|
 Guard Eric Bledsoe scored 23 points and the key basket with 10.2
seconds left as the Suns recovered with a 31-point fourth quarter
and hung on to beat the Chicago Bulls 99-93 Friday.
Guard Goran Dragic added 21 points for the Suns, who snapped a
five-game losing streak to Chicago in Phoenix and ended a
franchise-record eight-game homestand with a 6-2 record -- a stint
marked by games where the Suns led big early, sputtered at times but
usually regrouped to win.
"We're still blowing leads, that hasn't gone away," Suns forward
P.J. Tucker said, two nights after the Suns blew a 22-point lead to
Washington before scrambling to beat the Wizards. "But we find ways
to withstand the runs and push it back on teams. That's our
identity, getting back to what we do best when it matters."
The Suns led by 16 points in the second quarter and by 15 early in
the third. But as has been their penchant, Phoenix couldn't put the
game away.
The Bulls held Phoenix to 13 points in the third quarter, chipped
away at the lead and guard Kirk Hinrich capped the 22-6 run with a
4-foot jumper to give Chicago a 67-66 lead with 35.9 seconds left.
Forwards Markieff and Marcus Morris had 13 of Phoenix's first 19
points of the fourth quarter as the Suns rebuilt their lead to 93-86
with two minutes left. But guard Aaron Brooks followed a Jimmy
Butler layup with a 3-pointer and a twisting layup to inch the Bulls
back to 95-93 with 31 seconds left.
Bledsoe held the ball out front before driving and banked in a
6-footer to give the Suns just enough to survive. The Suns won
without guard Gerald Green, who sat out the game (coach's decision).
"It was a tough game for them," Dragic said. "They probably came
into town at 2 or 3 a.m. and they still played hard. Everyone is a
professional over there.
"But we're a good team and good teams come back. We fought until the
end and as long as we find a way to win these games I'll take it."
Guard Derrick Rose led the Bulls (30-19) with 23 points but missed
15 of 23 shots.
"If we want to get where we want to go we've got to find ways to win
these types of games," Rose said. "If we came out and played with
the same kind of energy throughout the whole game, I think it would
have been the way around."
Butler had 22 and Brooks had 21 for the Bulls, who lost in double
overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday and had their chances
to win this one.
[to top of second column] |
"Fatigue was a factor, no question, but we knew that," said Chicago
center Paul Gasol, who added 10 points and a game-high 19 rebounds
for the Bulls. "We didn't have much left in the tank but we gave it
a good shot. We came back and gave ourselves a chance. They finished
off the game well, better than we did."
Starting forwards Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker were a combined
2-for-15 shooting after three quarters but made 6-of-9 in the fourth
for the Suns (28-20).
"Before the fourth quarter I told Markieff 'OK, it's your quarter
now,'" Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "He turned to me and said,
'Coach, I think every quarter is my quarter.' I said 'Well, there's
nothing you can do about the first three, so make this one your
quarter.' We look at him to give us those tough buckets and he did
that."
Up 26-25 early in the second quarter, the Suns reeled off 14
straight points to take control. Marcus Morris had seven points
during the run and Brandan Wright capped it with a fastbreak
put-back dunk to make it 40-25 Suns with 8:12 left.
The Bulls answered with a 9-2 spurt and pulled to within 42-34 on a
Rose dunk off center Joakim Noah feed with 4:09 left in the half.
But the Suns came right back with a 10-2 run, pushing the lead to 16
before settling for a 55-42 advantage at the half.
NOTES: Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau started F Tony Snell over F
Nikola Mirotic. ... The Bulls had won their last five trips to
Phoenix -- two of them in overtime -- and had won six of the last
seven in Arizona and nine of 11 overall. ... The Suns are 8-0 this
season when their guard trio of Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and
Isaiah Thomas all score 15 points or more. ... The Bulls played 111
minutes of basketball on the first two stops of a six-game road
trip, beating Golden State in overtime on Tuesday before falling
123-118 in double overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday. ...
Bulls F Pau Gasol entered the game with a string of eight straight
double-doubles, two shy of his career-long streak of 10 in 2010-11.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
