Derrick Rose leads Chicago Bulls past the Milwaukee Bucks 95-87
Derrick Rose scored a game-high 30 points and a career-high 17 assists to help the Chicago Bulls ease past the Milwaukee Bucks 95-87 at the Bradley Centre on Saturday night.
The Bulls are leading the Eastern Conference with an impressive 53 victories in the 2010-11 season. They are ahead of the Boston Celtics by three victories. Forward Carlos Boozer played a simple but effective game as he had a double-double with 14 points
and 11 rebounds in the victory.
Centre Joakim Noah contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds while guard Ronnie Brewer came off the bench with 10 points for the Bulls, who won their fourth consecutive game. John Salmons posted a team-high 25 points and pulled down five rebounds for Milwaukee.
Forward-guard Carlos Delfino contributed 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Bucks, who have lost five of their last 10 games this season. Guard Brandon Jennings had 13 points and five assists while forward Luc Mbah a Moute finished with
10 points and eight rebounds in the defeat.
Match Analysis
The match between Chicago and Milwaukee was one among the most hard-fought contests this season. Both teams were able to keep the game close until the last three minutes of the final stanza before the Bulls made the game safe with a 12-0 spurt.
The Bucks went on a 13-6 run in the first four minutes of the first quarter to take an initial lead. The Bulls trimmed Milwaukee’s lead to two with two minutes to go in the quarter. The Bucks held the visitors to 31 percent shooting from the field in the
first to take a 25-21 lead into the second.
Both teams scored 23 points each in the second quarter but Milwaukee managed to take a 48-44 advantage into half time. The Bucks kept playing some solid defence in the third quarter and extended their lead to 74-69, heading into the fourth.
Down by five after three quarters, Chicago C.J. Watson sunk a 17-foot jumper and hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 76. However, the Bucks got it going offensively and took an 87-83 edge with three minutes to go in the final buzzer.
From there onward, the Bucks got their rhythm back and brought the crowd back into the game. Chicago went on a 12-0 run in the last two minutes to seal the victory. The Bulls have now won all four games against the Bucks this season.
Chicago Head Coach Tom Thibodeau said that there is still long way to go for his team, and they have to work really hard. He said, "The challenge for us is to keep getting better. There are a lot of things that we have to improve upon. We are still not,
where we need to be. We dodged a bullet. We trailed most of the game. Its two games in a row defensively we were poor in the first half. We have to change that."
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