Portland Trail Blazers hand Chicago Bulls their second consecutive loss – NBA Recap
The Chicago Bulls lost their second game in a row on Sunday night when they lost 94-102 to the Portland Trail Blazers here at the Rose Garden. The Bulls are now 5-5 for the season, a start which they would not have liked. Portland
outplayed Chicago in the second period, outscoring them 28-13 and then played out the game well to secure the victory. Nicolas Batum once again led the Blazers, finishing with 21 points and 4 rebounds, while going 6 of 13 from the field including a 5 of 10
performance from three point range. Wesley Matthews also finished with 21 points. Nate Robinson came off the bench to lead the Bulls in scoring, finishing with 18 points and 4 assists while going 3 of 6 from the distance.
Chicago started the game well, scoring 30 points in the first period to get their offensive momentum going. Back to back jump shots by Rip Hamilton in the early going had the teams leading 6-6, and Noah later scored a dunk to put
the Bulls up 16-11. Boozer then hit back to back field goals and the Bulls were up 22-16, but Portland scored the next five points including a three pointer by Batum trail 21-22. The Bulls then closed the period on an 8-0 run to lead 30-23 going into the second
quarter.
Portland scored the first six points of the second period and the Bulls seven point lead was gone within the first 2 minutes. They managed to score only two points till the 6:33 mark when Deng hit a layup to tie the game at 34.
Six straight points later in the period had Portland up 45-39, and Lillard then scored a driving layup to put the Blazers up 51-43 at the end of the second period.
Batum opened the scoring in the third period with a three pointer and put the Blazers up 54-43. Back to back three pointers by Damian Lillard and Batum later in the period had the Blazers up 64-49, and Batum later hit another three
point shot as Portland started running away from the Bulls to take a 67-53 lead. Chicago quickly compiled a 6-0 run to trail 64-69, and trailed 68-73 at the end of the period.
A three point play by Taj Gibson early in the final period tied the game at 73, but Portland scored the next eight points of the period to again put up an 81-73 lead. Wesley Matthews then hit a three pointer which was followed
up a free throw by Jared Jeffries and a jump shot by Matthews that put the Blazers up 87-75. The Bulls were not ready to give up that easily, and a three pointer by Robinson started a 9-2 run by the Bulls that had them trailing 90-95 with 23 seconds left.
Robinson hit another three pointer later but the Blazers scored on their free throws and won 102-94 in the end.
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, where as Lillard had 16 points on the night. Joakim Noah had 16 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists for the Bulls, where as Luol Deng finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds.
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