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 In Wednesday night's rematch at United Center, Curry tied a
season low by scoring just five points and the Bulls rolled past the
Warriors 103-83.
Most of the defensive credit belonged to Chicago guard Kirk Hinrich.
The Bulls also welcomed back one of their best individual defenders
in guard Jimmy Butler, who missed the previous two games with a
bruised rib.
"I always say with Kirk, you can never measure his true value if you
go by statistics," Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said. "If you go by
what he's doing for your team -- setting the tone for the defense
with his ball pressure, his hustle plays, running your team, the
things he does -- it really unites and inspires your team. And he
plays to win."
Forward Taj Gibson scored 21 points to lead the Bulls. Butler added
16 points, forward Carlos Boozer finished with 15 points and 13
rebounds, and center Joakim Noah piled up 17 rebounds, eight points
and seven assists.
The Bulls improved to 19-8 since Jan. 1 by winning for the seventh
time in eight games. Golden State (35-23) had a four-game winning
streak snapped.
Chicago (31-26) is now a season-best five games over .500 and has
won 11 of the past 12 meetings with the Warriors at United Center.
The strange thing about this one was that Golden State was the
rested team. The Bulls won in Atlanta on Tuesday night, while the
Warriors had not played since Monday.
"It's a disappointing loss," Golden State coach Mark Jackson said.
"They outworked us tonight ... disappointing. We need to make sure
we bounce back from this one. Bottom line is, individually and
collectively, we didn't have our best night."
Chicago trailed 24-21 after one quarter, then shot 56.5 percent in
the second and opened a 56-45 lead at halftime behind 11
second-quarter points from forward Mike Dunleavy.
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In the third quarter, Golden State hit just 4 of 21 shots and
scored 14 points, and the Bulls' lead grew to 21. Boozer scored 11
of his 15 points in the third quarter. The margin never dropped
below 18 points in the fourth quarter.
"Today was a big win for us," Noah said. "A team with great
offensive firepower, one of the best teams in the West. To come out
there and kick their butt like that feels great. There's no better
feeling. I'm going to drive home really happy tonight."
Guard Jordan Crawford led Golden State with 16 points, while forward
David Lee and forward Harrison Barnes scored 11 points each. The
Warriors shot 35.7 percent and were outrebounded 56-41.
Chicago made 44.6 percent of its shots.
"It was just one of those nights," Lee said. "We got outplayed at
all five positions, both the starters and the bench. Unfortunately,
you have those nights in the NBA."
NOTES: Longtime Bulls assistant coach Pete Myers, now a Golden State
assistant, was assessed a technical foul in the third quarter for
arguing a call. ... Golden State F David Lee returned to the lineup
after missing two games with the flu. Lee came off the bench, while
F Jermaine O'Neal remained a starter. ... Chicago F Jimmy Butler was
back on the floor after missing two games with a bruised rib. ...
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said G Derrick Rose is running on his own
and doing some lateral slides now. Rose had surgery to repair torn
cartilage in his right knee Nov. 25 and is expected to miss the rest
of the season. ... Current Warriors coach Mark Jackson was a player
in New York and Houston while Thibodeau was an assistant on Jeff Van
Gundy's staff. "I called him 'Deacon,' because he was Jeff Van
Gundy's deacon. Jeff was he head pastor," Jackson said. "You knew he
was going to be a very good coach. He worked his tail off and was
committed to his craft." ... This was the second stop of a six-game
road trip for the Warriors.
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