Derrick Rose scripts a 104-99 Chicago Bulls win over the reeling New York Knicks – NBA Recap
Derrick Rose hammered 32 points, handed seven assists and hauled down 6 rebounds to lead Chicago Bulls to a hard fought 104-99 win over the struggling New York Knicks on Monday night.
The Bulls came in the game without three of their starters - Luol Deng, C.J. Watson and Richard Hamilton – but still had enough resources to send the Knicks crashing to their sixth consecutive defeat and the eighth in 10 games
since their superstar Carmelo Anthony returned from injury.
Anthony led the Knicks with 21 points on 8-of-21 shooting and 8 rebounds. Amare Stoudemire had 20 points; Tyson Chandler had 13 points and 10 rebounds while Jeremy Lin chipped in with 15 points and 8 assists.
Taj Gibson and Carlos Boozer added 15 points for the Bulls. Gibson also grabbed 13 boards including 8 on the offensive board. Joakim Noah rounded the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Ronnie Brewer finished with 11 points
and 7 rebounds.
In what was a closely contested game, the Bulls made the difference by dominating in the paint. Their intensity levels on the glass saw them out-rebounding the Knicks 56-38. The real difference though was on the offensive boards,
22-9 and Mike D’ Antoni, the Knicks coach, pointed that out after the game;
"We played well for long stretches, but the second chance points got us. The whole game they had us on the offensive glass."
The Bulls, as they often do at the United Centre, got off to a fast 12-5 start, but were quickly pushed back by an 11-0 Knicks run. New York connected on five consecutive field goal attempts in that spurt but failed to make the
next four as Chicago came right back with 9-1 response for a 21-17 lead. The Knicks however had the last bragging rights of the quarter, ending it with a 25-23 edge.
With six ties, the second quarter turned out to be a tight affair and a 7-2 closing surge allowed the Knicks to take a 50-48 advantage at the break.
The Knicks maintained their advantage early in the third, but a 12-2 Bulls run halted their surge. Nearly midway through the period, Noah slipped in a layup to make it 68-61 and the Bulls seemed to be cruising. New York bounced
right back with a 15-7 burst in the ensuing passage and with 1:38 left in the quarter, took back a 76-75 lead.
Chicago however managed to take a 79-78 into the last quarter and through short scoring bursts, managed to keep the Knicks at bay in the fourth before finally pulling the trigger with an 8-2 run late, pushing the lead to 99-90.
Chandler and Anthony combined for 5 consecutive points quickly but Kyle Korver made three of his four free throws to quell any hopes of a Knicks comeback.
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