Posts Tagged ‘Chicago Bulls’

I the first of a home and home series the Milwaukee Bucks easily beat the Chicago Bulls 108-97. Milwaukee had a 24 point lead at one point in the game and they cruised to an 11 point victory at home. Milwaukee got back to .500 with the win at 12-12 while the Bulls are still a game over .500 at 13-12.

The tone for the game was set right at the start as the first bucket of the game for Milwaukee was a 3-pointer by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee never trailed after that first shot and the closet the Bulls got was 2 points at 10-8. The 1st quarter ended with Milwaukee ahead 30-18.

The 2nd quarter looked like it was going to go the same way as the 1st quarter did as Milwaukee built a 26 point lead after a Jabari Parker bucket made it a 56-30 game. The Bulls did what they could to cut into the lead the rest of the quarter, but they could only get it down to 19 points. The Bucks ended up taking a 64-45 lead into halftime.

The quarter started out as even as it could be one when one team has a big lead. Milwaukee started to add to the lead and when Jabari Parker dunked with 5:24 left in the quarter the Bucks had a 24 point lead at 78-54. That was Milwaukee’s biggest lead of the quarter. This time the Bulls could only manage to knock 2 points off the Bucks lead and the quarter ended with Milwaukee ahead 88-66.

With the game well in hand the Bucks where able to get their starters off the floor. The Bulls did manage to outscore the Bucks 31 to 20 in the 4th quarter, but it was too little too late as the Bucks lead was to big to overcome. Matthew Dellavedova put the finishing touches on the night with a 3-pointer to get the game to it’s final score of 108-97.

The Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo was the games high scorer with 30 points. Antetokounmpo was also the games top rebounder grabbing 14. Jabari Parker had 28 points while Mirza Teletovic came off the Milwaukee bench to add 13 points. Matthew Dellavedova just missed a double-double as he had 9 points and a game high 9 assists. John Henson also grabbed double digit rebounds for the Bucks getting 10.

The Bulls where led by Jimmy Butler who had 21 points. Dwayne Wade score points while Taj Gibson added 19. Rajon Rondo was the Bulls leader in assists with 8. Robin Lopez, Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio all grabbed 6 rebounds to tie for the team lead.

It’s a quick turn around for these teams as they’ll meet again tonight with the game being in Chicago tonight. Milwaukee is looking to get back over .500 with a win while the Bulls would like to stay over .500. The Bulls are 7-4 at home while the Bucks are 3-6 on the road this season.

The Minnesota Timberwolves came into Tuesday night game on a four game losing streak and when the Chicago Bulls went up 21 points in the 2nd quarter it looked as though a 5th loss in a row was going to happen. Instead the Timberwolves where able to come all the way back to snap their losing streak with a 99-94 win.

This is the first time former Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau was facing his former team. Thibodeau coached the Bulls from the 2010-11 season until the end of the 2014-15 season. Thibodeau had a record of 255-139 with the Bulls and never finished worse than 2nd place in the Central division. Thibodeau also won NBA Coach of the Year in 2011 with the Bulls.

The 1st quarter was all Bulls as they put up 38 points in the quarter compared to Minnesota’s 22 points. After a 10-0 run the Bulls had a 26-6 lead with 5:16 left in the quarter. The Timberwolves where able to chip away at the Bulls lead a little, but still ended the quarter down 16 points; 38 to 22.

The 2nd quarter looked like it was going to be much like the 1st quarter. After a Doug McDermott lay up with 6:37 left to play in the quarter the Bulls had their biggest lead of the night; 21 points at 51-30. The Timberwolves then went on a 22-5 run to end the quarter and going into halftime Minnesota found itself down just 4 points at 56-52.

Minnesota tied the game with 7:41 left in the 3rd quarter at 61 all. The Timberwolves then took there first lead of the game on a Zach LaVine jumper going ahead 64 to 63. The game was tied three more times in the quarter the last tie being at 70 apiece. Minnesota finished the quarter on an 8-5 run and took a 78-75 lead after three quarters.

Now it was the Bulls turn to play from behind. Chicago tied the game at 85 all and then scored the next basket to take the lead at 87-85. Minnesota was able to build the lead back to 4 points, but Chicago battled back and tied the game at 91 all with 1:37 left to play. The Timberwolves went on to score the next 8 points in the game and even with Jimmy Butler hitting a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left it was too late for the Bulls and Minnesota had a 99-94 victory.

Minnesota was led by Zach LaVine with 24 points. Andrew Wiggins scored 23 points while Gorgui Dieng had 16 points. Karl-Anthony Towns and Rickey Rubio each had double-doubles in the game. Towns had 16 points and a game high 12 rebounds while Rubio scored 11 points and handed out a game high 10 assists. All five Minnesota starters played 35 minutes or more and they all reach double figures in points.

Jimmy Butler was the games high scorer with 27 points for the Bulls. Butler also had a team high 9 rebounds. Robin Lopez had 14 points, Dwayne Wade scored 12 points and had a team high 8 assists while Taj Gibson was the other Bulls player to score in double figures with 10 points.

The win was just the Timberwolves 7th of the season against 18 losses. Minnesota gets a few days off as they don’t return to the court until Friday night when they host the 18-7 Houston Rockets. The Bulls are now 13-11 with the loss. Chicago returns to action tomorrow (Thursday) night as they’ll make the short road trip to Milwaukee to face the 11-12 Bucks.

The Chicago Bulls picked up there second win in a row Saturday night beating the Miami Heat 105-100. Win the improved the Bulls to 7-3 at home this season and 13-10 overall. This was the Heat’s 5th loss in a row as there record fell to 7-17 on the season.

The teams played a very even 1st quarter. Each team built a 4 point lead at one time just to watch the other come back. The teams where tied at 24 all with 1:31 left in the quarter. Nikola Mirotic hit a three pointer with 30 seconds left to give the Bulls a 29-25 ;lead, but Willie Reed tipped in a Josh Richardson miss for the last points of the quarter and make it 29-27 after one quarter.

The 2nd quarter played out a lot like the first as the teams stayed pretty even and the game was tied 7 times during the quarter. The Bulls did manage to take 4 point leads on two different occasions. Miami built it’s own 4 point lead with 1:32 to play, but the quarter ended with the Bulls scoring 6 of the final 8 points and the teams went into half time tied at 55.

Miami hit a 3-pointer to start the 3rd quarter, but the Bulls scored the next 8 points to take a 63-58 lead. The Bulls built there biggest lead of the game at 13 points three different times in the quarter. The last 13 point lead 77-64 was after a Taj Gibson jumper with 5:18 left to play. Miami was able to knock 5 points off the Bulls lead in the final 5 minutes of the quarter and the Heat went into the 4th quarter trailing 83-75.

The Bulls built the lead back to 10 points at 89-79, Miami went on a 14 to 6 run and found themselves down by just 2 points at 95-93 with 4:56 left in the game. The Bulls where able to get the lead back to 5 at 101-96, but Miami next 4 points and this time trailed by just 1 point at 101-100. Miami didn’t score again in the game and Jimmy Butler went 4 of 4 from the free throw line down the stretch to give the Bulls a 105-100 win.

Jimmy Butler went 15 of 16 from the free throw line on his way to a game high 31 points. Dwayne Wade added 28 points while Taj Gibson was the only other Bulls player to reach double figures in points with 13. Robin Lopez grabbed a game high 10 rebounds while Rajon Rondo handed out a team high 6 assists.

Goran Dragic led the Heat with 21 points and also handed out a game high 11 assists. Hasan Whiteside scored 20 and tied for the team lead in rebounds with 8. Three players came off the Miami bench to score in double figures led by Tyler Johnson with 15 points. Josh Richardson added 11 points while Derrick Williams scored 10 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with 8.

Chicago returns to action Tuesday night as the host their former head coach Tom Thibodeau and the 6-17 Minnesota Timberwolves. Miami will try to snap there 5 game losing streak Monday night when they return home to face the 9-13 Washington Wizards.

The San Antonio Spurs cane into The United Center last night having won all 13 of their road games this season. The Chicago Bulls where on a 3 game losing streak coming into the game. Of course that means that the Bulls won the game 95-91 because that’s how things go; I guess.

The score was tied three different times in the 1st quarter and the biggest lead any team built was when the Bulls took a 7 point lead 19-12 after Doug McDermott made a lay up with 2:53 left in the quarter. It was a relatively low scoring 1st quarter, but the Bulls ended it with a 21-17 advantage.

San Antonio cut the leas to 2 points a couple of times early in the 2nd quarter, but the Bulls were able to pull away as the Spurs could manage just 15 points in the quarter. Dwayne Wade hit a 3-pointer with .07 seconds left in the quarter to give the Bulls a 45-32 lead at halftime.

The Bulls where able to get the lead to 15 points before the Spurs started to make up a little ground. San Antonio outscored the Bulls 31 to 27 in the 3rd quarter and ended the quarter on a 11-2 run. The 3rd quarter ended with the Bulls up 9 points 72-63.

The first basket of the 4th quarter was a 3-pointer by Patty Mills to get the Spurs to within 6 points, but that’s as close as they would get. San Antonio did manage to outscore the Bulls again in the 4th quarter 28 to 23, but that wasn’t enough to over come there slow first half and the Bulls ended up with a 95-91 win.

Dwayne Wade led the Bulls in scoring with 20 points. Jimmy Butler was just 4 for 14 from the field while scoring 13 points. Taj Gibson, Robin Lopez and Rajon Rondo all scored 12 points. Rondo just missed a triple-double as he tied for the game high with 10 rebounds and handed out a game high 9 assists.

Kawhi Leonard was the Spurs and the games leading scorer with 24 points. Patty Mils came off the Spurs bench and hit 4 of the 6 3-point sots he took on his way to 16 points. In his return to Chicago Pau Gasol scored 13 points and tied for the game high with 10 rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge also added 10 points for San Antonio.

The win put the Bulls two games over .500 at 12-10. Chicago gets a day off before they host the 7-15 Miami Heat Saturday night. The loss dropped the Spurs to 18-5 on the season and ended there short three game road trip. San Antonio also returns top action Saturday night as they head home to face the 6-15 Brooklyn Nets.

The Detroit Pistons got there fourth win in five games last night as they beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The win gets the Pistons over .500 on the season at 12-11. This was the third loss in a row for the Bulls and there record fell to 11-10.

Is it time to look at the Bulls schedule and question if fatigue is an issue. The Bulls had a solid 7-game west coast road trip going 4-3. That road trip ended November 25th and they got four days off before playing there next game. Then starting with there game November 30th the Bulls will play 10 games in 12 days. While seven of the game at  home there is travel involved. Earlier the Bulls had a the 2nd of a back to back in Dallas. Last nights game was also the 2nd of a back to back and they went from Chicago to Detroit. Now that’s not a terrible travel, but being the 2nd game of a set could be the issue. The Bulls have five games left in this set of games. They end with a set of back to back games against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 15th and 16th.

The Pistons started the game with three 3-point shoots. They made two and Reggie Jackson was fouled on his and made 2 of his 3 free throws to give the Pistons an 8-0 lead to start the game. The Bulls went on a 9-2 run to get right back in the game at 10-9. The Pistons went on to control the rest of the 1st quarter scoring 22 points to the Bulls 11. Detroit took a 32-21 lead after one quarter.

The Pistons built there lead to 17 points with 3:47 left in the 2nd quarter at 51-34 after an Andre Drummond dunk. Drummond’s dunk was the last points the Pistons would score in the quarter as the Bulls did there best to cut down the lead. Chicago scored the final 10 points of the quarter to cut the Detroit lead to 7 points at 51-44 going into halftime.

The Bulls hit the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter and cut the lead to 1-point at 51-50. The Pistons built the lead back to 5-points at 57-52, but then the Bulls went on a 12-5 run to tie the game at 64 all. From there the teams traded the lead seven times in the final 4:11 of the quarter and it was the Bulls that ended up with a 72-71 lead after three quarters.

The Pistons came back at the beginning of the 4th quarter to take the lead at 76-75 and never gave the lead up again. Darrun Hilliard hit a lay up with 5:48 left in the game to extend the Pistons lead to 10 at 89-79. The Bulls never got any closer than 6 points as the Pistons pulled away for a 102-91 win.

Tobias Harris was the Pistons leading scorer with 22 points. Andre Drummond had 15 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 10. Marcus Morris scored 15 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 12 points. Ish Smith came off the Pistons bench to lead the game in assists with 10.

Jimmy Butler was the Bulls and the games leading scorer with 32 points. Dwayne Wade had 19 points and a team high 7 assists while Taj Gibson had a double-double scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to tie for the game high. Rajon Rondo returned from his one game suspension to add 10 points.

Detroit has to turn around and play again tonight as they’ll travel to Charlotte to face the 12-9 Hornets. The Bulls get a day off before they face one of the top teams in the Western Conference. On Thursday night the Bulls play the 18-4 San Antonio Spurs.

The Chicago Bulls dropped there second game in a row this time a close contest at home to the Portland Trail Blazers 112-110. The Bulls where closing late, but ran out of time. With the loss the Bulls fall to 11-9 on the season. Portland improves there record to 12-10 with the win.

The 1st quarter was tied at five different times and the biggest lead either team had was when the Trail Blazers where ahead 23-16. The Bulls came back to tie the game at 25 and then again at 29 all. Chicago scored the last 3 points of the quarter and took a 32-29 lead at the end of the quarter.

The 2nd quarter was close for a while and the teams found themselves tied on five different occasions. The last tie was 49 all and then the Trail Blazers went on a 12-2 run to take a 61-51 lead. The Bulls managed to knock off a couple of points from the lead and went into halftime trailing 65-57.

The Bulls went on a 10-1 to start the 3rd quarter and after Robin Lopez tip in the Bulls had the lead at 67-66. Chicago was able to get the lead to 5 points a couple of times, but for the most part the lead stayed right around 3 points. After Lopez hit 2 free throws C.J. McCollum hit a 3-pointer to close the quarter and cut the Bulls lead to 1 point at 87-86.

The teams traded baskets and after Dwayne Wade hit a couple of free throws the Bulls had a 93-92 lead with 8:33 left to play. Portland then went on a 11-0 run to take a 103-93 lead and the Trail Blazers never trailed again. The Bulls where able to cut into the lead and with 5 seconds to play they where down 3 points. Damian Lillard was fouled and hit both free throws and even though Jimmy Butler hit his last second shot the Bulls still dropped a 112-110 contest.

Damien Lillard was the Trail Blazers leading scorer with 30 points and handed out a game high 7 assists. C.J. McCollum scored 24 points, Maurice Harkless had 11 points and a team high 8 rebounds while Mason Plumlee added 10 points. Allen Crabbe came off the Portland bench to score 17 points and Evan Turner added 10 points off the bench as well for the Trail Blazers.

Dwayne Wade led the Bulls and was the games high scorer with 34 points. Jimmy Butler had 26 points and a team high 5 assists. Nikola Mirotic (18 points) and Isaiah Cannan (10 points) came off the Bulls bench to score double figures. Robin Lopez scored 7 points and grabbed a game high 14 rebounds.

This was game one of a 5 game road trip for the Trail Blazers. Portland gets a day off before they face the 10-9 Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. The Bulls on the other hand don’t get any time off as they have to turn right around and play the 11-11 Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills tonight.

The Bulls faced the Trail Blazers without starting point guard Rajon Rondo. Rondo was suspended for the game for “Conduct detrimental to the team”. It was reported that Rondo was yelling at the Bulls coaching staff specifically assistant coach Jim Boylin. The report also said that Rondo has apologized to the coaching staff and the team and will play tonight against the Pistons.

A day after beating the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers the Chicago Bulls were blown out by the team with the worst record in the NBA the Dallas Mavericks by 25 points. What can you even look for? It is the 2nd of a back to back or maybe the fact that Dwayne Wade was given the night off. Even though the Bulls are at a weird point of their schedule where they play 10 games in 12 days, but this is just the second game of that schedule. Maybe it was just as simple as they looked past a team that was 3-15 coming into the game. It also didn’t help the Bulls that the Mavericks went 13 of 31 (41.9%) from behind the 3-point line, but anyway it’s a loss and not a good one.

As hard as it might be to believe in today’s NBA, but the Mavericks never trailed in this game. Dallas scored the first 7 points of the game and built the lead to 17 at 23 to 6 before the Bulls knew what hit them. The Bulls did close the 1st quarter on a 12-6 run to cut the Mavericks lead to 11 points 29-18 at the end of the 1st.

The teams played a very even 2nd quarter. The Bulls could only get as close as 6 points and the Mavericks biggest lead they built in the quarter was 13 points. Overall the Mavericks outscored the Bulls 28 to 27 in the 2nd quarter. Going into halftime the Mavericks had a 12 point lead at 57-45.

The Mavericks continued to build on there lead in the 3rd quarter. Dallas grab a 21 point lead on two different occasions. First at 74-53 after a Dwight Powell dunk with 6:01 left in the quarter and then again at 79-58 after a Wesley Matthews 3 pointer with 3:24 left in the quarter. The Bulls cut 6 points off the lead, but still went into the 4th quarter down 82-66.

Down 16 points maybe the Bulls thought the game was pout of hand as their bench played the majority of the 4th quarter. With the bench players on the floor the Bulls scored just 16 points and the Mavericks where able to add to the lead scoring 25 points in the 4th quarter. By outscoring the Bulls by 9 points in the final quarter the Mavericks picked up there 4th win of the season 107-82.

Wesley Matthews had 26 points which tied him for the games high scorer. Matthews did most of his damage from behind the 3 point line going 7 of 11 in the game. Harrison Barnes had 22 points while Dorian Finney-Smith added 11 points. Dwight Powell came off the Dallas bench to score 17 points. Andrew Bogut was the games leading rebounder with 11 and Deron Williams led everyone in assists with 15.

Jimmy Butler was the other player in the game with 26 points as he led the Bulls in scoring. Robin Lopez had  points and Taj Gibson added 11 points. Isaiah Canaan came off the Bulls bench to score  points..

The win improved Dallas to- on the season while the Bulls saw there record drop to 11-8. The Mavericks get a day off before hosting the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night. There is a chance the Mavericks will have Dirk Nowitzi back for that game. The Bulls will also have Sunday off as they head back to Chicago where they’ll host the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

LeBron James paid off his baseball bet to friend Dwayne Wade as he wore a full Chicago Cubs uniform into The United Center for Friday’s game. After the bet was paid Wade and his Chicago Bulls teammates sent James and his Cleveland Cavaliers to there 3rd straight loss 111-105 Friday night.

In the 1st quarter the Cavaliers built 5-point leads on five different occasions, but the Bulls worked there way back into the game every time. The Cavaliers took there first lead of the game at 8-6 and led the rest of the quarter. The bulls cut the lead to 1-point a couple of times, but Iman Shumpert’s lay up with 10 seconds left gave the Cavaliers a 33-30 lead at the end of the quarter.

Cleveland started the 2nd quarter on a 7-2 run to build an 8-point lead at 40-32. The bulls cut into the lead. but the Cavaliers built it back to 8 at 49-41. The Bulls did finally manage to take the lead at 59-58 on a Taj Gibson dunk with 1:23 left in the quarter, but Kevin Love was fouled with 5 seconds left shooting a 3-pointer. Love made two of his three free throws and the Cavaliers held the lead going into halftime 60-59.

The Bulls took the lead early in the 3rd quarter at 63-62. They built the lead to 8-points at 74-66 with 6:58 left in the quarter. After the Cavaliers cut the lead to 5 the Bulls went on a 10-5 run to take a 10 point lead at 88-78. LeBron James got the last basket of the quarter to make the score Chicago 88, Cleveland 80.

The 4th quarter was pretty even, but at one point the Cavaliers cut the Bulls lead to 3-points at 92-89. That was as close as Cleveland could get as the Bulls where able to build the lead back to 8-points at 97-89 after a Rajon Rondo 3-pointer. Chicago managed to keep the lead between 5 and 8 points and after Jimmy Butler made two free throws with 6 seconds left in the game the Bulls had a 111-105 win.

Jimmy Butler was the Bulls leading scorer with 26 points. Dwayne Wade had 24 points while Taj Gibson scored 23 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 11. Rajon Rondo posted a triple-double as he scored 15 points handed out 12 assists and tied Gibson for the game lead with 11 rebounds. Robin Lopez also hit double figures with 10 points as all the Bulls starters scored in double figures.

LeBron James was the Cavaliers and the games high scorer with 27 points. James also handed out a game high 13 assists. Kyrie Irving had 20 points while Kevin Love had 15 points and a team high 9 rebounds. Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye (off the bench) both hit double figures with 11 points on the night.

With the win the Bulls improve to 11-7 on the season. The loss was the Cavaliers 3rd in a row and fell to 13-5 on the season. Chicago has to turn right around and play Saturday night on the road against the 3-15 Dallas Mavericks. This was the 2nd game of a back to back for the Cavaliers; so they’ll get a couple days off before they go on the road to face the 13-6 Toronto Raptors on Monday night.

The Chicago Bulls had their first home game in 16 days Wednesday night as they dropped a 96-90 contest to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bulls played the Lakers on there recent west coast road trip and beat them on their home court 118-100 on November 17th. The Lakers played Wednesday night without Nick Young a.k.a. Swaggy P. as he’s going to miss 2 to 4 weeks with a right calf injury.

The Lakers scored the first 4 points of the game, but it was really the Bulls who control the 1st quarter. The Lakers actually managed to score just 13 more points in the quarter as the Bulls jumped out to a 11-point lead 28 to 17 after one quarter.

The Lakers began to cut into the Bulls lead right at the start of the 2nd quarter. After a 17 to 7 run by Los Angeles the Bulls lead was down to 1-point at 35 to 34. The Bulls did rebuild there lead to 6 at 42-36, but the Lakers made another run and the game went into halftime tied at 47 apiece.

Through the 3rd quarter the Bulls worked to build a lead. After Nikola Mirotic hit a lay up with 3:21 left in the quarter the Bulls had there biggest lead of the quarter at 65-57. The Lakers spent those final three plus minutes cutting into the Bulls lead outscoring Chicago 13-8 to end the quarter at 73-70 Chicago.

The 4th quarter started with another Mirotic basket to give the Bulls a 5-point lead, but the Lakers scored 8 of the games next 13 points and the game was tied at 78 apiece. The teams traded the lead three times, but then the Bulls where able to take a 3-point lead at 85-82 with 6:24 left to play. The Lakers quickly evened the game and built there own 3-point lead at 90-87, but a Jimmy Butler 3-pointer tied the game at 90. Of course those where the Bulls last points of the game while the Lakers had a field goal and then went 4 of 6 from the free throw line to win the game 96-90.

The Lakers where led in scoring by Jordan Clarkson and louis Williams who each came off the bench to score 18 points. Williams also led the team in assists with 5. Julius Randle scored 13 points and grabbed a game high 20 rebounds. Larry Nance Jr. had a double-double off the Lakers bench scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Former Bull Luol Deng also scored in double figures with 10 points.

The Bulls shot just 32 of 91 (35.2%) from the field which included going 4 for 21 (19%) from behind the 3-point line. Even with a rough shooting night Jimmy Butler was the games high scorer with 22 points. Dwayne Wade had 17 points while Rajon Rondo had 14 points. Wade and Rondo where the game leaders in assists with 6 each Taj Gibson posted a double-double with 11 points and a team high 10 rebounds and Robin Lopez scored 10 points.

The win gets the Lakers back to .500 at 10-10 on the season. This was the 2nd game of a 4 game road trip for the Lakers. They’ll get a day off before going to Toronto to face the 12-6 Raptors. The loss drops the Bulls to 10-7 on the season. The Bulls will also get a day off before they host the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers (13-3) on Friday night.

The Chicago Bulls wrapped up their 6 game road trip with a 16 point victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a 4-2 road trip for the Bulls who improved there record to 10-6 with the win while the loss dropped the 76ers to 4-12 on the season.

The Bulls scored the first 8 points of the game and never trailed. The Bulls built a 12 point lead at 20-8, but the 76ers ended the quarter on a 11-3 run and cut the Bulls lead to 4 points 23-19 by the end of the 1st quarter.

A Hollis Thompson 3-pointer to start the 2nd quarter cut the Bulls lead to 1 point, but that was as close as the 76ers could get. The Bulls built the lead back to 10 points at 38-28 with 6:30 left to play. The Bulls where able to get the lead to 12 points on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t keep it there. After Jimmy Butler hit 2 free throws to end the quarter the Bulls went into halftime with a 57-47 lead.

The Bulls stretched the lead to 15 points 67-52 after a Dwayne Wade basket, but the 76ers where able to knock the lead back down to 10 after a 7-2 run. Chicago dominated the rest of the 3rd quarter as they went on there own run of 21-5 to end the quarter. The Bulls ended the 3rd quarter with a 26 point lead 90-64.

With the outcome apparently I hand the Bulls bench saw quite a bit of 4th quarter action. Philadelphia did work the lead down and outscored the Bulls by 10 points in the final quarter 25-15, but there wasn’t enough time to pull out what would’ve been a huge comeback and the Bulls ended up with the win 105-89.

Dwayne Wade and Jimmy Butler shared high scoring honors for the Bulls and the game with 26 points each. Taj Gibson contributed 12 points and Robin Lopez added 10 points. The Bulls other starter Rajon Rondo had game highs in assists with 8 and rebounds with 10. Butler played a team high 31 minutes while Wade played just 29 minutes in the game.

The 76ers where led by Ersan Ilyasova with 14 points. Richaun Holmes and Nik Staukas came off the Philadelphia bench to each score 13 points. Jerryd Bayless and Hollis Thompson (off the bench) each had 11 points Jahlil Okafor added 10 points. Ilyasova and Dario Saric tied for the team lead in rebounds with 7. Saric also toed with Staukas and Sergio Rodriguez for the team lead in assists with 3 each. Since the 76ers game before tonight went double overtime Joel Embiid was given the night off.

The Bulls will get a little bit of time off as they don’t return to the court until Wednesday night when the host the Los Angeles Lakers. The 76ers will host the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon.