Chicago Bulls hand Orlando Magic their first loss of the season: NBA Recap
Luol Deng inspired Chicago Bulls to a 99-93 win over Orlando Magic here at the United Center on Tuesday night, Magic’s first loss of the season. Bulls turned a 5 point deficit in the second half into 8 point lead thanks to the
exploits of Luol Deng and Nate Robinson late in the game.
Magic led the game for most of the first half but Bulls came down hard on them in the second and took the game away. They started the game sharply and took a 12-5 lead. Carlos Boozer hook shot made it 21-13 for the Bulls, but the
Magic soon found their rhythm as J.J. Redick fired a three pointer to kick off a 9-0 run that made it 22-21 for Magic, their first lead of the game. A last second jump shot by Ish Smith had Magic leading by 24-23.
The second quarter started slowly with a flurry of misses, fouls and turnovers. It was neck and neck between both teams. Arron Afflalo made a jump shot to level the score at 28 and he followed it up with a three pointer to give
Magic the lead. They pushed their lead to seven points before Richard Hamilton narrowed the deficit down to 48-45 with a pull-up jumper in the dying moments of the first half.
A Deng jump shot cut the Magic lead down to only one at the start of the second half. Carlos Boozer nipped one in too to tie the score at 52. A 5-0 run by Magic, minutes later, put them up 66-59. Chicago replied with a 5-0 run
of their own to come within one point margin of Magic. A Taj Gibson dunk shot in the closing moments left them trailing by just 2, 68-70.
It was all Bulls in the final quarter. They started off with a 6 point run to get into lead again. Two back to back jumps by Deng kicked off another 6-0 run that made it 80-72 for the Bulls. The alarm bells started ringing for
Magic at that point. A 5 point run did get them close but some good shooting from Robinson and company ensured a 99-93 win.
Arron Afflalo was the pick of the Magic players as he gathered 28 points along with 5 rebounds, making it 10 of 17 from the field. Glenn Davis put up a fine all round performance to score 16 points and 10 rebounds for the night
while E’Twaun Moore contributed 17.
Luol Deng top scored from the Bulls with 23 points and 8 rebounds while Joakim Noah put up 20 points and got 9 rebounds for the night. Bulls shot 47.6 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the three point range while Magic
shot 41.9 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from the three point range.
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