|
 The Chicago Bulls are built on defense, though, which carried them
to a 93-88 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday night at
the Moda Center.
The Bulls held the Trail Blazers to .352 shooting and sank six
straight free throws over the final 15.9 seconds to close out the
win in a game they led the entire way.
"We got stops when we need them the most, and that's what you have
to do when your offense isn't clicking," Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg
said.
Guard Jimmy Butler -- who sank the first four of the foul shots --
led Chicago (9-4) with 22 points while guard Derrick Rose added 17
points and center Pau Gasol collected 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Guard Damian Lillard had 19 points, a season-high 10 rebounds and
eight assists for Portland (6-10) but made only 4 of 22 shots from
the field. Guard CJ McCollum added 18 points and center Mason
Plumlee had 11 points and a career-high 17 rebounds for the Blazers.
"I was really pleased how we defended for (the last) 3 1/2
quarters," Portland coach Terry Stotts said, "but we never really
could gain any traction offensively. (The Bulls are) a good
defensive team -- give them credit. But we kept competing. On a
night when we struggled to score, we were still in position to win
the game."
Hoiberg said Rose's defense on Lillard was a key to the victory.
"Damian is one of the toughest guards in the league," the Chicago
coach said. "You have to stay attached to him at all times. Derrick
had great awareness on that end of the floor, and made some big
plays for us on the offensive end as well."
The Bulls used stiff defense to hold the Blazers to .310 shooting
and take a nine-point edge into halftime.
Rose's driving layup pushed Chicago into a 78-65 advantage with 10
minutes to play, but Lillard led an 11-0 tear that trimmed the
margin to 78-76 with 6:21 remaining.
Gasol's 15-footer gave the Bulls an 80-76 lead with 4:51 left, but
McCollum buried a 3 to cut the difference to 80-79.
McCollum knocked down a pair of foul shots to tie the game at 82-82
with 4:01 to go. Forward Nikola Miritic got 1 of 2 attempts down at
the other end to pull Chicago back ahead 83-82, and Gasol followed
with two at the line to make it 85-82 with 3:22 remaining.
Gasol's driving layup increased the lead to 87-82 with 1:41 left.
Portland forward Ed Davis made 1 of 2 at the line with 1:36 to play
to make it 87-83, and Plumlee's driving dunk drew the Blazers to
within 87-85 with 1:14 on the clock.
[to top of second column] |
Neither team scored again until Lillard sank the first free throw,
then missed the second attempt with 20.7 seconds left. Butler hit a
pair at the other end to lift Chicago into an 89-86 advantage with
15.9 ticks left.
McCollum scored on a drive to make it 89-88 with 13.0 seconds on the
clock. Butler went to the line again and made two to up Chicago's
lead to 91-88 with 11.3 seconds remaining.
McCollum's 3-point attempt in the closing seconds was off, and
forward Taj Gibson put down two free throws with 1.8 seconds left to
clinch the victory for the Bulls.
"Starting out (trailing 10-0) is tough," Plumlee said. "But we were
mature in how we adjusted to the game and gave ourselves a chance to
win. I would have loved to come out with a win, but we didn't make
enough shots down the stretch."
Chicago jumped to a 10-0 lead as Portland missed its first seven
shots from the field. The Bulls hit their first four 3-point
attempts en route to a 29-22 advantage after one period.
The Bulls led 37-27 after Rose's driving layup with 8:20 left in the
second quarter. A driving layup by Mirotic increased the margin to
43-32 with 4 minutes to go before intermission. Butler launched a
40-foot bomb that beat the buzzer to take Chicago into the half with
a 48-39 lead.
NOTES: It was the Bulls' first win in Portland since 2007. They had
lost seven in a row. ... G Derrick Rose returned to the Chicago
starting lineup after missing the previous two games with an ankle
injury. ... F Mike Dunleavy, who has missed the entire season with a
back injury, is with the Bulls on this four-game road trip. "He will
get re-evaluated by the doctor as soon as we get back to Chicago,
and we'll go from there," Coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He has been
upping his activity level. Hopefully, he will continue to progress
and we can get him back out there soon." ... Portland F Meyers
Leonard (shoulder) missed his seventh straight game but is getting
close to a return. ... Blazers G Damian Lillard entered the game
ranked fifth in the NBA in scoring (25.5) and tied for seventh in
assists (7.1).
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
