Bucks fall to Bulls as home crowd cheers the visitors
Comments (...)MILWAUKEE (MCT) — Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls brought their fans with them to the Bradley Center on Saturday night.
The Bulls also remembered to bring their high-octane game.
Before the Milwaukee Bucks knew what hit them, they were trailing by double digits and never recovered in a crushing 113-90 loss to Central Division rival Chicago.
Rose scored 16 of the Bulls’ first 18 points as the pro-Bulls crowd began its “MVP, MVP” chants early in the opening quarter. And he finished with 26 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds while delighting the fans wearing Bulls red, the color of the night.
A conservatively estimated 70 percent of the sellout crowd of 18,717 was rooting for the visitors, making the Bulls feel right at home.
Kyle Korver and Luol Deng took their cues from Rose and drained shots from all over the Bradley Center floor as the Bulls (20-6) cruised to their sixth straight victory over the Bucks.
Deng had 21 points and nine rebounds, while Korver added 18 points (4-of-8 three-point shooting) and Joakim Noah chipped in with 14 points and nine rebounds.
The Bulls improved to 3-2 on their nine-game road swing, their longest since the 1992-’93 season.
Drew Gooden paced the Bucks (10-13) with a season-high-tying 24 points, and rookie Tobias Harris added a season-high 19 points.
“We’ve got eight straight quarters of pretty poor defense,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said, also including his team’s performance in Detroit on Friday night.
“To me the biggest stat on the sheet is we had eight fouls in a game where Derrick Rose is penetrating and penetrating and penetrating.
“If you had told me before the game they were only going to shoot four free throws, I would have thought that might be in our favor. But it was kind of a layup drill for him (Rose) for a good portion of the game.”
The Bucks players certainly were aware of the raucous cheering for the visiting team.
“I’m not worried about it,” Gooden said. “I knew the nature of Milwaukee fans long before I got here.
“I think we’re used to it.”
Rose was full of energy at the start of the game and sank his first six shots, including 3 three-pointers. He also was looking for his teammates and fed Noah for a pair of dunks.
Rose missed his first shot when he came up short on a three with 3:56 left.
But the Bulls kept rolling as Deng and Korver made threes, helping Chicago grab a 30-16 lead after one quarter.
“It was clear from the jump ball they came to play,” Skiles said. “We were hoping we could bounce back.
“But it seemed like there were some lingering effects from last night (Friday). That’s a great team. Once they take control like that, it becomes very difficult then to get back into the game.”
The Bulls hit 63 percent of their shots in the first quarter, making 12 of 19, including 5 of 7 from three-point range.
Deng returned to the Bulls starting lineup after missing seven games with an injured left wrist.
Skiles went to a lineup featuring both rookies — Harris and Jon Leuer — but the Bucks were unable to slow down the Bulls in the second quarter. Rose was on the bench, but Korver kept up the scoring pace as he ran off screens and drained jumpers.
And Noah scored on a tip, followed by a two-handed dunk as part of a three-point play that pushed Chicago’s lead to 57-35 with 2:45 left in the half.
The Bulls led at halftime, 67-43, and never let the Bucks mount a true threat.
Bucks guard Brandon Jennings was in immediate foul trouble in the half and played just 10 minutes while going scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting. He had three fouls in the half.
“That was the first time I’ve ever really seen him in foul trouble,” Gooden said. “That’s not going to happen too often.”
Jennings didn’t score his first points until he hit a baseline shot with 6:08 left in the third quarter. He finished with eight points and five assists.
“You know, Rose had his way out there,” Skiles said. “He’s an MVP-type player. We talked about it taking a total team effort, and we weren’t able to (do it).”
Harris was 8 for 14 from the field and had two rebounds in 30 minutes.
“I just try to fill my role and do what I’ve got to do,” Harris said. “I could see that the energy wasn’t there.
“So I just tried to come out with a lot of energy and play hard. That’s what I’ve got to bring each night.”
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