they had in the last three games, the Bulls inexplicably struggled for three quarters against the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks at the United Center.
The Bucks finished the game shooting a miserable 32.1 percent from the field but kept scrapping on the offensive glass and trailed by just 3 points early in the fourth quarter.
Two days earlier in Detroit, the Bulls squandered a lead late in the game. This time they built one. Thanks to a 15-4 run midway through the fourth, the Bulls pulled away for a 90-77 victory.
“You've got to give them a lot of credit,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said of the visitors. “They were terrific defensively and the way they rebounded the ball. It was hard to get the ball inside the paint. They are tough competitors.”
The Bucks were missing three of their top five scorers due to injuries — Brandon Jennings (broken foot), Carlos Delfino (concussion) and Drew Gooden (plantar fasciitis) — while veteran guard Earl Boykins, who averaged 18 points in the last three games, was suspended for making contact with an official during Monday's loss to Atlanta.
“I liked our defense, but we had a lot of things in our favor tonight — they were playing back to back (and) Boykins suspended,” Thibodeau said.
The one stat that kept Milwaukee (12-18) close for most of the game was offensive rebounds. The Bucks beat the Bulls 19-6 on the offensive boards and 18-2 in second-chance points, which usually is a Bulls specialty.
Bucks center Andrew Bogut scored just 4 points and hit 2 of 12 shots, but he grabbed 16 rebounds. Ex-Bulls guard John Salmons led Milwaukee with 18 points, although he made 5 of 17 shots.
“Sometimes teams like Milwaukee tonight, it's tougher than playing a team that has all their guys, because you have guys that are getting more minutes, getting opportunities and they're going to play hard,” Bulls forward Luol Deng said. “I thought in the first half they played harder than us. We just played great in the fourth quarter.”
Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer didn't have to carry the offense, for a change, since Deng poured in 24 points. Boozer finished with 24 points and 9 rebounds, while Rose had 18 points and 12 assists.
Rose had struggled lately with turnovers and his 3-point shooting. Against the Bucks he committed 2 turnovers and knocked down 3 of 4 attempts from 3-point range.
“Tonight, I really didn't have to score,” Rose said. “I was just passing the ball, trying to keep my turnovers down.”
Early in the game, the Bucks lived up to their billing as the NBA's lowest-scoring team, averaging just 90.8 points per game.
Milwaukee shot 24 percent (6 for 25) and fell behind 27-15 after one quarter. But the visitors kept hustling on the offensive glass and turned the tables, taking a 45-44 edge into halftime.
The Bulls (20-10) answered by scoring the first 6 points of the third quarter, but they couldn't put the Bucks away until midway through the fourth. Milwaukee was within 71-68 with 9:03 left after a Bogut tip-in.
Over the next six minutes the Bulls slowly pulled away for the 15-4 run, capped by 3-pointers from Rose and Kyle Korver.
“We played well at times but had nothing offensively,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. “When we were building momentum, we would miss a shot or turn it over, and that hurt us.”
<b>Mike McGraw's game tracker</b>
Bulls 90, Bucks 77
<b>Following form: </b>Milwaukee started the night ranked last in the league in points per game and field-goal percentage. Nothing changed Tuesday at the United Center, with the Bucks connecting on 32.1 percent of their shots for 77 points.
<b>Third scorer arrives:</b> Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer had been carrying the load lately for the Bulls. This time Luol Deng stepped up to score 24 points, tying Boozer for the team high. Rose added 18 points and 12 assists.
<b>Milwaukee near-miracle:</b> Despite all their poor shooting, the short-handed Bucks trailed by 3 points early in the fourth quarter before the Bulls pulled away. “It was almost miraculous we were in this game,” Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said.