Chicago Bulls strike back; Win the crucial game-5 against the Atlanta Hawks - Part 1
On Tuesday night, the Chicago Bulls won the all important game-5 of their Eastern Conference semi-final series against the Atlanta Hawks. Playing in front of their home crowd at the United Center, the Bulls hung tough to overcome
a stiff resurgence by the Hawks in the third quarter and then put them away in fourth, winning the game 95 – 83.
Derrick Rose got some sort of rhythm back into his shooting, hitting 11-of-24, on his way to 33 points. Rose also dished out 9 assists. Luol Deng had 23 points and Taj Gibson added 11, all in the final quarter, as the Bulls marched
onto the win. They had five players in double figures on the night.
Chicago were especially happy with the contribution of Taj Gibson down the stretch and league MVP Derrick Rose showered him with praise after the game,
"Taj, man, he just doesn't know how good he is right now," Rose said. "Still young, still trying to learn the game, but he came in and did what he's supposed to do."
Rose himself was very effective down the stretch, driving aggressively to the rim as he scored and created for others as well. The importance of his play wasn’t lost by his coach,
"It forces the defense to collapse, leads to easy opportunities for others, it leads to some second shots," Coach Tom Thibodeau said. "We want to be inside-out so I thought it was huge."
The Hawks got a good performance out of Josh Smith, who had 16 points and 7 boards. Jeff Teague, getting an extended run in the side because of the injury to Kirk Hinrich, carried on from his impressive display in the last game
to score a team high 21. However, the form of Atlanta’s two star players faded on the night. Joe Johnson had only 15 while Jamal Crawford had a horrible night, managing only two points. Crawford shot 1-0f-9 from the field, also missing all four attempts from
beyond the arc.
The Bulls always looked the stronger side on the night. They led for the majority of the game and even when Atlanta hauled them back, they couldn’t get up by more than 1 point.
Chicago were aggressive from the start. They began the game with a 10-2 run and from there on led throughout the first half. Atlanta made a 11 – 6 sprint in the middle of the quarter to cut the gap to 3 points, but the Bulls responded
with a 14 – 2 charge to restore a double-digit gap.
Atlanta managed just 21 points in the first quarter against 32 from the Bulls. Derrick Rose and Luol Deng were hot early on for Chicago, scoring 9 and 11 respectively in the first period. Keith Bogans was flawless with his shooting
as well. He had eight points in the first twelve minutes, including two hauls from beyond the arc.
Zaza Pachulia came off the bench to provide some impetus to the Hawks in the second quarter. Behind 9 points from the big guy, the Hawks slashed Chicago’s lead in the 2nd period. They outscored Chicago by 5 points in
that frame and cut the lead to four on a Josh Smith layup, with under a minute left in the half. Carlos Boozer converted from the line though and the half ended at 48 -42.
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