Derrick Rose erupts with a career-high 44 points; Chicago Bulls take down the Atlanta Hawks 99-82 for a 2-1 series lead
On Friday night, Chicago Bulls mercurial point guard Derrick Rose converted Philips Arena into his personal highlight factory as he sliced up the Atlanta Hawks with a career-high 44 points to seal an enthralling 99-82 victory. The newly crowned MVP left yet another stamp of his brilliance on the NBA world with a game-high 7 assists and propelled the Bulls to a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference best-of-seven semi-final series.
Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said on Rose’s smashing performance after the game, "Derrick was in attack mode, obviously. He was attacking from the start. When he's attacking, and not dancing with the ball, he's impossible to stop. He caught it on the run and kept going. ... he wasn't playing around or letting them catch up."
Taj Gibson posted a decent performance off the bench and notched up a magnificent double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds to provide support to Rose.
All of the starters from Atlanta landed double figures. Guard Jeff Teague led the scoring with a team-high 21 points. Derrick absolutely dominated the scoring of the game and didn’t provide room to the Hawks to gain any sort of momentum.
Teague said after the game, “He’s tough to cover anyway, but when his jump shot is falling, he's the MVP."
Rose was simply unstoppable on the night. He smashed Atlanta with 17 points in the first quarter, from where the visiting Bulls never trailed throughout the game. Jeff Teague strived to lift the momentum early on and scored 11 points of his 21 in the first period, however Rose didn’t showed any signs of retreat and led Chicago to a 29-23 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Thibodeau brought on his reserves in the second quarter and they responded. C.J. Watson nailed a layup shots, then canned a jumper followed by two free throws in the preliminary three minutes of the period as Chicago raced onto a 35-26 advantage. With 8:29 to go till the break and the score at 35-29, the Bulls reeled off a 7-0 run to take a double digit lead. They maintained their advantaged through the rest of the half and went into the locker room with a comprehensive 56-43 lead.
Rose and Keith Bogans headed out with two blistering 3-pointers apiece in the third quarter and continued to blow the opposition apart. Even though Hawks’ prolific forward Josh Smith scored 10 points in the third quarter the Hawks failed to contain the Bulls. Rose kept the score board ticking for the Bulls and landed a running jump shot before entering the fourth quarter as Chicago sealed a massive 80-63 advantage.
Atlanta showed some retaliation early on in the fourth but the Bulls struck back with an array of three pointers to seal the game.
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