The Chicago Bulls lost their 4th game in a row on Friday night 115-94 to the Houston Rockets. The Bulls offense disappeared again but this time it was in the 2nd and 3rd quarters as they managed to score just 30 points combined in those quarters. With this loss the Bulls also fall out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
There where three ties very early in the game before the Bulls where able to build a lead. After Robin Lopez hit a jump shot with 5:41 left in the quarter the Bulls had a nine point lead at 20-11. The Rockets never got closer than five points and it looked like the Bulls would take a 13 point lead into the 2nd quarter, but Eric Gordon hit a 3-pointer with :27 seconds left to cut the Bulls lead to 10 at 33-23 after one quarter.
Houston started the 2nd quarter on a nine to three run to cut the Bulls lead to three points at 35-32. The Bulls where able to push the lead back to six points, but the Rockets slowly worked the Bulls lead down and after Clint Capela scored with 7:01 left in the quarter Houston was down just one point 42-41. Both teams went cold as neither team scored for about a two minute stretch before Houston took it’s first lead of the quarter at 43-42. The teams traded the lead four times in the final five minutes before Houston was able to pull away a little and take a 56-49 lead at halftime.
The Rockets scored 24 of the first 26 points scored in the 3rd quarter to take a 80-51 lead and pretty much put the game away. The Rockets hit five 3-pointers in while pulling away. The Bulls never got closer than 14 points in the quarter and managed to score just 14 points in the quarter as the Rockets took a 92-63 lead headed into the 4th quarter.
Houston pushed it’s lead to 31 points twice early in the 4th quarter before getting their starters out of the game and allowing them to rest. With the Houston bench getting big minutes in the quarter the Bulls where ale to outscore them 31-23, but the outcome of the game was well in hand as Chicago never got closer than the 20 points. Houston ended up with an easy 115-94 victory.
Ryan Anderson was the Rockets leading scorer and tied for the game high honors with 21 points. James Harden and Trevor Ariza posted double-doubles. Harden had 19 points and a game high 13 assist while Ariza went for 13 points and a game high 11 rebounds. Clint Capela added 17 points while Lou Williams came off the Rockets bench to score 18 points.
Dwayne Wade returned from a thigh injury to lead the Bulls in scoring and tie for the games top scorer with 21 points. Jimmy Butler scored 16 points while Cameron Payne (off the bench) added 11 points. Joffery Lauvergne was the teams leading rebounder with 9 and Jerian Grant led the team in assists with 5.
The Rockets improved to 45-21 with the win while the Bulls fall to 31-34 on the season. Houston gets a day off before they have a marquee match up Sunday night on ESPN against the 42-21 Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland. The Bulls also head out for a road game on Sunday. Chicago will try to break it’s 4 game losing streak Sunday afternoon on ABC against the 41-25 Boston Celtics.
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