GameNight SpecificsNBA Coverage: Game InfoDate: Friday, Jan. 28Time: 8 p.m.Location: United Center (Chicago, IL)Radio: AM 580 WDBO, AM 1270 WRLZTelevision: Sun Sports
PROJECTED MATCHUPS
LINEUPS MAY CHANGE BY GAME TIME
GAME RECAP
CHICAGO (AP) Derrick Rose scored 22 points despite two painful stomach ulcers, Luol Deng added 26, and the Chicago Bulls beat Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic 99-90 on Friday night.
The Bulls won for the ninth time in 11 games even though Howard scored a season-high 40 points, taking the lead with a big third quarter and then holding off a late push by Orlando.
The Magic cut it to 93-90 after Howard scored, stole a pass and fed Gilbert Arenas for a layup. Deng then scored down low with 1:22 left, and Rose hit four free throws the rest of the way, sealing the win.
Deng had 14 in the third as the Bulls doubled up the Magic 34-17, turning a five-point halftime deficit into an 80-68 lead.
Carlos Boozer added 16 points and 16 rebounds, helping Chicago avenge an earlier blowout at home by Orlando.
It was a rough night for Orlando even though Howard was at his best.
He was five shy of his career scoring high while pulling down 15 rebounds, but the Magic simply came up short against the Central Division leaders.
It didn't help that they played most of the game without point guard Jameer Nelson, who lasted just eight minutes and sat out the final three quarters because of soreness in his right knee.
Then again, they'll get no sympathy from the Bulls - not with Rose ailing.
The Bulls' first All-Star starter since Michael Jordan in 1998, he gave it a go even though he's having trouble eating and drinking.
Rose acknowledged he was winded in a big way after the morning shootaround and wasn't as explosive as usual after sitting out practice the past few days. He was off target in the early going, missing seven of his first eight shots, and converted just 6 of 21 overall. Even so, he did his share as the Bulls beat the Magic for just the seventh time in 20 games.
It was a sharp contrast from their first meeting in December, when Orlando blasted the Bulls 107-78 at the United Center and handed them their worst loss of the season.
This time, Howard scored 18 points in the first half as Orlando built a 51-46 lead. But the Bulls took control in the third.
Deng got going in a big way after scoring two points in the first half. He buried two jumpers, a free throw and a 3-pointer before Rose hit one of his own just under three minutes into the quarter to put Chicago ahead 57-54.
After a timeout by Orlando, Deng buried another 3 and shook his right fist as the ball dropped through the net, and the Bulls continued to pour it on after Orlando's Brandon Bass hit a jumper. Keith Bogans made a layup, Boozer hit a floater along the baseline, Omer Asik dunked and just like that, it was 66-56 midway through the third.
NOTES: It's no stretch to say Orlando's Stan Van Gundy likes what he's seeing from the Bulls in their first year under coach Tom Thibodeau. "I think that there's a handful of guys - probably three or four - that at the halfway point would have to be considered Coach of the Year," Van Gundy said. "And he'd have to be right up there with anybody." ... Even though the Magic had won three straight and 13 of 19 against Chicago entering Friday's game, Van Gundy downplayed the idea that they had Chicago's number. "We're a different team; they're a different team," he said. "I don't think there's any history that means anything." ... Saturday's game against Indiana will be the 12th in 21 days for the Bulls.
DENTON'S ANALYSIS AT BULLS
CHICAGO – All Jay Cutler references aside considering that they were playing in the Windy City, the Orlando Magic looked very much like a team without a quarterback in Friday night’s second-half collapse.
The Magic lost point guard, captain and offense igniter Jameer Nelson early on Friday night because of tendinitis in his right knee and then looked on as everything fell apart on them in the second half of an ugly 99-90 loss to Chicago.
Without Nelson, Orlando (30-17) was impatient offensively, had no production other than superstar center Dwight Howard (a season-high 40 points) and came unglued after leading by five points at the break. Chicago (32-14) doubled up the Magic 34-17 in the third period and shot 50 percent in a 53-point second half.
``We didn’t play any defense. They played offense and we did nothing,’’ Howard said. ``Offensively, we didn’t move the ball, had a lot of one-pass-and-shoot possessions and you just can’t win like that. … We can’t be a championship-contending team playing defense like we did tonight.’’
Nelson called his injury a combination of a knee strain and some lingering tendinitis and hoped that he would be back by Sunday night when the Magic host the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers at Amway Center.
``It’s really tender and there’s a spot that hurts, but I don’t think it’s anything that I should have to worry about,’’ Nelson said. ``I guess it’s just basketball … we run and jump and our knees get sore. It was sore a couple of days ago, but not as sore as it was tonight. I may have made a sudden move and tweaked it a little. I’ll do whatever the trainers tell me to do, get my treatment and hopefully I can play Sunday.’’
Chicago all-star point guard Derrick Rose, back after a bout with two stomach ulcers, had 22 points, 12 assists and six rebounds. And Bulls newcomer Carlos Boozer added 16 points and 16 rebounds. But it was Luol Deng, who scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half, who doomed the Magic.
Even after the Magic trimmed a deficit as big as 13 points to three with 1:28 to play, the Magic allowed Deng to get free under the basket for a layup that all but sealed the game.
``Down the stretch we cut it to three and then we didn’t execute at all. We took a bad shot, had a bad turnover and gave up a layup,’’ fumed Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. ``You cut it to three after the night we were having and we’re on the road and you have a chance and you just have to make some plays. We made two really bad offensive plays and a bad defensive one. So we deserved to lose, no question.
``It was just a poor night all the way around,’’ Van Gundy added.
Here’s a look back at what went right, what went wrong and some final observations from a frustrating Friday night in the Windy City:
READ THE REST OF DENTON'S ANALYSIS
MAGIC VIDEO