Hawks-Bulls Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Jan 03 2012 12:28AM

The Chicago Bulls have won three in a row and are coming off a 40-point victory.

The Atlanta Hawks likely won't be too intimidated.

In their first meeting since last season's conference semifinals, the surging Bulls host a Hawks team coming off an impressive win in their first game of a daunting stretch.

After opening the season with a 3-1 road trip, Chicago (4-1) made its long-awaited home opener Sunday night against Memphis, and didn't disappoint the United Center fans. The Bulls jumped out to a 26-point halftime advantage, led by as much as 46 in the third quarter and cruised to a 104-64 victory.

The game was so lopsided, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah spent more time on the bench than on the court and Derrick Rose played just 25 minutes.

There were a few concerns for the Bulls, though, as starting shooting guard Richard Hamilton was scratched shortly before tip-off with a sore left groin and backup point guard C.J. Watson sprained his left elbow late in the game. Hamilton will likely be a game-time decision against the Hawks (4-1), while Watson is unlikely to play.

Ronnie Brewer, who started in place of Hamilton, and Boozer led the Bulls with 17 points apiece Sunday and Rose finished with 16 points and six assists. Chicago is averaging 108.7 points during its three-game winning streak, while outrebounding opponents by an average of 9.3 boards.

"I thought we had chance to win (the championship) last year. I think we have a chance to win this year," Boozer told the Bulls' official website. "We're going to have a chance every year. Aside from Olympics and All-Star teams, this is the most talented team I've been on in the NBA."

Boozer and the Bulls got past Indiana and Atlanta in last season's playoffs before being eliminated by Miami in five games.

The Heat opened this season with five straight victories and went into Monday's game against Atlanta coming off a 39-point win over Charlotte the night before, but couldn't keep their perfect record intact as the Hawks won 100-92.

Joe Johnson had 21 points and Tracy McGrady hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 2:26 of the fourth quarter and scored 13 of his 16 points in the final period. Al Horford also had 16 points for the Hawks, who finished with a season-low 10 turnovers.

"Great execution," McGrady said. "That's what you have to do when you're playing great teams."

Atlanta will see two of the Eastern Conference's top teams this week.

After facing Chicago, the Hawks return home to open a back-to-back-to-back stretch with a rematch against the Heat on Thursday. They'll then play in Charlotte the next night and conclude the three games in three nights stretch Saturday at home against the Bulls.

Atlanta took Game 1 of last season's playoff series with Chicago at the United Center, but the Bulls went on to win the series in six games. Rose led Chicago, averaging 29.8 points and 9.8 assists.

Johnson scored 34 on 12-of-18 shooting in upsetting the Bulls in Game 1, but averaged 16.8 points in the other five games.

Deng's layup with 3.7 left leads Bulls past Hawks

Posted Jan 04 2012 12:13AM

CHICAGO (AP) With Derrick Rose having a big fourth quarter for the Chicago Bulls, everyone expected the reigning NBA MVP to take the final shot with the score tied. Instead, it was Luol Deng who got the game-winner in the closing seconds.

Deng's layup with 3.7 seconds left lifted the Bulls to a 76-74 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

Rose scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Bulls from a 19-point deficit. Coming out of a timeout, Deng cut along the baseline and took a feed from Joakim Noah to put Chicago ahead.

"At the end of practice, we always run (the play)," Deng said. "(Joakim) made a great pass. We had a feeling both of (the defenders) would go with Derrick."

Turns out the play was designed for Rose after all.

"Obviously, we're trying to get it to Derrick," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "They did a good job taking the first and second option away. Derrick set a great screen, (Noah) made a great pass and Luol made a great cut."

The play caught the Hawks off guard as they were anticipating Rose to get the last shot.

"We all assumed that the ball was coming back to Rose," Atlanta's Al Horford said. "We were going to come and trap. That was a great play by their coach designed to take the pressure from Rose and hit Deng on the back. We didn't expect that at all."

Joe Johnson shot an airball at the buzzer, giving the Bulls the win.

Deng finished with 21 points for the Bulls and scored eight over the last four minutes after Atlanta re-established a lead.

"You can't say enough about Luol," Thibodeau said. "He does everything."

Rose missed a runner with 21 seconds left, but Atlanta's Jeff Teague missed two free throws. Rose then drove past Teague and scored over the Hawks' Josh Smith with 9.9 seconds left to put the Bulls up 74-73.

Horford, who led the Hawks with 16 points, was fouled when Deng ran into him near the top of the key. Horford split two free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining, tying the score and setting up Deng's heroics.

"We stopped defending with the intensity that we did in the first three quarters," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We didn't make our free throws going down the stretch. If you don't make your free throws on the road you can't expect to win."

Marvin Williams added 14 points and Josh Smith had 13 for Atlanta, which shot just 35 percent from the floor but held Chicago to 34 percent.

The Bulls have won four straight and their 5-1 start is their best since opening 12-0 in 1996-97.

Rose scored 11 points early in the fourth, including three 3-pointers. His pullup 3 cut Atlanta's lead to two with 8:15 to play and capped the Bulls' 20-3 run.

"We were right there with them," Horford said. "We dominated for most of the game. Just Derrick Rose happened."

Two minutes later, Rose passed to Deng for a 3 in the corner, evening the score at 62 for the game's first tie.

"I was saying something the whole game, cursing and everything," Rose said when asked if he said anything between the third and fourth quarters to fire his team up. "We got things together at the right time."

Johnson answered with a 3 of his own to spark a six-point Atlanta run. Chicago closed the gap to one on a series of free throws by Deng, setting up the stretch run.

The Bulls had won three straight coming in and were coming off a 40-point rout of Memphis on Sunday but didn't lead until Rose's spectacular crossover move and layup to put Chicago up 72-71 with 57.9 seconds to play.

The Hawks played in a back-to-back game for the third time in the first 10 days of the season and for the fourth time in five nights, all games in different cities, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that they faltered down the stretch.

"It was disappointing the way we started the game," Thibodeau said. "We played a low energy game. They played great and we caught a break (because) this was the second night for them in a back to back."

Chicago shot 2 for 21 in the second period and went more than 8 minutes without a field goal during one stretch, missing 14 straight shots.

Atlanta led 38-26 at halftime as Chicago scored just three points more than its franchise record for fewest points in a half, set on April 10, 1999, against Miami.

After winning 62 games last season, the Bulls aren't satisfied with ugly wins this time around.

"A win is a win and it's hard to win in this league," Rose said. "But we know we're 10 times better than what we showed out there. I felt bad for our fans to see us play that bad."

NOTES: Ronnie Brewer started in place of Richard Hamilton, who sat out his second straight game with a strained left groin. Hamilton was a game-time scratch from the starting lineup. . Chicago's C.J. Watson missed the game with a strained left elbow suffered on Sunday. Watson is listed as day-to-day by the team but was seen before the game with his arm in a sling. . Atlanta handed Miami its first loss on Monday and was trying to knock off one of last season's Eastern Conference finalists for the second straight night. . After a day off on Wednesday, the Hawks open a stretch of three games in three nights at home, starting with a matchup against Miami on Thursday. The last game of the stretch is against the Bulls.

Notebook: Bulls 76, Hawks 74

By Kent McDill, for NBA.com
Posted Tuesday January 3, 2012 11:32PM

THE FACTS: The Chicago Bulls recorded a most improbable victory Tuesday, beating the Atlanta Hawks 76-74 at the United Center. The Bulls scored just 42 points in the first three quarters, and trailed by 14 going into the fourth quarter. But Derrick Rose scored 17 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter and the Hawks missed six free throws in the final period to give the game away. Al Horford led the Hawks with 16 points, and Josh Smith had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds.

QUOTABLE: "This tells us something about ourselves."
-- Bulls guard Derrick Rose

THE STAT: The Bulls were 2-for-21 (9.5 percent) from the field in the second quarter. The saving grace of it for Chicago was that the Hawks were only 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) in the same period and had only a 12-point lead at half.

TURNING POINT: The Bulls trailed by 19 points late in the third quarter, 56-37, but scored the last five points of the third quarter and the first five points of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to single digits.

INJURY UPDATE: Bulls guard Richard "Rip'' Hamilton dressed but did not play Tuesday to again rest his sore groin that kept him out of Sunday's game against Memphis. Bulls guard C.J. Watson did not play because of a sprained elbow suffered Sunday.

HOT: In a game in which neither team shot better than 35 percent, Marvin Williams (5-for-10) and Al Horford (7-for-14) were the only two starters able to shoot 50 percent from the field.

NOT: Rose was 8-for-22 for the game, and he was 5-for-11 in the fourth quarter when he led the Bulls' comeback.

QUOTABLE II: "We gave them hope and you can't do that in this league."
-- Atlanta coach Larry Drew

GOOD MOVE: With the score tied 74-74 with 7.7 seconds left, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau brought center Joakim Noah back into the game for a set inbounds play although Noah had not played since the 10:04 mark of the third quarter. Noah took the inbounds pass from Luol Deng and then fed Deng with a sharp pass for the game-winning layup.

BAD MOVE: Thibodeau played Deng and Rose almost 44 minutes apiece. He was hampered by the loss of two players to injury, Hamilton and Watson. The Bulls also carry only 13 players on their roster.

NOTABLE: After a day's rest, the Hawks will embark on one of their two "three games in three days'' schedules. When they host the Bulls on Saturday they will have played five games in six days, twice against the Bulls and twice against the Miami Heat.

UP NEXT: For the Bulls, Wednesday @ Pistons, Friday @ Orlando, Saturday @ Hawks. For the Hawks, Thursday vs. Heat, Friday @ Bobcats, Saturday vs. Bulls.

• Hawks: Hinrich, Sloan
• Bulls: --

• Hawks: --
• Bulls: Deng

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: United Center, Chicago, IL
• Officials: #23 Jason Phillips, #16 David Guthrie, #74 Curtis Blair
• Attendance: 22166
• Duration: 2:19