Deng, Belinelli guide Chicago Bulls to a 93-85 win over the NY Knicks, Win three straight – NBA Recap
Chicago Bulls have been New York Knicks’ nemesis for quite some time. Coming into the game, the Bulls had won 4 of the last five games against the New Yorkers and 17 of the last 20 at the United Center.
And on Saturday night, Marco Belinelli and Luol Deng helped them add one more win to those stats. The duo scored 22 apiece as the Bulls overcame Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks 93-85, ending their 5 game winning streak. Melo missed his second consecutive game, nursing a lacerated middle finger of left hand that received five stitches.
Belinelli was on fire right at the start. He scored 15 points in the first quarter alone, guiding the Bulls to a 26-23 lead. The Knicks were always in the game though, but after they took a two point lead early in the fourth, Deng took over. The Bulls forward scored 10 points in the last frame to marshal the hosts, who also had 12 points and 10 rebounds from Carlos Boozer. Joakim Noah added 10 points and 11 rebounds, but committed 9 of the total 19 Bulls turnovers. Nate Robinson provided the spark off the bench with 14 points, 6 rebounds and eight assists for the Bulls, who have won three games in a row for the first time this season.
Raymond Felton led the Knicks with 27 points, but missed 21 of his 30 shots from the floor while Tyson Chandler added 14 points and 18 rebounds for Knicks, who were restricted to their lowest season total on the night. The Knicks were horrendous from the field; they just converted 32.1 percent of their shots – a season low – and at 15, committed the highest number of turnovers for this season. J.R. Smith who scored 15 points on 4 of 14 had 5 of those turnovers.
Knicks started off with a 6-0 run, but were soon restrained by a 10 nil response from the Bulls. From there on started a battle, which never saw any team pull away with a significant lead, till 8:30 were left in the game. Paced by Deng, Bulls outscored the Knicks 20-9 till five seconds inside the last minute to take a 91-82 lead, and sealed the game.
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