Bulls-Hornets Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Feb 07 2012 6:46PM

Despite leaving Chicago's latest victory in the first half with a sore back, Derrick Rose isn't planning on sitting out Wednesday night's matchup against the New Orleans Hornets.

Although the determined Rose doesn't want to miss a game, the Eastern Conference-leading Bulls seem like they could get by without him against an inferior Hornets team that could be without its top two scorers again.

Rose played 11 minutes and had four points and no assists in Monday's easy 108-87 win at New Jersey. He came out for good with 2:54 remaining in the second quarter, and the outcome was already in little doubt with Chicago (21-6) leading 56-31.

"I feel all right, just back spasms," said Rose, who averages team highs of 22.7 points and 7.9 assists. "It's nothing to worry about. (Tuesday) we have a day off and I'll get treatment. I'll get a massage and hopefully I can play the next game."

Even if he's unable to play, it doesn't seem like Chicago would be hurting. The Bulls, winners of three straight overall, won four of five earlier this season while the reigning league MVP was out with a sprained left big toe.

Without Rose on Monday, Chicago didn't miss a beat as it opened up a 32-point lead a few minutes after halftime. Carlos Boozer stepped up with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting and Luol Deng, playing in his second game after sitting out seven with a sprained left wrist, finished with 19 points.

C.J. Watson again proved capable of stepping in for Rose, finishing with 14 points and a season-high 11 assists. He made three starts for Rose last month, averaging 16.3 points on 51.6 percent shooting and 7.0 assists.

While the Bulls seem to have enough firepower to withstand a minor injury to their superstar, facing the woeful Hornets (4-21) probably won't hurt.

New Orleans, which has lost 21 of 23 since winning its first two, has one of the league's lowest-scoring offenses at 88.0 points per game, and could be without Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry.

Jack, averaging a team-best 15.8 points, has missed the last three games with a sore left knee but is nearing a return. Landry, averaging 11.5 points, is definitely out after suffering an MCL sprain in his left knee Saturday.

Eric Gordon remains out with a right knee bruise.

Those absences don't bode well against a Chicago team with one of the league's top scoring defenses at 88.4 points per game. The Bulls held the Hornets to an average of 82.5 points in the two meetings last season and have won six straight in the series since a 108-97 loss March 17, 2008, three months before they made Rose the first pick of the NBA draft.

Despite their injuries, the Hornets got off to a fast start Monday against Sacramento, leading by 18 late in the first half. New Orleans took a nine-point advantage into the final period but fell apart again, misfiring on 17 of 23 fourth-quarter shots and losing 100-92.

The Hornets have dropped six straight games despite leading at the half in the last four.

"Well, that's the story of our season so far. Play well in the first and then we do let it go in the second half," swingman Trevor Ariza said. "Nobody likes to lose. It's just getting old."

One bright spot for New Orleans has been the play of Greivis Vasquez, who matched a season best with 20 points Monday. He has started the last three games for the Hornets, averaging 16.7 points on 51.4 percent shooting and 7.7 assists.

Boozer scores 18 as Bulls rout Hornets 90-67

By BRETT MARTEL
Posted Feb 09 2012 12:23AM

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Derrick Rose gutted it out and started against the struggling New Orleans Hornets only two days after leaving Chicago's previous game with back spasms.

In retrospect, the Bulls would have been fine if their star guard had simply taken the night off.

Carlos Boozer scored 18 points and the Bulls won their fourth straight game while nearly holding New Orleans to a franchise low in points during a 90-67 rout Wednesday.

"We're staying humble, staying hungry and we just did a good job of setting the tone defensively," Boozer said. "We did a good job contesting shots, did a good job making them take tough shots, and at the same time I thought we did a good job executing our offense to make the lead grow."

Joakim Noah had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls. Taj Gibson scored 14 and Kyle Korver 12.

Rose played 22 minutes and finished with six points, six assists and five rebounds. He sat out the entire fourth quarter.

"Give D-Rose a lot of credit, man. He's been playing through it for a while," Boozer said. "Gutsy, gutsy dude, played through it again and then (reserve guard) C.J. (Watson) came in and played great. ... I thought everybody from one through the whole team did a great job."

Rose said his back was "kind of tight," adding that he could have played more but that the team "did a great job of managing my minutes."

Chris Kaman scored 17 for the Hornets, who have lost seven straight and 22 of 24. New Orleans made its last six shots, including Marco Belinelli's 3-pointer with a second left, to narrowly surpass the club low of 65 points.

Hornets coach Monty Williams credited the Bulls for maintaining ferocious intensity while playing a heavy underdog in the midst of a long road trip.

"I believe that that's the way you play if you want to win a championship," Williams said of Chicago. "Everybody on that team knows their role. They have an identity and they live it out every night. I thought we had a tough time with their pressure."

The Hornets have usually maintained a hustling style of play and kept deficits low even as they have lost game after game, but they simply wilted against the Bulls, who had seven layups in the third quarter alone. The Bulls' lead grew to 27 in the period when Rose fed Noah for a fast-break layup.

New Orleans shot 6 of 24 in the period (25 percent) and trailed 70-46 heading into the anticlimactic final quarter, when Chicago's lead grew as large as 88-60 with 1:19 left.

Chicago finished shooting 46 percent (39 of 85), outscoring New Orleans 58-40 in the paint and 12-1 on fast breaks. The Bulls outrebounded New Orleans 49-39.

Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau is renowned for his defensive acumen, which spelled trouble for a Hornets squad that came into the game 27th in the NBA in scoring, with an average of just below 88 points. The Hornets finished shooting 37 percent (28 of 75) and committed 19 turnovers while trailing throughout for the third time in nine games.

"The challenge is to be ready to play, and we did that," Thibodeau said. "We have to strive to make improvement and to get better each day, build solid habits and just keep our eye on what's in front of us."

Chicago scored the first nine points of the game while struggling New Orleans missed its first five shots. The Bulls' lead grew to 13 when Noah picked off Kaman's pass and raced the other way for an uncontested dunk.

Kaman helped more than he hurt, though, scoring 10 of New Orleans' 14 points in the first quarter.

Chicago built its lead up to 15 on Gibson's fast-break dunk while Rose was on the bench, and the lead remained in double digits for the remainder of the period. The halftime score stood at 44-31 after Belinelli's layup.

"We're on a mission and we can't take any steps back," Rose said. "It takes us playing with a lot of energy in the beginning and getting a comfortable enough lead that if we're out of the game, the bench can come in and do what they have to do. ... We're learning. The last couple of games we've been jumping on people and that's the right way to be."

Notes: Kaman hit a jumper at the first quarter horn that would have given him 12 points at that juncture, but it was reviewed on replay and disallowed. ... The Bulls improved to 5-2 on their nine-game road trip, which concludes with games at Charlotte on Friday and Boston on Sunday. ... The Bulls have won seven straight against New Orleans and will seek a fourth straight season sweep Feb. 28 in Chicago. ... The Hornets last defeated Chicago on March 17, 2008, in New Orleans. ... Jarrett Jack returned from a three-game absence (sore left knee) and started at point guard. He played nearly 28 minutes and had four points and three assists. ... Actor Will Ferrell announced the starting lineups, adding fabricated personal notes about each player. For example, Ferrell said the 6-foot-9, 266-pound Boozer, a 10-year veteran, "still lives with his mother." Afterward, Boozer said it was hard not to laugh at Ferrell's remark: "We're all Will Ferrell fans - one of the funniest dudes of our generation, man." ... During the game, Ferrell sat courtside with actors Dylan McDermott and Zach Galifianakis, while actor Jesse Eisenberg sat on the baseline. ... The Hornets have scored as few as 65 points twice in team history, once in a victory over Miami on Dec. 20, 2000, and once in a loss to Boston on March 13, 2003.

Notebook: Bulls 90, Hornets 67

Posted Wednesday February 8, 2012 11:34PM

By Larry Holder, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Carlos Boozer scored a game-high 18 points, while Joakim Noah added 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls cruised past the New Orleans Hornets 90-67 on Wednesday night in the New Orleans Arena. The Bulls have won four consecutive games and are 5-2 on this nine-game road trip. The Hornets have lost seven straight games and 22 of their last 24 contests.

QUOTABLE: "He says he feels pretty good. You've just got to each day do his rehab, take care of himself, get his rest, get his massage and we go from there."
-- Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau on the health of Derrick Rose, who played despite back spasms

THE STAT: 22:22. That's how many minutes Rose played Wednesday night in the Bulls' easy win. Rose missed most of Monday night's game with back spasms and playing him only a handful of minutes in a blowout could bode well for Rose's future health. Rose ended with six points, six assists and five rebounds. Rose said his back was "kind of tight" after the game, but his minutes were managed very well.

TURNING POINT: As crazy as it sounds, the Bulls dominated from the opening tip. Chicago opened the game on a 21-8 run and the Hornets were nowhere to be found ever again.

QUOTABLE II: "They are a fine defensive team. But at the same time, we missed so many shots tonight. ... In that third quarter, I don't know how many open looks we had. We cannot take any credit away from the way (the Bulls) approached the game. ... We just couldn't throw it in the ocean. We had 75 attempts and 19 turnovers."
-- Hornets coach Monty Williams

HOT: It's pretty difficult to stop the Bulls when reserve big man Taj Gibson can play off the bench like he did against the Hornets. Gibson was 7-for-12 from the floor scoring 14 points and picking up six rebounds in less than 20 minutes.

NOT: The Hornets were historically bad on offense. Marco Belinelli hit a 3-pointer at the fourth-quarter buzzer to push the Hornets to 67 points. If Belinelli had missed and the game ended, New Orleans would have scored the fewest points in a regular-season game in franchise history. New Orleans' worst regular-season scoring output was 65 points as it occurred in 2000 and 2003. The worst in the postseason happened when the Hornets score 63 points in a 58-point loss to Denver in the playoffs on April 27, 2009.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Lots of Hollywood star power was on hand as actors Will Ferrell, Jesse Eisenberg, Zach Galifianakis and Dylan McDermott were in attendance. Ferrell served as public address announcer before the game as he introduced the starting lineups.

NOTABLE: The performance by Hornets center Chris Kaman may have been the only positive for New Orleans other than the game ending. Kaman had 17 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shot and two assists. ... The Hornets added guard Donald Sloan to the roster Wednesday with a 10-day contract after waiving guard Carldrell Johnson and swingman DaJuan Summers on Tuesday. ... Hornets guard Jarrett Jack returned to the floor after missing the last three games with a knee injury. He scored four points on 2-for-11 shooting.

UP NEXT: For the Bulls, Friday @ Charlotte, Sunday @ Boston, Tuesday vs. Sacramento. For the Hornets, Friday vs. Portland, Monday vs. Utah, Wednesday @ Milwaukee.

• Bulls: --
• Hornets: Gordon

• Bulls: --
• Hornets: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA
• Officials: #8 Marc Davis, #74 Curtis Blair, #20 Leroy Richardson
• Attendance: 15456
• Duration: 1:58