Joakim Noah leads as Chicago Bulls down Philadelphia 76ers 96-89 on the road: NBA Recap
Not only were the Chicago Bulls depleted but they were also tired when they travelled to Philadelphia with a less than a 24 hours rest after their tough 5 point loss to Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.
But the Bulls showed no signs of fatigue as they rolled past the Philadelphia 76ers 96-89 on Wednesday for their fourth straight road win.
Joakim Noah, who led the Bulls with 21 points and 7 rebounds, was all charged up after the win;
"We've been fighting all year, but we've let a lot of games slip. But there's a lot of basketball left and we have to keep playing like this. Back-to-back can be tough if you let it. We fought hard and we had everyone here contribute.
That's what you need and I thought we were resilient. We went to the basket hard and we went to the glass hard."
Luol Deng posted a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Marco Belinelli had 16 points for the visitors.
Jrue Holiday continued his strong performance for the Sixers as he scored a night high 26 points and dished out 9 assists, Evan Turner posted 16 points and hauled down 8 rebounds while Spencer Hawes had a double-double with 10
points and the same number of rebounds.
The Sixers looked sharp early in the game and a Thaddeus Young fadeaway jumper had them leading 14-9 near the 6 minute mark. Later on, another deuce by Young put them up 24-17 before the Bulls scored the final 4 points of the quarter
to cut the deficit down to 21-24.
Chicago went ahead early in the second period and a Jimmy Butler dunk had them up 29-26 three minutes into the quarter. Bulls scored 5 quick points to push their lead to 34-28 when the 76ers came back to tie the score on 36. The
score was all square on 40 again but the Sixers took the lead and were up 44-41 by halftime.
Belinelli wasted little time and nailed a three pointer at the start of the third period to tie the score. However, the Phillies went in front early and were leading 62-56 with 4:02 minutes left in the quarter. The Bulls bounced
back and closed the period with a 13-4 run to snatch the lead and head into the final quarter with a 69-66 advantage.
The final period was pretty close and it was a one point game on 80-79 with 5:32 left on the regulation. Butler nailed a three pointer to kick off a 7 nil run for the Bulls that put them up 86-80 and Noah tipped one in to push
their lead to 90-83 moments later. The Phillies never looked threatening after that. Bulls scored their last 6 points on free throws to win 96-89 eventually.
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