Bulls Get Gooden Plenty, Hold Off Hawks 103-94

Posted by Stephen Rhodes under Main

For a change, the Chicago Bulls didn’t have to rely solely on Ben Gordon or Luol Deng to save the day for their team; in Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, the hero was none other than Drew Gooden. Gooden’s 31 points led Chicago to the hard-fought win over Atlanta, 103-94 at United Center.

The first half was back-and-forth, with Atlanta going into halftime holding a narrow, 53-51 lead; a combination of Kirk Hinrich’s trey, Deng’s basket and a 3-point play by Gooden capped a 20-4 Bulls that put Chicago ahead 75-59. The Bulls would inherit a 79-67 lead after 3 quarters; Josh Childress’ 3 baskets ignited the Hawks in the final period. Joe Johnson’s 3-point play and a jumper by Marvin Williams cut the Bulls’ lead to 83-80.

Mike Bibby’s 3-pointer brought Atlanta to within 2; however, Chicago’s Sideshow Bob Joakim Noah converted a 3-point play. The Hawks were down by only 3 before the Bulls’ Gooden made a layup that made it 94-89 with 3 minutes to go, effectively sealing the win for Chicago. Chicago was led by the aforementioned Gooden with 31 points, 16rebounds, 2 assists and a block while Gordon, from off the bench, scored 16 with a rebound and an assist; Hinrich and Deng added 14 each – with Hinrich grabbing 2 rebounds, dishing out 10 assists with 4 steals while Deng grabbed 8 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and 3 blocks.

Atlanta was led by Childress, from off the bench, with 22 points and 3 rebounds while Bibby scored?18 with 4 treys, 3 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals; Josh Smith added 16 with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a block while Joe Johnson chipped in with 15 along with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. Chicago (28-42) will now fly east to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers Wednesday while Atlanta (30-40) travels up I-94 to face the Milwaukee Bucks – also on Wednesday.

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