Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
The matchup Sunday between the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic had the potential to be a preview of a possible second-round playoff pairing between two of the Eastern Conference’s top four teams.
Instead, with the Magic missing several pieces, it wound up providing the latest reason why Chicago’s Derrick Rose could be inching closer to his first MVP award.
Rose had 39 points and five assists, and Luol Deng added 15 points to help the Bulls hold off the Magic 102-99. Rose also was 10 for 10 at the foul line, which proved to be vital in staving off a late Magic charge.
Orlando’s Jameer Nelson appeared to tie it with a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but an official review upheld an initial call of no basket. Ryan Anderson led the Magic with a career-high 28 points, Jason Richardson added 24 and Nelson had 17.
“We had them,” Rose said. “We should have easily put them away. But we continue to let teams come back. It’s going to hurt us if we continue to do this. But we’re definitely happy with this win. We’ve got to learn how to put teams away.”
Chicago won its seventh in a row and for the 19th time in 21 games. The Bulls also kept alive their chances of finishing with the NBA’s best record, which would give them home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
“They played extremely well. It wasn’t a good game for us,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Our defense wasn’t very good, our rebounding was below average and we didn’t take care of the ball. We were fortunate (to) win.”
The Magic dropped to 1/3 without center Dwight Howard. He sat out Sunday, serving his second suspension of the season after picking up his 18th technical foul.
The possible playoff preview was spoiled not only by Howard’s absence, but also that of Magic sixth man J.J. Redick and reserve Quentin Richardson. Redick missed his 15th straight game with a lower abdominal strain. Richardson served the first of a two-game suspension for shoving Charlotte’s Gerald Henderson in the face in last week’s win over the Bobcats.
WRITTEN BY by STATS LLC and The Associated Press& FULL STORY HERE
