In a battle of undefeateds, the Atlanta Hawks visited the Chicago Bulls as the Bulls opened up their 2011-2012 home slate. The Hawks were coming off an impressive home win over the Celtics, while the Bulls won their first two road games at Dallas and at New Orleans. An always enthuiastic UC crowd was ready to see their hometown heroes for the first time on the new season. The Hawks meanwhile looking to make an early statement, the same way they had in game one of the EC semis. The game opened up with tough defense played on both ends. The Hawks elected to sag off Rose while staying home on Deng, Bogans, and Boozer. The Bulls , as usual, played stifling team defense with every man playing on the same accord. Both teams shot below 40% to start the game as the Bulls led 19-17 at the end of one.
The game began to open up in the second quarter as the both team's benches provided a spark. The newly resigned Jamal Crawford scoring 9 of the first 14 for the Hawks to start the second. For the Bulls, Taj Gibson picked up the slack as Carlos Boozer found himself in foul trouble scoring six points and grabbing six rebounds. Derrick Rose reentered the game and sparked a 12-4 run with a couple of dunks and a tough three-point play. Josh Smith answered with five quick points to cut the lead back to three. The teams see-sawed until half time with the Bulls holding a 43-41 lead at the break, Derrick Rose leading all scorers with 17 points. Josh Smith and Jamal Crawford leading the Hawks with 11 each.
The third quarter saw the back and forth continue as Al Horford took advantaged of the foul plagued Boozer scoring 12 in the quarter, after going scoreless in first half. The Bulls continued to be led by Rose who added 14 in the quarter. Neither coach could have been pleased with defense as both teams were able to get good shots. The Bulls bench came into make some seperation behind Kyle Korver's three point shooting. At the end of the third the Bulls led 73-68. Rose leading all scorers with 31, Josh Smith led the Hawks with 19. Joe Johnson continued to struggle with just 7 points on 2 of 9 shooting through three quarters.
The Hawks took the lead with a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter led by Marvin Williams who scored six during the run. The Bulls responded with ten unanswered as Rose continued to torch the Hawks defense as the Bulls led 85-77 with eight minutes to go. Larry Drew went back to his starting unit and the Hawks tied the game at 89 with a 12-4 run as Johnson finally found the touch , hitting eight points during the stretch. The game would go back and forth over the next three minutes. With two and a half minutes to play and Bulls up two, Josh Smith's offensive rebound and basket tied the game at 97. A Leol Deng jumpshot and two Horford free throws would be only points as both teams struggled to get good shots. With 31 seconds left the Bulls gave the ball to their MVP. Rose sliced down the lane but found Joakim Noah for an easy dunk with 12 seconds left and a 101-99 lead. The Hawks called a timeout to draw up a last play. You could hear Hawks fan groan as ISO-JOE was the play but this time the play paid off as Johnson hit a 27-footer over Keith Bogans as the buzzer went off to give the Hawks a 102-101 win. For the Hawks ,it was their third win in a row and a big road win. The Bulls dropped their first game and while Rose was brilliant with 40 but the concerns over Boozer remained. The high priced free agent signing from 2010, only scored 10points, grabbed 7rebounds in 28 minutes of play
Rose With a Few Thorns
40 points, 7 turnovers (3 in the 4th quarter)
Its Not How You Start but how you finish
Joe Johnson: 1st 3 quarters, 7 pts (2-9 fg), 4th quarter: 11 points (4-6 fg)
Other Games
Detroit 90 New Jersey 85
Orlando 101 Washington 89
Toronto 119 Minnesota 102
Charlotte 81 Memphis 82
Boston 97 Indiana 104
Utah 85 Houston 99
Oklahoma City 102 Dallas 101
New York 92 Milwaukee 88
Golden State 112 Denver 127
New Orleans 99 Sacramento 91
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