|
 The Bulls (40-28) have dropped five of their last six games and are
tied in the loss column with the Washington Wizards for fourth in
the Eastern Conference Standings.
The Thunder (37-29) are now a game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans
for eighth place in the Western Conference.
Thunder center Enes Kanter posted 18 points and 18 rebounds for his
sixth double-double since being traded to Oklahoma City. Center
Steven Adams added 14 points and 11 boards.
Forward Nikola Mirotic paced the Bulls with 27 points off the bench.
Center Pau Gasol scored 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Forward
Joakim Noah scored 15 points, but was limited to three rebounds.
The Thunder held a 94-90 advantage with 4:06 on the clock.
Mirotic connected on a pair of free throws to get the Bulls within
two. After a Kanter miss, Bulls guard E'Twaun Moore was fouled by
Adams on a layup attempt. Adams fouled out and Moore closed gap to
one.
With 1:27 left in the contest, Westbrook made one of two free
throws. He then came up with a steal sprinted the court for the
layup over Bulls guard Aaron Brooks to give Oklahoma City a 99-95
lead.
Westbrook found guard Anthony Morrow for an open 3-pointer, which he
drained with 40.6 seconds left.
[to top of second column] |
Gasol answered with a jumper, but Westbrook took the points right
back when he raced coast-to-coast for a layup that sealed the win.
Shooting woes plagued both teams at the start of the game. The Bulls
shot a woeful 29.2 in the opening quarter while the Thunder were
even worse at 20 percent.
However, the Thunder out rebounded Chicago 22-14 in the first
quarter, and Kanter set a franchise record for rebounds in a quarter
by pulling down 10.
After trailing Oklahoma City by eight, the Bulls stormed back to tie
the game at 47-47 heading into halftime.
(Editing by Julian Linden)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
