Carlos Boozer roars as Chicago Bulls humiliate Phoenix Suns 118-97 - NBA Recap
Once again, Chicago Bulls proved they are not just about Derrick Rose.
Derrick, who is nursing a sprained big toe, missed tonight’s game and probably would be missing a few more but Bulls should not be too bothered because they have other players who can rise to the occasion when needed.
In what was their 16th outing of the shortened season, they completed yet another massive win by routing the Phoenix Suns 118-97, to improve to 13-3.
It was a team effort with all the players playing their part to perfection.
Carlos Boozer stole the show tonight and led the Bulls offense with a season high 31 points on 14-for-21 from the floor. He was attacking right from the start and scored majority of his points in the first half.
"I just played off my teammates, came out aggressive, got open shots and just took them," Boozer said.
CJ Watson pounded 23 points including 3 for 3 from the long range and 4 for 4 from the charity stripe while Luol Deng netted 15 points. Joakim Noah had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards while the reserve Omer Asik drained 11.
"I thought it was great," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "We had a lot of guys play well."
Bulls were 53.4% from the floor including 5-10 from the long range and outclassed the Suns 31-19 in the dished out assists.
Veteran Steve Nash paced the Suns with 25 points and 9 assists whereas the backup player Robin Lopez registered 16 points on 6-for-7 from inside the arc. Marcin Gortat completed a double-double with 14 points and 15 boards.
Suns, too were accurate with their shooting but they committed 19 turnovers in the game which hurt them big time in the end.
"Turnovers hurt us," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "The big difference was we just didn't slow them down. We are not the Phoenix Suns of old. We need to slow down and guard them more closely."
Bulls fired right from the beginning and ended the high scoring first quarter with an 8 point lead 39-31. They pushed the momentum in the second frame and managed to maintain the lead throughout. Scores were 49-39 in the first 5 minutes and then Bulls rattled
an 11-2 run to boost the lead to 20 points 61-41.
After that point, the lead never came below 20 points until the end of the game as Suns failed to make any sort of impact in the remaining two frames. In the end, they lost the game by 21 points.
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