Deng, Gordon lead Bulls past Hawks 90-78

Posted by Stephen Rhodes under Main

Chicago Bulls guard Chris Duhon, left, dribbles past Atlanta Hawks guard Tyronn Lue during the second half of the Bulls? 90-78 win over the Hawks on Tuesday night.

To the Chicago Bulls, it has to be comforting to know that despite their recent woes, they can usually rely on the Atlanta Hawks to cure what ails them. The Hawks obliged, as Bulls guard Ben Gordon and forward Luol Deng combined for 43 points in a convincing 90-78 Bulls win over the Hawks.Despite a lot of similar stats for both clubs (Atlanta shot 39.7% from the floor; Chicago shot 39.3%), a big rebounding edge provided the edge for the Bulls as they outrebounded the Hawks 60-37. Neither team shot well in the first half, with Chicago holding a 34-30 lead at halftime. But the Bulls would improve greatly in the third quarter, scoring 36 points as they stretched their 4-point lead to a 70-51 edge; the Hawks would not pose a serious challenge from that point on.

Chicago’s high scorer was Deng with 22 points and 9 rebounds, while Gordon added 21. Atlanta was led by Joe Johnson with 21 points; Josh Smith added 12 while rookie forward-center Al Horford only scored 8 points yet grabbed 14 rebounds in 33 minutes of play. Chicago (3-10) gets a well-deserved rest until Saturday when they host the Charlotte Bobcats, while Atlanta (5-8) returns home to host the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.

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