Bulls-Magic Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Mar 18 2012 11:59PM

Having the reigning NBA MVP sidelined is not the ideal situation for the Chicago Bulls, but they've been up to the challenge more often than not.

They may have to wait a little longer to get him back.

Derrick Rose may not accompany the team on its two-game road trip, which begins Monday night against the Orlando Magic.

Chicago (37-10) owns the league's best record and improved to 9-4 without Rose this season after an 89-80 win over Philadelphia on Saturday. Rose sat out his third straight game with a sore groin, and he also missed time with back and foot issues the last two months.

C.J. Watson, who is playing through a sore left ankle, started in place of Rose and scored a team-high 20 points, while Joakim Noah added 13 and 11 rebounds.

"That was a tough team we just beat so it gives us a lot of confidence, we just need to keep it going," Noah said. "We are playing without our MVP so we just need to keep getting better, keep improving."

The Bulls beat Miami on Wednesday then fell to Portland on Friday with Rose out, and coach Tom Thibodeau wasn't sure if his star guard would make the trip to Orlando and then Toronto on Wednesday. Reports say Saturday's home contest with the Raptors is a more realistic date for his return.

With or without Rose, Chicago has yet to lose consecutive games this season, and it has the same mentality whether or not he's in the lineup.

"We take losses personal. A lot of people have things to say at the end of the day, we take losing real bad and that shows great character," Noah said.

One such defeat came when Orlando ended the Bulls' eight-game winning streak with a 99-94 win March 8. Rose played but shot 6 for 22 and scored 17 points, while Dwight Howard scored 29 and grabbed 18 rebounds to help the Magic snap a four-game skid in the series.

Orlando (29-17), though, has lost two of three after falling 91-81 at Miami on Sunday, as Howard finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

After setting a season best for points allowed in an 86-70 win over New Jersey on Friday, the Magic allowed the Heat to shoot 45.9 percent and fell behind by as many as 13 points.

"Our effort defensively early in the game was not there," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We did not come to play. That's inexcusable particularly playing on the road against a team this good."

With another tough challenge Monday, Orlando will need Howard to continue his solid play against the Bulls.

Howard is averaging 29.3 points and 14.5 rebounds in his last four games against Chicago and has 10 double-doubles in 12 career home contests versus the Bulls, who have won three straight meetings in Orlando.

Chicago won there 97-83 on Jan. 6 behind 20 points and 13 rebounds from Carlos Boozer and 21 points apiece from Rose and Luol Deng.

Howard had 28 points and 15 rebounds in that contest.

The Magic's last home victory in the series was a 111-82 win March 11, 2010.

Boozer's big night leads Bulls over Magic 85-59

By KYLE HIGHTOWER
Posted Mar 20 2012 12:12AM

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) If the Chicago Bulls are going to make a run at an NBA championship this season, they will need a healthy Derrick Rose to do it.

For now, though, they continue to find a way to beat the top teams in the Eastern Conference without their most indispensable star.

With the reigning MVP out nursing a sore groin for the fourth straight game, Rose's teammates used a smothering defense and capitalized on a plethora of Orlando Magic turnovers in an 85-59 victory Monday night.

Carlos Boozer picked up the scoring slack with 24 points and 13 rebounds - his third 20-point scoring effort against the Magic this season - and John Lucas added 20 points off the bench in just 21 minutes of action to lead the Bulls.

"The real story honestly is our defense," said Boozer, whose team has beaten their next three chasers in the Eastern Conference in the past six days. "Our defense was ... that was probably one of the best performances we've had this season.

"It was fitting because they kicked our butt in Chicago, (and) got a big win. For us to come back and do this ... it's a big win for us."

The Bulls' defense was indeed the thing to marvel at Monday, with the 59 points they surrendered setting a new franchise record for fewest regular-season points allowed.

It was also a milestone night for Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau, who became the fastest coach in NBA history to earn 100 career victories. Thibodeau did it in just 130 games, one game faster than Avery Johnson when he set the previous standard in 2006.

"We had a lot a of guys step up," Thibodeau said. "We caught a break. They played last night in a tough game. We're fresh, so we had an advantage there and they missed some shots they normally make."

The Bulls won for the fifth time in six games. They also improved to 3-1 over the past four games playing without Rose, who continued to nurse a sore groin.

Thibodeau gave credit to his "great players" for his coaching record, and they gave it back to him.

"He puts the work in and the time in and it shows," Lucas said. "He's still a student of the game of basketball and he's always learning something. ... When you have a coach like that, you're going to be successful."

Dwight Howard had 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Magic, who had 19 turnovers. Orlando had 11 in the first half, just two in the third quarter, but six more in the final 12 minutes.

The Magic have lost three of their last four since posting a three-game win streak. They've also now gone six straight quarters without scoring at least 20 points.

Turnovers were a factor in the Magic's loss to the Bulls in early January and they again played a huge role Monday as Orlando's miscues yielded 25 of Chicago's points. By comparison, the Bulls' 16 turnovers only led to seven points for the Magic.

Orlando trailed by double-digits for most of the second half, before cutting a 15-point Bulls' first-half lead to 12 entering the fourth quarter as its early turnover issues began to subside.

The Bulls' offense was steady down the stretch, though, and Joakim Noah's three-point play on a two-handed dunk over Glen Davis with 6:54 to play in the game put them up 72-52 to end any comeback hope.

"When you play the way we played tonight, this is a team-wide thing," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I've got to take responsibility."

Van Gundy said there isn't one singular issue ailing his team right now.

"I mean, it's everything," he said. "I really need to take a look at when we're playing back-to-back games, and we're just not creating any shots. Obviously, we played Chicago 11 days ago and we were able to create shots. We played Miami and we were able to create shots. This is clearly not satisfactory."

As for where the Magic can go from here, Davis said there is still much gelling to do on the court.

"If we want to win we all have to buy in - me, the team, the most important guy all the way to the least important guy," Davis said. "Consistency (is what's lacking). Sometimes we get bored with the journey and just play to the level that we need to.

"You saw a team out there playing without their biggest star and did what they needed to do to win. They beat us with no problem. I wish they would have had Derrick Rose, in a sense."

Notes: Rose missed his 14th game of the season after sitting just six games in his first three NBA seasons combined. He appeared in 81 regular-season games in two of those seasons. His status continues to be day-to-day. ... Howard received his ninth technical of the season in the third quarter. ... Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said that the focus for the Magic over their final 19 games would be on reducing turnovers and building better defensive habits. "We're just not building solid habits and making good enough decisions," he said. "And at the end of the day, you are going to hit the playoffs and you are going to be left with your habits. We're running out of time. We have 5 1/2 weeks and it's time." ... The Magic dropped to 7-8 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.

Notebook: Bulls 85, Magic 59

Posted Tuesday March 20, 2012 12:27AM

By Dick Scanlon, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Carlos Boozer had 24 points and 13 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls, playing without Derrick Rose, handed the Orlando Magic their most one-sided home defeat in eight years, 85-59.

John Lucas III came off the Chicago bench for 20 points, hitting his first three 3-point shots late in the first quarter.

Dwight Howard was the only Magic player to score more than 10 points, finishing with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau became the quickest coach in NBA history to win his 100th game, doing it in his 130th game.

QUOTABLE: "Tonight you saw a team playing without their star player and they did what they needed to do to win, and they beat us with no problem. I wish they would have had Derrick Rose, in a sense."
-- Magic forward Glen Davis.

THE STAT: The Bulls set a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a regular season game.

QUOTABLE II: "The real story honestly was our defense. That was probably one of the best performances on defense we've had this season."
-- Bulls forward Carlos Boozer.

ANOTHER STAT: The 26-point margin of defeat was the worst in the Stan Van Gundy era, of which this is the fifth season. The last time the Magic lost by more than 26 points at home was a 118-88 loss to Dallas on March 28, 2004.

TURNING POINT: The Magic led, 14-13, when Lucas nailed a 3-pointer with 1:42 left in the first quarter. He made two more within a minute and another long jumper to start the second quarter to put Chicago up by 10.

QUOTABLE III: "We've got a deep team and everybody stepped up."
-- Thibodeau.

HOT: Boozer made nine of his first 12 shots, mostly rainbow jumpers and fadeaway jumpers.

NOT: The Magic shot 35 percent overall, 20 percent from behind the arc and 39 percent from the free-throw line.

GOOD MOVE: The Bulls got by all night with single coverage on Howard from Joakim Noah, Omer Asik and Boozer, which enabled them to guard the perimeter.

BAD MOVE: When Ryan Anderson scored on an offensive rebound, the Magic were down by only 11 early in the second half. That's when Howard got his ninth technical foul of the season.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Rose, who has missed four games with a groin strain, is likely to miss at least one more.

QUOTABLE IV: "They've played without the league MVP and they've beaten Philly and Miami and blown us out. Give them credit for what they're doing and what kind of team they have."
-- Van Gundy.

IN THE ARENA: Lots of Bulls fans chanting: "SCAL-a-BRI-ne!" (Brian Scalabrine played the final 22.9 seconds).

NOTABLE: Avery Johnson of Dallas held the record broken by Thibodeau, winning his 100th game in 131 tries . . . The worst home-court defeat of the Van Gundy era had been his first defeat at home, a 116-92 loss to Detroit on Nov. 2, 2007.

UP NEXT: For the Bulls, Wednesday @ Toronto, Saturday vs. Toronto, Monday vs. Denver. For the Magic, Wednesday vs. Phoenix, Friday vs. Cleveland, Monday @ Toronto.

• Bulls: Hamilton
• Magic: Harper, Wafer

• Bulls: --
• Magic: Howard

• Lead Changes: 5
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Amway Center, Orlando, FL
• Officials: #23 Jason Phillips, #74 Curtis Blair, #33 Zach Zarba
• Attendance: 18998
• Duration: 2:17